Message from the 

Director

Dear colleagues,

St John Paul II instituted the annual observance of World Youth Day in December 1985 as an annual gathering of youth and young adults for prayer, worship, and celebration of the Catholic faith.  He told the College of Cardinals that year, "…the whole Church, in union with the Successor of Peter, must be more and more committed, globally, to youth and young adults – and to their anxieties and concerns and to their openness, hopes, and expectations…"

World Youth Day is celebrated each year by the global Church (during every Palm Sunday liturgy in Rome since 1984) and locally in many dioceses around the world. Every two or three years, an international gathering is held to bring all the youth and young adults together in one place with the Holy Father. After the first two gatherings in Rome (in 1984 and 1985), the subsequent international gatherings have taken place in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1987); Santiago de Compostela, Spain (1989); Czestochowa, Poland (1991); Denver, U.S.A. (1993); Manila, Philippines (1995); Paris, France (1997); Rome, Italy, for the Millennium Jubilee (2000); Toronto, Canada (2002); Cologne, Germany (2005); Sydney, Australia (2008); Madrid, Spain (2011); Rio de Janiero, Brazil (2013); Krakow, Poland (2016); and forthcoming in Panama City, Panama (2019).

This year World Youth Day Lisbon will be held in Lisbon, Portugal in August 2023. The following staff from the Armidale Diocese will be attending:

Melita Roache, Georgia MacMahon   St Philomena’s Moree

Shane McCann, O'Connor Catholic College Armidale

Katie Buckman, McCarthy Catholic College Tamworth

Halley Buckman, (McCarthy student)

Anna Maher, St Nicholas’ Tamworth

John O'Connor,  CSO

I know you will join with me in wishing all attendees a safe journey that is also an extremely rewarding opportunity to deepen their faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

I look forward to receiving and then sharing with you some recounts and photos.

Chris