Asian Youth Day: young Filipinos to discover the interfaith world

AYD will take place in Yogyakarta (archdiocese of Semarang) from 30 July to 6 August. Thousands of young Catholics are expected from all over Asia. The delegates of each country will spend a couple of days in different dioceses in Indonesia. For Stephen Borja of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, “The AYD is a fitting chance for all to experience the inter-cultural realities of Asia”.

Manila (AsiaNews) – The forthcoming 7th Asian Youth Day (AYD) in Indonesia will be a wonderful occasion for Filipino Catholic youth to know how their counterparts live their faith in a Muslim-majority country.

“Our Catholic youth from the Philippines, where Christianity is the majority religion, may sometimes tend to take their faith for granted,” said Stephen Borja, an official of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), speaking with AsiaNews.

Now, “Some 85 delegates bound for AYD from the Philippines will have a good opportunity to feel, know and experience how Catholics in Asia live their faith in an inter-faith context,” he added.

Organised by the Youth Desk of the Federation of the Asian Catholic Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), the AYD is set to take place in Yogyakarta, Semarang Archdiocese, from 30 July to 6 August.

Thousands of young Catholics from across Asia, accompanied by youth counsellors, priests, nuns and bishops, will participate in the much-anticipated youth event, which is held every three or four years in Asia.

Prior to the main event in Yogyakarta, delegates from each country will spend a couple of days in different dioceses across Indonesia in order to understand life in the local church in a concrete situation and interact with various groups of faith communities and cultures. Filipino delegates were assigned Jakarta Archdiocese and Bogor diocese.

“We are hopeful,” Borja said, “that our Filipino youth will have a joyful occasion to enrich their personal faith in Jesus as they encounter youth across Asia, and the Church in Indonesia and its varied cultures, so that they can find new ways to strengthen and sustain their faith experience to serve God and the Church”.

“The AYD is a fitting chance for all to experience the inter-cultural realities of Asia and respond and engage in meaningful dialogue with the pluralities of cultures, keeping in mind the theme of the event, the joy of the Gospel in this multi-cultural context.”

Since a vast majority of youth from the Philippines is unable to attend the AYD personally, the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Youth organised a series of events and activities nationwide, based on the modules of the AYD theme provided by the AYD organising committee in Indonesia.

“The purpose is that those youth who will not be present at the AYD in Indonesia, in a way, will have the opportunity to capture the essential aspects of AYD in their respective dioceses or parishes,” Borja said.

• philippines
• yogyakarta
• asian youth day
• ayd
• catholic church
• bishops conference