Twenty-five pilgrims from Bacolod diocese headed by the Diocesan Commission on Youth (DCY) director Fr. Arnold Deletina participated in the recently concluded National Youth Day held in Manila.
More than 3,000 youth from different dioceses and youth organizations across the country joined the National Youth Day (NYD) in Manila on November 14-19.
The Federation of National Youth Organizations which has 21 active members to date hosted the NYD celebration. Programs were held simultaneously in six Festival/Catechetical Sites. All the participants convened only during the Opening and Culminating programs which were held at Don Bosco Technical Institute, Makati and the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay, respectively.
This year’s national celebration of the NYD becomes more significant, as the event falls within the year of the declaration of the Year of the Youth by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, alongside with the 25th anniversary of the Episcopal Commission on Youth.
As an event within this celebration, it is hoped that NYD 2011 will leave a lasting impression on the youth and on the Church: for the young to experience God's preferential love for them; and for the Church, having been reminded of the urgency to minister to the young, to express renewed commitment to the youth ministry.
The participants from Bacolod said that the five-day event has met its objectives satisfactorily for it gave a venue for everyone to reflect and celebrate God's love.
The NYD has also been a great way to forge friendship and collaboration amongst everyone from different youth ministries.
To cap the NYD2011, ECY Chairman and Legazpi Bishop Joel Z. Baylon challenged everyone to be protagonists of the new evangelization.
“Let us be planted and established in Him, ever firm in the faith, so that we may become witnesses to the world, transforming it, doing away with what is evil, upholding what is good and life-giving, and preparing everything in it for the full flowering of the Kingdom of God,” he said.
The NYD is an event where the Philippine Church expresses, in very concrete ways, her great love for the young. It is an occasion offered for young people to celebrate and deepen their faith, and a special moment of coming together as one body, united in a journey towards intimacy with Christ.
The last NYD was held in Davao in 2006. (Ma. Lourdes Eudela/ADSUM)
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