World Youth Day USA Guides Stateside Pilgrimage Leaders Guide | Page 6

Introduction to the Guide
Congratulations! You have decided to host a

social networks, a new kind of pilgrim has

stateside pilgrimage for World Youth Day.

emerged – and stateside gatherings are a real

You have embarked on an adventure of

and powerful way to tend the spirit of those

planning, organizing, budgeting, visioning,

new pilgrims in our midst. The Stateside

negotiating, packing, and general busyness.

Leaders Guide begins with a reflection on the

You have also embarked on a process of

realities of what it means to be a pilgrim both as

helping young Catholics encounter Christ and

the one who goes to WYD and as the one

walk in solidarity with fellow disciples around

who participates from afar. It also looks at the

the world. The goal of this Stateside Leaders

opportunities and pitfalls engaging in

Guide is to assist in making the first part less

pilgrimage in the digital age. The second

daunting and the second part more powerful.

section shares insights on the role you play as a

In 2013, when Pope Francis offered World

stateside pilgrim leader, particularly

Youth Day (WYD) pilgrims a special blessing

encouraging you to go beyond organizer to

(officially speaking: a plenary and/or partial

witness. The third chapter is presented as a

indulgence), he not only included those who

workbook, designed to aid you in the process

were traveling to Rio de Janeiro, but also

of planning your stateside pilgrimage. It includes

those “who are legitimately prevented” from

checklists and space for brainstorming. This

traveling and those who would be following

chapter also includes several templates of

the activities “in spirit…via television or

stateside celebrations. The guide ends with

radio, or always with appropriate devotion, by

both the theory and the practice of engaging

the new means of social communication…

in effective follow-up gatherings with stateside and

wherever they may be during the above

international pilgrims. It joins the experiences

mentioned gathering.”1 By this act, Pope

of the two groups by renewing the call to

Francis reminds us that the World Youth Day

solidarity, witness, and going forth as

pilgrimage is not limited to those who have

missionary disciples. May God bless your

the means to travel internationally, but to all

plans, bless you in your work, and pour

who journey with a faithful heart. Now more

abundant blessings upon those who gather

than ever, in the age of global media and

with you as part of World Youth Day 2016.

1

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/docume
nts/rc_trib_appen_doc_20130709_decreto-indulgenze-gmg_en.html

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