Carl Goldstone from the Diocese of Natal, South Africa was the first young Anglican to arrive. Photo: Nicholas Wheeler
Anglican youth from as far away as Australia have travelled to Brazil for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Youth Day.
Around thirty young people, aged between 18 and 30, are taking part in a ten-day parallel encounter for members of the Anglican Communion arranged by the Episcopal Church of Brazil.
The Revd Nicholas Wheeler, a priest in the host Diocese of Rio de Janeiro, said, “Ourcity is expecting one million young people from around the world totake part in the [World Youth Day] event. The theme is Go and make disciples of all nations.
“With such a great opportunity before us to encourage young people toattend more deeply to the call of Jesus Christ, our Diocesan YouthChaplaincy and our Diocesan Centre for Anglican Theological Educationsought to create a group of young people from across the AnglicanCommunion to take part in a ten-day parallel encounter.
“The group comprises nine representatives from overseas dioceses,nine young people from the dioceses of the Province of Brazil and nineyoung people from our own parishes.”
The encounter, endorsed by Brazil’s primate Archbishop Mauricio Andrade, aims to buildlinks between young people across the Communion to reflect, pray andshare together in an experience of a lifetime and consider what it meansto be a young Anglican today.
“We have been invitedto take part in Ecumenical Catechesis by the Roman Catholic Archdioceseof Rio de Janeiro and will be seeking to take the group to some of thekey moments in both the World Youth Day and the Papal Visit,” said MrWheeler.
The programme includes a celebration in the Anglican Cathedral of the Redeemer in Tijuca, sessions on ‘Being an young Anglican today’, an ecumenical youth event at the cathedral, plus sessions together with the World Youth Day attendees and Pope Francis.
Representatives of Alpha – the introduction to Christianitycourse started by a leading London Anglican church – have also beeninvited to participate in World Youth Day.
World Youth Day is held every two to three years. The last event washeld in August 2011, in Madrid, Spain, and brought together more than190 countries with two million people taking part.