World Youth Day (commonly abbreviated to WYD) is a youth-oriented Catholic Church event. While the event itself celebrates the Catholic faith, the invitation to attend extends to all youth, regardless of religious convictions. World Youth Day is not associated with International Youth Day or any of the international observance days.
World Youth Day was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. For the first celebration of WYD in 1986, bishops all over the world were invited to schedule an annual youth event to be held every Palm Sunday in their dioceses.
It is celebrated at diocesan level annually, and at a week-long international level every two to three years at different locations. The international level events attract hundreds of thousands of youth from almost every country on the planet. It is a major part of the upsurge in Catholic Youth Work in some countries over recent years; for example, the Director of Catholic Youth Services for England and Wales has said of the event that it would have far-reaching effects, not restricted to those who attended.
The Church has officially designated Mother General of the Missionaries of Charity, Teresa of Calcutta and Pope, John Paul II as the Patron Saints of the event.
Read more about World Youth Day: Traditional Process, World Youth Days 1987 To 1993, World Youth Days 1995 To 2005, World Youth Day 2008, World Youth Day 2011, World Youth Day 2013, Chronology of Celebrations
Famous quotes containing the words world, youth and/or day:
“The men who are messing up their lives, their families, and their world in their quest to feel man enough are not exercising true masculinity, but a grotesque exaggeration of what they think a man is. When we see men overdoing their masculinity, we can assume that they haven’t been raised by men, that they have taken cultural stereotypes literally, and that they are scared they aren’t being manly enough.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly until he knows that every day is Doomsday.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)