By Santosh Digal
New Delhi: An 86-member Indian delegation is set to attend the 7th Asian Youth Day (AYD) in Indonesia.
“We have one archbishop, two bishops, 12 priests, two religious sisters and 69 youth from various parts of India to attend the AYD,” Father Deepak KJ Thomas, secretary of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India-Office for Youth, told Matters India.
The Archdiocese of Semarang in Java region will host the July 30-Agust 6 meet.
Theme of the event at Jogjakarta is “Joyful Asian Youth! Living the Gospel in Multicultural Asia” with the Bible verse “Speaking in our own languages the mighty deeds of God” (Acts 2:1-12).
It was chosen as part of the Church’s efforts to blend into the Asian culture and bring hope and joy of the Gospel to the poor and those marginalized groups.
AYD aims to provide an opportunity for young Catholics in Asia to renew and deepen their faith in multicultural Asia and acquaint with the efforts of the Indonesian Church to care for creation in its socio-cultural-religious diversity. The meet will also highlight how local Churches exist in a multicultural Asia and help promote youth involvement in the Church’s evangelizing mission in the region.
AYD is an international event organized by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences Office of Laity and Family, Youth Desk and the host country. The event, held every three years, brings together Catholic youth from all over Asia. It is similar to the World Youth Day.
The week long gathering enables Asian youth to experience the Gospel with others of different cultures and how the modern world celebrates the Gospel, and how it applies to current issues such as social justice and leadership among its youth. The programs include prayer, forums, and workshops.
In 1991, during the fifth World Youth Day in Czestochowa, Poland, delegates from numerous Asian countries expressed their desire to create a network and various channels of their own, to inspire the Catholic youth on the continent.
In 1993, a youth consultation conference was held at Bangkok, Thailand. Participating youth representatives at the conference suggested that a youth working group be formed as a parish-based subsidiary of the FABC in an effort to gather support for youth leaders within the organization and to enhance mutual cooperation and links among youth parish groups from Asian countries.
The Youth Desk was officially established in 1994. Since then, the team has successfully organized a series of activities for Asian youths and youth leaders, including the Asian Youth Gathering during the World Youth Day, Asian Youth Ministers’ Meeting and Asian Youth Day.