Archive for category WYD 2011

Official website now in English!

How exciting! The official website for World Youth Day 2011 is now bi-lingual, in English as well as Spanish. It is updated frequently so check it regularly for the latest info from Madrid http://www.jmj2011madrid.com

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World Youth Day leaders map the road ahead

On Sunday January 3rd the newly selected team of World Youth Day leaders met together at DABCEC for an initial day of praying, reflecting and planning.

It was a very tentative first step for us all… mostly just about getting to know eachother and mapping out the ‘road to Madrid’ over the next nineteen months. We heard some interesting stuff from Ray and Lucy about preparations being made by the diocese and we also had a chance to get together in small groups and talk about what we felt was needed in terms of a preparation programme. Some fascinating ideas came out of that, both in terms of preparation and formation for the leaders and also in terms of what’s going to happen when we get the whole group together.

It seems like we’ve got a great team. There is a good mix of people and they all seem to get on well together. We are now at the start of a very exciting journey… Keep us in your prayers.

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World Youth Day Update…

Plans for Madrid are steaming ahead! Here at the Youth Office we are excited about our new Team Leaders, and we ask you to pray for them as they continue preparing for 2011. We are looking at places to spend our Days in the Diocese; Ray and Lucy will be heading over to Spain in January to check some places out.

We shall be publishing application forms online on 1 March and also sending them to all those who have contacted the Youth Office, expressing an interest in going to Madrid. Interest is high so we encourage you to apply early on!

Very best wishes for a peaceful, happy and blessed Christmas.

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World Youth Day 2011. We almost have a leadership team… Almost!

This Sunday about 25 people gathered at DABCEC for the final day of selection for World Youth Day leaders. This was the last of three selection days, each of which aimed at exploring what World Youth Day is about, what leadership is about and what Ray needs to consider in selecting his team!!

At the end of the day, Ray thanked everyone for having taken part in the process and told them that they would know the leadership team soon…

Have a look at the Twitter feed on the right hand side of this page for some photos of the day.

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Thinking ahead to Madrid…

On Sunday about 25 people came to DABCEC for a day, to meet others, to have fun, and to think about World Youth Day and leadership.

Potential World Youth Day leaders at DABCEC

Potential World Youth Day leaders at DABCEC

The purpose of the day – which was the second of three – was to think about World Youth Day and to think about leadership. It was also to help Ray in putting his team together for 2011… You can’t accuse the man of not planning ahead now, can you!?

World Youth Day takes place every two or three years and can attract literally millions of pilgrims. The diocese of Arundel & Brighton has had a presence there for many years now, and we are hoping to send a large group in two years time.

a bit of team building!

a bit of team building!

The next leadership discernment day will be December 6th.

World Youth Day 2011 will be in Madrid, Spain

World Youth Day 2011 will be in Madrid, Spain


Official WYD 2011 site

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Looking back: World Youth Day ‘05

Together with the Diocese of Brentwood, we sent quite a large group to World Youth Day in 2005. We spent the ‘days of encounter’ in Holland before travelling on to the main event in Koln.


Were you a part of the A&B group back in 2005? Do you have any memories to share? If so, post a comment…

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Day for Potential World Youth Day 2011 leaders

The whole group at DABCEC

The whole group at DABCEC

World Youth Day 2011 may still be 27 months away, but we have already started to prepare.

Following a general advert asking for anybody who might be interested in leadership, around 25 people turned up at DABCEC this Sunday for the first of a few leadership discernment days organised by Ray.

The day was a real success, and it was great to see so many people. We had a chance to talk about the road ahead, as well as to discuss our idea of what leadership and youth ministry mean to us.

We all left with a real buzz about Madrid.

World Youth Day has been running in the Catholic Church since being started by Pope John Paul II in 1984. The last event in Europe (2005) attracted over 1 million people, and many are hoping that Madrid will be even bigger.

A&B have a great tradition of supporting World Youth Days… roll on 2011!

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