World Youth Day in Madrid to be attended by 28 Sri Lankans

(July 27, 2011 ) Twenty-eight Sri Lankans will be attending the World Youth Day -WYD, in the Spanish capital Madrid from August 16 to 21, said Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando, archdiocesan chaplain of the Young Christian Workers (YCW) and the Christian Workers Movement (CWM) in Colombo. The priest told Asia News that for him it will not only be a moment of celebration but above all “a commitment to share their spiritual experience to challenge this secularist culture. He said "John Paul II established World Youth Day for young people to help them treasure their faith, and although they do not all speak the same language, it is an opportunity to experience the love of God through the language of love. Our young people will find in the WYD experience fertile ground from which to draw inspiration for their future, so that they can transmit what they have learned to all the young people of Sri Lanka”, he added. Finally, Fr. Fernando hopes that the celebrations of World Youth Day will "deal a blow to secularism and its politicians in Spain."