The Youth are Investing in Christ
Good news. The Youth are investing in Christ.
Last Saturday, thousands of Catholic teens and young adults gathered to worship and unify at World Youth Day Unite. The festival describes itself as a “moment of national unity and authentic communion for all young adults.”
The day consisted of speeches by several bishops, mass, and performances by Audrey Assad and Tony Melendez. All of the events took place in Washington D.C.
Unity Among the Youth
This year, the festival had people from over 50 dioceses from across the United States. Intended to provide young worshipers with an inspiring day filled with Catholic speakers, performers, and activities, the day, “is all about healing from the brokenness and division we face in our lives through an encounter with Christ and other young adults,” one participant explains.
The meeting was a local expression of World Youth Day. Pope John Paul II initiated the international festival in 1985, and it’s held every two to three years. It attracts millions of youth worshipers. The last international World Youth Day was in Krakow, Poland. Scheduled for 2019, Panama is the location of the next.
Abby, who’d gone to last year’s international World Youth Day, said, “Every young adult should be able to experience the amazingness of World Youth Day.” There, she said, “For four days I got to grow in my faith alongside 2 million other people.”
According to WYD Unite, “young adults today are divided in many ways — by language, race, economics, culture, experience, family brokenness and religious engagement.” Events like WYD Unite help alleviate that division.
Fr. Jonathan Kalish told The Stream that teens and young adults all, “want to belong to something.” WYD Unite gave them an opportunity to belong to something bigger and connect on a deeper level with one another.
Anyone is welcome at the event. But teens and young adults are the focus. Newly appointed Bishop of Cleveland Nelson Perez told The Stream that, “There are times when we bring everyone together, but there’s a particular spirituality that young adults find themselves in. And it’s important for the church to meet them in that time.”
Never Underestimate the Power of God’s Spirit
One of two keynote speakers on Saturday, Perez told the crowd to “never underestimate the power of God’s spirit to work in you, through you, and despite you.” He read a letter from Pope Francis that explained the youth’s optimism to change things came from their “young and youthful hearts.” Pope Francis “invited the young people of the world to talk to the church” at international World Youth Day. The Church, Perez told the youth there, “wants to listen.”
The deputy director of Saint John Paul II Center told The Stream that the meaning of the World Youth Day Unite is to encourage “the young people feel they belong to the church and have them feel the church is taking care of them.” The Church “has a special mission to unify the country.”
According to Fr. Kalisch, by the day’s end everyone, “experienced an event that maybe for the first time gave their life a new direction or decisiveness they’d never felt before.”