World Youth Day

World Youth Day is due to be held in Panama in 2019. This is a huge international event which is

held every three years. Normally, around 400,000 young people participate in the event - often there are another 100,000 plus who attend without being "officially" participants - mostly people who are from the host country and its neighbours. It is also usual for the Pope to attend some part of it. The last WYD was held in Poland.

The young people who travel to this event come from a mixture of diocesan, parish, and national groups. Each group makes its own travel arrangements and joins with the young people from all over the world during the meeting in a series of organised events.

Pope Francis wearing a traditional Panamanian Hat (Panama Hats are from Ecuador

The event that receives most coverage is probable the mass with the Pope - for obvious reasons: for most of the young people present it is probably their first/ only opportunity to see the Pope "in the flesh"; it is an event at which the various nationalities will have a chance to "shine"; and it also concludes the meeting which is, very often, a very emotional experience for the participants.

However, this mass is probably not the most important event. The meeting is organised in such a way that smaller groups, perhaps as small as one or two hundred, participate in different types of sessions, many of which, in one way or another, are structured around some aspect of catechesis. Many older people probably remember learning the catechism by rote in a way that was far from inspiring - these young people will not be subjected to that. What they will be invited to take part in is a series of workshops, talks and seminars where speakers will address some of the issues facing the church, the churches, and the modern world. These sessions are interspersed with many other more "fun" sessions, allowing the young people to both get to know each other, and to experience some of the culture of the country they are visiting.

Preparations for WYD normally begin as soon as it concludes, if you follow me! In other words, the meeting in Panama in 2019 began to be organised as soon as the meeting in Poland in 2016 concluded. This means that, at this stage, one year's preparation has already taken place, and some of this preparation is very evident here in Panama City.

One of the seminarians, a native of Korea, but preparing to work as a priest in Panama, has been

selected to go to Rome to receive the Cross for World Youth Day from the Pope on Palm Sunday and to bring it back to Panama so that it can visit every part of the country in the lead up to the big day.

All churches have large banners reminding people of the dates for the gathering; parishes are canvassing their parishioners to see who might be willing/ able to host some of the visiting young people; venues for the larger events are being explored together with the logistics of access and egress for such large numbers of people.

Panama will have to deal with some challenges that are particular to its geographic and climatic location - we are in the tropics, and even though the even will be held in the wintertime, there is no such thing as cold weather in Panama - despite what the Panameños say!!! I remember one evening (during the winter) when the temperature dropped to 26 degrees one evening - several of the seminarians came to the evening prayers wearing woolen sweaters. I'm sure many of the Irish participants, at least, will find the heat, and the very strong sun to be a challenge. There is going to need to be a very reliable supply of drinking water and provision will also have to be made to cater for the inevitable cases of sunburn which will occur for those with fairer skin - I have got burnt during my stay here despite the fact that I stay out of the sun as much as possible: it is just incredibly strong!!!

However, these are things that the Panameños are actively working on, and they will be doing their best to cater for those of us from "slightly" colder climates.

WYD here is likely to be a wonderful experience for those who travel, especially for those who travel from Europe. The cultural differences, the very different diet, music, and general outlook on life, promise to make it the experience of a lifetime.