"WYD can be an opportunity"The United States is one of the five countries with the most participants in this event. The organizers of the pilgrimage from North America have prepared for those attending this event moments of prayer, masses, musical concerts and spaces for dialogue with young people from other parts of the world. They will also be able to attend daily catechesis sessions in English called "Rise up!", which will be given by some of the English-speaking bishops.
Following his arrival, on the evening of August 2, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will host a national gathering of pilgrims in Lisbon's Quinta das Conchas Park. The gathering will feature music, youth testimonies, a holy hour offered as part of the National Eucharistic Revival (led by Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas), as well as a reflection by Bishop Robert E. Barron, Bishop of Winona-Rochester and chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.
Referring to this trip, Msgr. Barron said: "Our country is looking forward to this pilgrimage with joy. It will be a wonderful opportunity for young people to have an encounter with Jesus Christ in the company of the universal Church. It will also be a moment for the Holy Father and Church leaders to listen to young people, form them in the Gospel and ultimately send them out on their vocation and mission in the world," Barron said. The USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth and Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) collaborated with WYD 2023 organizers on the English version of the official hymn, "Feel the rush in the air," which was released earlier this month by OCP and can be viewed on this website:
WYD Denver 1993
The first time WYD VIII was held in the United States was in August 1993, in Denver,
Colorado, and was presided over by St. John Paul II. During the prayer vigil of August 14, the Holy Father
He exhorted the young people: "The Spirit has brought you to Denver to fill you with new life. To give you
a stronger faith, hope and love. Everything about you has been taken by the Holy Spirit to
to make of you living stones of the spiritual edifice which is the Church (cf. 1 Pet 2:5). This Church is
He loves her as a husband loves his wife. This Church today, in the United States
and in all the countries from which they come, they need the affection and cooperation of their
young people, the hope for their future. In the Church, everyone has a role to play and all of us together
we build the one body of Christ, the one people of God".
