Four Representatives of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma Participate in the World Youth Day Celebrations in Krakow, Poland
Between July 25th and 31st, 2016 four young people from the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma participated in the World Youth Day celebrations that took place in the city of Krakow, Poland.
Three siblings: Micaela, Arielle and Joel Kreuzwieser, parishioners of Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Youngstown, OH as well as Joseph Levy of Gibsonia, PA, a member of the Eparchial Youth Committee and the leader of the group, joined three millions of their fellow pilgrims from around the world July 25-31, 2016 in the World Youth Day celebrations in Krakow, Poland under the leadership of Pope Francis. The theme for this year’s World Youth Day was taken from the Gospel of Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
The event officially began on 26 July at Krakow’s Blonia Park with an Opening Ceremony, the fulcrum of which was the celebration of Holy Mass, presided over by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwicz, Archbishop Metropolitan of Krakow and a long-time personal secretary of St. John Paul II, who, together with St. Faustyna Kowalska, “Apostle of Divine Mercy,” were the patron saints of this year’s World Youth Day. During his homily Cardinal Dziwisz encouraged the young people to keep their hearts and minds accessible to what the Lord would reveal to them during the World Youth Day events. “Let us share our faith, our experiences, our hopes,” he said. “My dear young friends, may these days be an opportunity to form your hearts and minds.”
During their days in Poland, the pilgrims had an opportunity to pray, go to confession, hear catechetical presentations, visit Krakow’s beautiful churches, sing, dance as well as spend time with each other and with Pope Francis. The Holy Father, among various encounters with the young people, passed through the Door of Mercy with five youth representatives from different countries, presided over the Prayer Vigil on 30 July as well as the closing Holy Mass on July 31 at “Campus Misericordiae” or “Field of Mercy” – the name given to the special site, designed specifically for the Prayer Vigil and the closing Mass.
world youth day parma
At the Saturday night vigil, Pope Francis warned the youth against “sofa-happiness,” saying that in giving priority to effortlessness and convenience, we mistake “happiness with consumption” and “end up paying a high price indeed: we lose our freedom.” He said “Jesus is the Lord of risk” and is “calling you to leave your mark on history.” “God comes to break open everything that keeps you closed in. He is encouraging you to dream. He wants to make you see that, with you, the world can be different,” Pope Francis told the youth. “For the fact is, unless you offer the best of yourselves, the world will never be different.”
During the concluding Holy Mass at Blonia Park in Krakow, Pope Francis said: “No one is insignificant.” “He loves all of us with a special love; for him all of us are important. You are important,” the Holy Father said. “He believes in us even more than we believe in ourselves. He is always cheering us on; He is our biggest fan.”
Reflecting on their journey to Krakow, the three Kreuzwieser siblings shared their experiences of the World Youth Day celebrations in Poland. Arielle said: “What I have noticed was the unity among people. Despite their cultures and differences, they were all harmonious with one another. It was great being able to freely express my faith among people who also live the faith.” And according to her older sister Micaela, “It was a very refreshing, hopeful, and eye-opening experience. I was most impressed by the amount of beautifully detailed churches in the city as well as how devoutly all the visiting pilgrims lived their faith. It showed the high dedication and importance that they placed on God and His Kingdom. It was very unifying, metaphysical and sacred.” And for the two sisters’ brother Joel: “The pilgrimage was surely exhausting and the amount of walking you had to do was unimaginable. But what made this a great experience was the number of Catholics and believers that were there, the old great traditional churches in the city and the feeling of great honor to be in the presence of the Pope himself. It made our little group realize that we were not alone. It just left me stunned.”
After the closing Mass in Krakow, Pope Francis announced that the next World Youth Day will take place in the Central American country of Panama in 2019.
