World Youth Day 2005: CCCB Ensures National Coordination

Thursday, May 27 2004

(CCCB-Ottawa) The Executive Committee of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has entrusted the Canadian coordination of World Youth Day (WYD) 2005 to the CCCB Communications Service, headed by Deacon William Kokesch and Mr. Sylvain Salvas. The World Youth Day celebrations are to be held in Cologne, Germany, 16-21 August 2005.

Deacon Kokesch and Mr. Salvas are the Directors of the CCCB Communications Service. They both have WYD experience, as they were involved with World Youth Day in Toronto, Rome and Paris. They will also be aided by the expertise of former CCCB Associate General Secretary Mr. Gérald Baril, who will help handle logistics, a task he already carried out in France in 1997 and in Italy in 2000.

The national coordination of WYD 2005 consists mainly of encouraging a strong presence by young Canadian pilgrims for the German celebration, establishing links between the Cologne organizing committee and the CCCB, setting up a Canadian “headquarters” in Cologne for the duration of the six-day event in August 2005, and transmitting information from the WYD 2005 organizing committee to the dioceses of Canada to help them prepare for the event.

With less than 450 days remaining until WYD 2005, most Canadian dioceses are already well underway with their preparations for the event. Many groups have already been established at the local level, and many more are in the process of being organized. Young people who have already not done so should contact their dioceses on how to take part in this event.

World Youth Day is a celebration of faith by young people from around the world who gather at the invitation of the Holy Father. Young pilgrims from more than 160 countries came to Toronto in 2002 to meet one another, share their experiences and faith, and gather together in the presence of the Pope.