Next year National Youth Day to be held in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — The Archdiocese of Cebu and the national organizing committee have officially launched the National Youth Day (NYD) in 2019, a gathering of Catholic youths from all over the country.

The religious event will be held in Cebu for the first time since the NYD was conceived in 1986. It is slated for April 23-28.

“Next year it is the Year of the Youth. And so the timing of Cebu hosting the NYD is most appropriate,” said Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.

Among the reasons why Cebu was chosen as host for NYD is it being the country’s cradle of Christianity, the prelate said.

“Everybody knows that and related to that is our famous Sto. Niño devotion,” he said.

Also, Fr. Conegundo Garganta, executive director of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of  the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Youth (CBCP-ECY), said Cebu’s dynamic youth ministry has become the province’s edge.

“Primarily the criterion is the presence and existence of a dynamic and vibrant youth ministry to which we believe the Archdiocese of Cebu has,” he said.

Palma said next year’s event serves as “a celebration of joy, a celebration of friendship, a celebration of hope, and a celebration of bonding young people and those of us who want to be young or young at heart.”

“There’s so much we should celebrate in the youth. We should celebrate being young,” he said.

Palma, Garganta, ECY Secretariat Stephen Borja, Commission on Youth (CoY) Chairman and Secretary General Fr. Mark Rommel Barneso, CoY Assistant Chair Fr. Andrei Vintanilla, and CoY-Cebu Coordinator Frankel Gerard Margallo led yesterday’s NYD 2019 launching at the Archbishop Palace in Cebu City.

Around 10,000 to 15,000 delegate s— the same number of delegates that joined the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in January 2016 — are expected to join next year’s NYD, which is in time for the archdiocese’s 85th anniversary.

The Cebu archdiocese alone has over 10,000 youth members from 155 parishes.

The organizers pegged the expenses at P20 million.

The NYD is an occasion offered for young people to celebrate and deepen their faith, coming together and united in a journey towards intimacy with Christ.

Youth aged 13 to 39 and single is welcome to join the NYD.

Registration fee is P1,500 each, inclusive of kits, basic medicines, notes, and insurance. Registration will start from July and will run until December this year.

Fundraising

On the other hand, a fundraising activity dubbed as “Hudyaka” for NYD will be held today at the IEC Convention Center from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The logo and theme song for NYD 2019 will also be launched during the event.

Tickets are sold at the respective parishes in Cebu with rates ranging from P100 to P1,500. — Kris Imea C. Ruales UV AB English Intern (FREEMAN)