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July 18, 2016Six young people from St. Mary of the Angels parish along with our youth minister, Ryan Butler, travel to Krakow, Poland to join hundreds of thousands of youth around the globe attending World Youth Day July 22 through August 2.
The international Catholic event, marked by prayer, music, and fellowship will host youth from more than 175 countries around the world who will get a chance to pray and worship with Pope Francis.
The group from St. Mary of the Angels joins pilgrims from 16 other parishes traveling as a single group from the Diocese of Buffalo led by Most Rev. Richard Malone, Bishop of Buffalo. The youth attending from our parish are: Abram Wenke, Allen Smith, Kelly Smith, Gina Oldani, Marianna Worczak and Adam Cashmere. Fr. Greg and Fr. David blessed some of the pilgrims at the 11 am Mass last Sunday (see photo).
World Youth Day events scheduled for the Diocese of Buffalo’s contingent in Poland will include visits to the famous Polish shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa, the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz, and the Monastery of Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Events scheduled with Pope Francis include Stations of the Cross prayer service on July 29, an evening prayer vigil on July 30, and the closing Mass on July 31.
There will also be opportunities to gather with American pilgrims on July 27 during a special Mass with the bishops present from the United States. Throughout the week, pilgrims have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of expositions, concerts, dramas and other faith-based events throughout Krakow.
This year’s World Youth Day theme is “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” (Mt 5:7) As the event occurs during The Year of Mercy, it is even more providential that the epicenter of this year’s celebrations occur in Krakow, the very city where the popular devotion to the Divine Mercy blossomed in the 20th century.
Coverage of World Youth Day events can be found on EWTN via television broadcast and via the free EWTN app for smartphones and tablets linked at EWTNapps.com. St. Mary of the Angels will provide updates received from its contingent in Poland on its parish website, smaolean.org.
World Youth Day was initiated by Saint Pope John Paul II in the mid 1980s and has been celebrated internationally every 2 to 3 years at a different city around the world with the reigning pope attending.
