Bishop, youth prepare their hearts for World Youth Day

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney last week told a group of faithful of the Paterson Diocese he was “so psyched” to lead them on a pilgrimage of a lifetime: to World Youth Day (WYD) 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, later this summer.

On May 24, Bishop Sweeney gave a spiritual pep talk to youth and adults going to WYD at an informational session at the Evangelization Center at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison. They will be in Portugal from July 28 to Aug. 7 for WYD to join more than 1 million Catholic youths from around the world. Together, they will celebrate and grow their faith in Christ. They also will pray in person with Pope Francis at WYD events, such as Stations of the Cross, an evening vigil, and a closing Mass.

In his talk last week, Bishop Sweeney shared his experiences attending World Youth Day 1993 in Denver with St. John Paul II after finishing his first year of theology in seminary for the Brooklyn Diocese.

“The music was incredible. It was some of the best preaching ever. I saw Catholics from all over. The pope was speaking to 680,000 people, but it felt like he was speaking directly to me. It was a different experience of prayer and of a Church that is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic,” said Bishop Sweeney. He also attended WYD 2005 in Cologne, Germany, and WYD 2008 in Sydney, Australia, both with Pope Benedict XVI. “It will be a great blessing.”

For WYD, Bishop Sweeney and 43 diocesan youth and adults, including priests and seminarians, will join Bishop James F. Checchio of Metuchen and young people of the Metuchen Diocese. They also will have time to explore the historic city of Lisbon. This trip to WYD is co-sponsored by the Paterson Diocese and Metu­chen Diocese with Fiat Ventures and organized by Dube Travel of Maine.

Before the start of WYD, pilgrims from Pater­son and Metuchen will visit Fatima, where the Bles­sed Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children with important messages of hope, mercy, and prayer six times from May 13 to Oct. 13, 1917. Later, WYD will include catechetical sessions and a youth festival in Lisbon.

Another speaker at the May session was Father Luke Mary Fletcher, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal who serves the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Asbury. He talked about the spiritual significance of Mother Mary’s apparition at Fatima, “what it means to go on a pilgrimage,” and the WYD 2023 theme of the Visitation. A WYD veteran, Father Luke Mary will attend the celebration in Lisbon.

Jonathan Camiolo, pastoral associate at the Church of Christ the King in the New Vernon neighborhood of Harding Township and WYD coordinator for Paterson, said the May 24 meeting helped the pilgrims “get their hearts ready.”

“World Youth Day is a pilgrimage. God stretches us to grow in relationship with him. We must get in the mindset for that,” said Camiolo, also a WYD veteran who is going to Lisbon. “It’s exciting to have Bishop Sweeney so invested in what the pilgrims will experience.”

The WYD pilgrims will board a bus for the airport on Friday, July 28, after a send-off Mass at noon at the Diocesan Shrine of St. John Paul II/Holy Rosary Parish in Passaic.