World Youth Day WYD - Sydney is preparing for a truly immense and historic event next year, when the city will be visited by Pope Benedict XVI on his first trip to Australia.
This will be the XXIII World Youth Day and the tenth international World Youth Day. The six-day event is a celebration of universal solidarity among youth in the Catholic Church aged between 16 and 35 years, yet the event welcomes people of all backgrounds wishing to join the experience and is an invitation from the Holy Father to all the youth of the world without discrimination.
Part of the weeklong WYD celebrations in July 2008, Sydney will be host to the largest youth event in the world.
Attracting more than 500,000 pilgrims to Sydney from 15 to 20 July in 2008. World Youth Day gathers young people from around the world to build bridges of friendship and hope between continents, peoples and cultures. The Final Mass is likely to produce the largest crowd ever assembled for a single event in the history of Sydney, indeed, Australia!
Cologne in Germany hosted the previous international WYD in 2005 with over 1.2 million people attending the Final Mass.
Pilgrims in Sydney are likely to visit local Catholic landmarks such as St Mary’s Cathedral, the Shrine of Blessed Mary MacKillop (an Australian saint beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995) and St Patrick’s Church Hill - the site of the earliest Catholic devotions in Australia.
Each WYD has a theme and the theme of this year’s WYD08 is:
“ You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses. ” -- (Acts 1:8)
WYD08 has invited performers and creative artists to apply, from around Australia and the world, to participate in the celebrations. Applications are expected from bands, visual artists, actors, poets, dancers, movements, associations, individual speakers and other creative folk.
Journey of the Cross and Icon
The World Youth Day Cross and Icon are the most significant tangible symbol of World Youth Day. Travelling across Australia and arriving in Sydney on 15 July 2008. An indigenous Message Stick will accompany the Cross and Icon in Australia.
Highlights of the Journey of the Cross and Icon in Australia include travelling on the Ghan, National Schoolies mission in Queensland, Mount Kosciusko, Federal Parliament, Uluru, Palm Island, Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and Thursday Island, paddle-steamer along the Murray River, The Twelve Apostles, Mount Panorama, aboard the Spirit of Tasmania, Kalgoorlie, Margaret River, Karratha mining district, Port Arthur and many more!
Sydney Youth Festival
A three-day Youth Festival during the week will feature music, performing arts, visual art exhibitions, debate, film, community gatherings, street performances, workshops and a vocations expo.
The Youth Festival is the perfect way for pilgrims to share their culture and faith, as well as contribute to the experience of what will undoubtedly be an unforgettable event. Festival activities will be held on playing fields, in parks, churches, halls, galleries and at outdoor performance spaces throughout Sydney, during afternoons and evenings.
Acts expected to attend include Bronx-based rapper and preacher Father Stan Fortuna and Australian band Portico 77- both of whom performed recently during a special one-off show outside St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.
Final Mass at the Royal Randwick
Royal Randwick can seat up to 400,000 people for the Final Mass, providing audience members with a direct line of sight to the altar. If numbers exceed expectations, another 200,000 people can be accommodated in nearby Centennial Park, where the Mass will be broadcast via several giant video screens.
Both Royal Randwick and Centennial Park can be reached easily on foot from nearby locales and by Sydney public transport from further afield.
Getting Around Sydney
When you get here, you will find getting around Sydney is easy. Circular Quay is a major train, bus, taxi and ferry terminus. See Opera House, Rocks and Circular Quay Map.
Mamre Homestead
Historic Mamre Homestead, run by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy is a historical Sydney landmark.
Built in the 1820’s, it was the home of the Reverend Samuel Marsden.
Samual Marsden played a part in Australia’s early history, being colonial chaplain, magistrate and pioneering pastoralist. Mamre was home to the famous Merino flocks which made Marsden a pioneer in the Australian wool industry. Located on over 1,000 acres, Mamre Homestead was the working farmhouse of a busy model farm.
Today, the Sisters of Mercy still do pioneering work there, helping Sydney young people with jobs, training and community services.
You can visit Mamre Homestead to explore this chapter in Sydney History - Phone +061 2 9670 5321 or (02) 9670 6178.
