"Week of Missions" to prepare for World Youth Day Rio 2013
World Youth Day Rio 2013 will be preceded by a week of missions throughout Brazil
before hundreds of thousands of pilgrims arrive for the global youth event next summer.
Father Jefferson Goncalves, director of pre-World Youth Day activities, said the country's
traditional “Days in the Dioceses” will instead be a Missions Week to be held July
17-20 in 2013. The weeks aims to give young people the chance to participate in
spiritual activities, works of solidarity with local communities, as well as missionary
and cultural events. Organizer Raphael Fritz said families will provide hospitality
for the young people taking part in the Missions Week to give them a more authentic
experience of what life is like locally. The decision to turn the “Days in the
Dioceses” into a missions week was made by Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of
the Pontifical Council for the Laity, during his visit to Rio de Janeiro in February.
Fr. Goncalves said he hopes the event will “leave as a legacy to future World Youth
Days this experience of leading young people into missionary discipleship.” (CNA/EWTN
News)