WORLD YOUTH DAY USA INTERNATIONAL TM PILGRIMAGE Leaders Guide in preparation for World Youth Day 2019 World Youth Day USA International Pilgrimage Leaders Guide Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 1 World Youth Day USA – International Pilgrimage Leaders Guide Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to the Guide 4 The Pilgrims 6 Encounter, Accompany, Send: The Role of the World Youth Day Pilgrimage Leader 9 Foundations: Pilgrimage and World Youth Day 18 1. Remember that World Youth Day is a pilgrimage (not a vacation). 19 2. Encounter the Universal Church at World Youth Day. 20 3. Celebrate World Youth Day in community and communion. 22 4. Be proud of your heritage of mercy as a pilgrim from the United States. 24 5. Prepare spiritually for your journey. 26 6. Be open to the Holy Spirit, wherever he may be leading you. 27 7. Keep the fire burning… the end of World Youth Day is only the beginning. 30 World Youth Day Resource Logistics: Practical Tips for Pilgrimage Leaders 32 Coming Down From the Mountain: Accompanying Pilgrims on the Return Home 55 APPENDIX: Sample Post-WYD Group Sharing Sessions 61 2 World Youth Day USA International Pilgrimage Leaders Guide The World Youth Day USA Stateside Pilgrimage Leaders Guide was developed as a resource and approved by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It was authorized for publication by the undersigned. Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield General Secretary, USCCB Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition © 2000, Libreria Editrice Vaticana – United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Excerpts from Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio © 1990 Libreria Editice Vaticana (LEV), Vatican City; Pope John Paul II, “Message of the Holy Father on the Occasion of the Seventeenth World Youth Day,” July 25, 2001© 2001 LEV; Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est © 2005 LEV; Pope Benedict XVI, “Meeting with Volunteers of the Twenty-Sixth World Youth Day,” August 21, 2011 © 2011, LEV; Pope Benedict XVI, “Message of the Holy Father on the Occasion of the Twenty-Seventh World Youth Day,” March 12, 2012 © 2012 LEV; Pope Francis, “Degree of the Apostolic Penitentiary according to which Special Indulgences are grated to the faithful on the occasion of the 28th World Youth Day,” June 24, 2013 © 2013 LEV; Pope Francis, “Meeting with young people from Argentina,” July 25, 2013 © 2013, LEV; Pope Francis, “Homily for the Closing Mass on the Occasion of the Twenty- Eighth World Youth Day,” July 28, 2013 © 2013, LEV; Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium © 2013, LEV; Pope Francis, “General Audience,” September 10, 2014 © 2014, LEV; Pope Francis, “Message for the Thirtieth World Youth Day 2015,” January 31, 2015 © 2015, LEV; Pope Francis, “Message for the Thirty-First World Youth Day 2016,” August 15, 2015 © 2015, LEV; 2017, LEV; Pope Francis, “Message for the Thirty-Second World Youth Day 2017,” Used with permission. All rights reserved. World Youth Day Official Prayer © 2017 Local Organizing Committee WYD Panama World Youth Day Prayer for the United States © 2017 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2018, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. 3 Introduction to the Guide Congratulations! You have decided to lead a men and women who guide various pilgrimages pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Panama. to the international WYD may continue to You have embarked on an adventure of witness a transformation in and conversion of visioning, planning, organizing, budgeting, their own hearts and ministry efforts. negotiating, and packing. You have also embarked on a process of helping young The Leader’s Guide seeks to share perspectives, Catholics encounter Christ and walk in information, and resources that can be helpful solidarity with fellow disciples around the to internationally-bound WYD pilgrim leaders. world. The goal of this International Pilgrim Leaders Guide is to assist in making the planning First, the Leaders Guide explores the role you less daunting and the experience more fruitful. play as an international pilgrim leader. In this section, you are encouraged to go beyond being When Pope John Paul II came to Denver, an organizer to being a witness. Colorado, for World Youth Day (WYD) in August 1993, it was a watershed moment for The second section of the guide outlines seven youth, campus, and young adult ministries principles to guide you and suggestions on ways across the United States. As each year passes, to make World Youth Day a true pilgrimage of the international WYD experience continues to faith. This section examines how WYD stands be a significant moment in the life of those who apart from other ministry initiatives for youth participate in the host nation and, in ever- and young adults by its emphasis on solidarity increasing numbers, those who take part and encounter with the Holy Father and the digitally and through at-home, “stateside” Universal Church. It also features ways to WYD experiences in their home country. connect youth and young adults to generations of pilgrim saints and spiritual guides that can The World Youth Day pilgrimage is designed inspire them to live out the call to holiness. to provoke a transformative or conversion experience in the lives of pilgrims, but what is The third section of this Leader’s Guide offers often unexpected is the change that occurs in some practical tools for navigating the size and the hearts and minds of ministry leaders. The 4 scope of the WYD event, and how – as leaders towards missionary discipleship – that is, being – an important part of your role is logistical. both a follower of Christ (a “disciple”) and sent by him into the world (a “missionary”). Finally, the fourth section of the Leaders Guide will explore ways that you can assist pilgrims The Leaders Guide, then, is not just a manual for after World Youth Day. Often, the follow-up to best practices in international travel, but a guide a big event like WYD is overlooked, but it is for forming missionary disciples from among important to harness the energy and enthusiasm those who embark on the WYD pilgrimage. that an event like this generates for the good of the Church and society. Reunions and faith- You have an important role as a WYD leader. sharing immediately following the trip is You and others who have accepted this helpful, but this guidebook will go a little challenge follow in the footsteps of great deeper. It is meant to help you to encourage Catholic leaders before you. You join the father your pilgrims to pray, reflect, and discern in the and patron of this event, St. John Paul II, who time after WYD. It is also meant to assist you as a priest and bishop in Communist-controlled in preparing your parish, diocese/eparchy, Kraków, accompanied youth and young adults and/or community, including the friends and on their journeys of faith. His example reminds families of pilgrims, to welcome back the us that this role – the role of a leader who international travelers. Within this section, there accompanies and journeys with others on the are some suggestions on how to connect road of discipleship – can be equally demanding international participants with stateside and and rewarding. Leaders have a unique digital pilgrims who celebrated the events of opportunity to invite World Youth Day WYD in the United States. Most importantly, pilgrims to follow Christ and to nurture that there are some ideas on helping your pilgrims encounter so that they can take on the task of take concrete and attainable action steps transforming the world. 5 The Pilgrims Your role as an international WYD organizer is direction. The leader has a responsibility to see not as an activities coordinator or a travel agent. each pilgrim as they are, with their own story Rather, you have been called to be a pilgrim and with their own expectations. The leader leader, accompanying young people on a looks with compassion and mercy on the journey towards an encounter with Christ. people God has placed before him or her. The hectic or mundane tasks of preparing Take time to get to know your pilgrims. Pray youth and/or young adults for international for each one, by name, every day. Listen travel can sometimes cloud the vision of what a attentively to their stories. Take an active pilgrimage leader has been called to do. It is interest in their lives and situations. As a critical, then, for you, as a WYD leader, to pilgrim leader, you represent a supportive prayerfully reflect on what you are undertaking, pastoral presence in the lives of your pilgrims. and for the pilgrims you will be with. Putting together a pilgrimage can be all Who are the young people who are going to consuming, but one of the most important WYD in Panamá? They are sons and daughters responsibilities for the leader is to tend to the of God.