The countdown has begun. It’s officially three months until millions of Catholics from around the world will meet in Panama for 16th international World Youth Day, Jan. 22-27.

The countdown has begun. It’s officially three months until millions of Catholics from around the world will meet in Panama for 16th international World Youth Day, Jan. 22-27.
While in New York for the U.N. General Assembly session, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela expressed great enthusiasm for next January’s World Youth Day in Panama City at a meeting with New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, at the cardinal’s residence in Manhattan Sept. 29.
The youth group from Incarnation parish, Queens Village, has one special goal in mind come January 2019: attending World Youth Day in Panama City, Panama. To help bring that to fruition, Father Christopher Bethge, parochial vicar, and Youth Minister Rose Ruesing are coming up with creative ways for the teens to offset the steep costs of the trip.
On the eve of Palm Sunday, Pope Francis gave young people several missions: to ask their grandparents what their dreams were; to work to make those dreams reality; and to let their bishops and the pope himself know what they need from the church.