Russia: Irkutsk (Central Siberia) to host the eighth pan-Russian young Catholics’ meeting, from 19th to 22nd July

Irkutsk, a city in Central Siberia, a few miles from the big Lake Baikal’, will host those young people who will take part in the VIII pan-Russian young Catholics’ meeting from 19^th to 22^nd July. The chosen title is the Angle’s call to Mary of Nazareth: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God”. “Experience has repeatedly shown that such meetings strengthen faith, provide guidance on the walk of life, fill with the joy of belonging to the Church, increase a feeling of responsibility for society and Creation”, bishop Clemens Pickel, director of the youth pastoral service at the Russian Bishops Conference, writes in a letter to the Catholic devotees. “The road to Lake Baikal’ is particularly long for many, then, and expensive”, explains the bishop, who asks the devotees to “support the young people of your parishes with a generous donation”. Offerings will be collected at Mass on Palm Sunday, March 25^th. According to tradition, young people’s meetings are organised “in a rota by each one of our four dioceses. This year, it’s the turn of the diocese of St Joseph at Irkutsk”, the easternmost of the four Russian dioceses.