Meeting of Redemptorist Youth in Wroclaw

Almost 600 young people from Redemptorist groups from all over the world took part in   Redemptorist Youth Meeting  from 20 to 25 July 2016 in Wroclaw.

It was a special time of preparation before the WYD in Cracow.

On one hand it was a time of prayer and reflections. The participants had catechesis in different languages, common liturgical prayers, adoration of the Cross, and they were invited for special mercy deeds. They visited the nursing homes, older people in their homes, they worked as babysitters, they helped to clean the cemetery and so on.

There were also special moments of joy, music and dances every day. The youth from various countries shared their culture, traditions and customs. Music bands from many countries accompanied our groups.

The youth visited many interesting places in Wroclaw and in its vicinity. There was also a special concert in the Wroclaw stadium where Sister Cristina from Italy (the winner of Voice of Italy) and a choir of a thousand singers helped the youth to have a wonderful time.

There were Redemptorist youth groups from 19 countries: Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Burkina Faso, the Philippines, France, Spain, Indonesia, Iraq, Madagascar, Peru, Poland, Russia (from Asia and Europe), Singapore, Slovakia, Ukraine, Vietnam and Ivory Coast. All of them lived on the student campus close to our Redemptorist Parish in Wroclaw.

The Superior General (Fr. Michael Brehl), two General Consultors (Fr. Alberto Eseverri and Fr. Jacek Dembek), the Coordinator of the Conference of Europe (Fr. Jacek Zdrzałek) the Provincial of Warsaw Province (Fr. Janusz Sok) and many other guests took part in this meeting.

There was also archbishop Bashar Warda CSSR from Erbil in Iraq with the most numerous group of almost 200 young people. Many of these young people experienced various types of persecutions in their country.

All these days were very well prepared by Warsaw Province and by many dedicated volunteers. The Redemptorist youth left Wroclaw on 25 July and went to Cracow for central meeting of WYD.

Fr. Jacek Zdrzałek CSsR