On August 12th to the 18th, the Uijeongbu Diocese of Korea will host the 2nd Catholic Youth Day.The 1st Korean Youth Day was in the Diocese of Cheju in 2007. It drew the youth from parishes throughout the country. It was also a preparation for the World Youth Day in Australia in 2008.These Youth Days are organized like past International Youth Days. The host diocese organizes daily conferences, discussions and prayers, and celebrates Mass and the sacrament of reconciliation. Attendees stay with local families or in places designated by the host.
The youth commission of the Korean Bishops Conference will sponsor the event with the Diocese doing most of the preparation. Uijeongbu Diocese has over 260 Volunteers that have attended the inaugural Mass and have started preparations with numerous meetings, seminars, and rehearsals.
The event will be held with the theme: "Hope In God" (Isaiah 26:8).
The next World Youth Day will be held in 2011 in Madrid, Spain, and in 2012, the Korean Catholic Church will host the Asian Catholic Youth Meeting, which is held during the years when there is no International Youth Day celebration. Hosting the Asian Catholic Youth Day should be good preparation for the Korean Church, when they have the chance to host the International Youth Day. As organizers, they are hard to beat.
The Church in Korea is justly concerned about the youth. They are the future, and statistics have shown that many of them are no longer going to Sunday Mass or show any interest in the spiritual. The need to work with the younger generation is urgent, but the postmodern world view that is so predominant among the young makes it difficult to reach them. An important aspect of this world view is the belief that so-called 'truths' have caused us only trouble, and thus the attraction of relativism for the young is easy to understand. The efforts of the Church to get youth to come together to discuss and reflect on life can't have anything but a positive effect on the future of Catholicism in Korea.
