Some Filipino delegates wait for the arrival of Pope Benedict at Cuatro Vientos Airport during the 2011 World Youth Day celebration in Madrid. (Photo: CNA)
MANILA, July 29, 2013—No less than Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma will be joining Filipino pilgrims to the upcoming World Youth Day (WYD), which is scheduled to take place in Brazil in two weeks time.
According to the Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY), the incumbent CBCP president will accompany some 38 young people from the Archdiocese of Cebu. The Commission on Youth (COY) Cebu delegation is reportedly bringing to WYD the advocacy to educate young people about the martyrdom of St. Pedro Calungsod.
Aside from Palma, Legaspi Bishop Joel Baylon and Kabankalan Bishop Patricio Buzon will also attend the WYD and accompany some 182 pilgrims under the ECY-Philippines Delegation.
Although the ECY-Philippines is considered as the official country delegation to the WYD, there are other dioceses that chose to deploy delegations separately including Novaliches with 30 pilgrims, Cubao with 25 delegates and Manila with 35 delegates.
Delegates from the diocese of Novaliches will be escorted by Bishop Antonio Tobias while the pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Manila and Cubao won’t have prelates joining their pilgrimage.
According to the ECY-Philippines delegation secretariat, headed by Fr. Conegundo Garganta, they also learned that Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros will attend the WYD. However, it is not clear if Oliveros will accompany the delegates from his diocese who are already part of the ECY-Philippines delegation.
Confirmed
There is no way to come up with a definite number of WYD pilgrims coming from the Philippines since there may be schools, parishes, communities, congregations and organizations that chose to send delegates on their own.
But as far as the ECY-Philippines delegation is concerned, Garganta disclosed that the 182 pilgrims who confirmed their attendance to the WYD are already representing 28 origins nationwide.
Garganta disclosed the statistics during a meeting with delegation secretariat members, which include YouthPinoy volunteers, last Thursday.
The ECY-Philippines delegation secretariat, however, clarified that there might be other Filipinos attending the WYD outside of the official country delegation and aside from those coming from Manila, Cubao, Novaliches and Cebu.
The ECY-Philippines delegation secretariat meeting was supposed to brief its volunteers about vital information on the WYD and about the flow of movements of the delegation. The ECY-Philippines delegation is expected to depart for Rio de Janeiro from July 13 to July 15, in time for the Missionary Week which will be held from July 17 to 21. The diocese of Petropolis will host the ECY-Philippines delegation during the Missionary Week.
Host parishes
Fr. Garganta said the 182 pilgrims under the ECY-Philippines delegation were grouped into four clusters which will be hosted by four different parishes under the Diocese of Petropolis. Each cluster has a minimum of 40 members.
The Parish of Our Lady of the Apparition will host Cluster 1 while the Parish of San Sebastian will host Cluster 2. Meanwhile, Cluster 3 will stay at the Parish of Our Lady of the Way and Cluster 4 with the Parish of San Nicolas.
The detailed schedule for the Missionary Week and the WYD week, which will take place from July 22 to 28 in Rio de Janeiro, will be made public among the pilgrims during the ECY-Philippines Delegation preparatory session set on July 6 and 7 in Don Bosco Makati.
For more stories about the Filipino delegation to the WYD, log on to wydpinoy.com. (YouthPinoy)
