Santosh Digal
New Delhi: A-100 Indian youth delegation is to take part at the forthcoming 7th Asian Youth Day (AYD) to be held in Indonesia in July-August.
“We are happy to announce the registration for the AYD 7 is open. We have only 100 seats available. So, the registrations will be on first come first serve basis,” Fr. Deepak KJ Thomas OCD, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India secretary for youth council and national youth director, told Matters India on Feb 18.
The 7th AYD will be held in Semarang Diocese in Indonesia in 2017, particularly in Yogyakarta city from July 30 – August 6, 2017. The theme is “Joyful Asian Youth! Living the Gospel in Multicultural Asia.”
The AYD is a Catholic youth summit in Asian region. The event is held in every three years and attended by more than two thousand Catholic youth from various countries in Asia, Fr. Thomas said.
The spirit of evangelization is built through many activities in this event. AYD was initiated by the advisor of Catholic Youth of Asia and approved by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) under the Youth Desk of Laity and Family Office. AYD consists of three main events: Days in the Dioceses, Days in AYD’s venue, and Asian Youth Ministers’ Meeting (AYMM).
DID is held in three-four days; AYD participants live in dioceses in the host country. The participants come and go directly to the dioceses which have been chosen for DID. In these dioceses, the participants learn and share their experiences on their faith. Various activities are held to unite the participants as Catholic people; there are Eucharist, communal prayer, festival, and many other activities. The youth participants come and experience their faith among Catholic people in different country.
Days in AYD’s venue is held in three-four days. All DID participants gather in a place together with many Catholic youth from various dioceses. All participants and Catholic youth join the opening ceremony and various activities such as sharing moment, reflection, festival and Eucharist. Catholic youth strengthen each other by having activities together and sharing their experiences on their faith.
AYMM is held in three days. This event is held especially for the advisors of Catholic Youth in Asian countries. The participants are bishops, priests, and people who are involved in national level commission of Youth Desk. Under coordination of FABC (Laity and Family Office), the Youth Desk discuss evaluation of AYD and common goal of Catholic Youth education and companionship in Asia.
AYD has been held six times in different countries in Asia with a theme. The 6th AYD was held in Daejeon Diocese in Korea in 2014. Its theme was “Wake Up Asian Youth! The glory of the Martyrs shines on you.”.