Young People and volunteer leaders from around the Diocese preparing for the Papal Visit
It can’t have escaped your attention that Pope Benedict XVI is visiting England in less than three months. While we don’t know everything about the visit yet, what we do know is that a large part of Saturday is going to be devoted to young people.
Each parish in England & Wales has been asked to nominate one young person to represent them, and the diocese in the Piazza outside Westminster Cathedral on Saturday September 18th. Among other events on the day, Pope Benedict will say Mass in the Cathedral. He will then come outside and address the thousands of young people packed in to the square.
Getting together to talk about what lies ahead... In this picture, the representatives from Crawley, Horsham and Woking.
The delegates from our diocese all met together today at St. Michael’s in Worthing. The aim of this was to get to know one another, to learn about the Pope, about Cardinal Newman and about the visit, and to think about why we are going. We also had a chance to think a little bit about how we are going to spread the message once it’s all over and done with.
Representatives from Guildford and a few other places discussing what questions to ask about the visit
Getting to know each other over (packed) lunch. The beautiful weather and the grounds of St. Michael's didn't do the day any harm either!
The day was very interactive and was very much led by the thoughts and questions of the young people themselves. They came up with some fascinating questions and some really inspiring reasons as to why they wanted to be a part of it all. On young person commented that “with all of the negative news about the Church lately, it is important for us to show our support for the Church and for the Pope.”
The day ended with a prayer in the Church led by Fr. David Parmiter who was with us for the day. We were grateful to him, to Ray and to the other leaders. We were also grateful to Fr. Chris for letting us use his beautiful Church.
A time of prayer in the Church before leaving
