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Reminder Assistant Editor LONGMEADOW Youth church groups are known for the commitment to helping out in their communities, but how often do those communities get the chance to give those youth a once in a lifetime opportunity? Come to St. Mary's parish-wide tag/book/bake sale on June 14 and buy something you like. In doing so, you'll help send 13 parishioners to World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia. World Youth Day is the largest youth event in the world, according to the organization's Web site, www.wyd2008.org. Organized by the Catholic Church, the event will be bringing together an estimated 125,000 international visitors more than the 2000 Olympic Games. The event, taking place from July 15 to 20, starts with five days in a diocese, according to Patti Monroe, director of Faith Formation at St. Mary's. "Each youth will live with a family in a diocese for those five days," Monroe explained, "and our group will be staying in Auckland, New Zealand." She said the purpose of this is to immerse the youth from around the world in the local culture and meet with local church leaders. The five days culminate with a final Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI on July 20, the actual World Youth Day. This will be the pope's first visit to Australia. This will be the second time a group from St. Mary's will be traveling to a World Youth Day event. The first took place two years ago, when Monroe brought a group of 10 to Germany. The approximate cost for each person for this journey is $3,500, Monroe said, and since fundraising started around Christmas, it's been going well so far. "The church has been more than generous," Monroe told Reminder Publications. "It's not just fundraising, though, not just a trip. The whole parish is going over there, not just the 13 of us. It's a matter of really connecting with parishioners." The triple fundraising benefit will be taking place one day only, June 14, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Father Forhan Auditorium in St. Mary's, located at 519 Longmeadow St. The tag sale will include household furnishings, dishes, tools, toys and more. The used book sale will offer children's books, novels, cookbooks and fiction and non-fiction of every type. This will be the last of six weekly Sunday bake sales, and will offer cakes, cookies, breads and homemade candy. St. Mary's is still looking for people to donate, Monroe said, but more importantly, is looking for people to simply come to the event. "This is very exciting and it's very moving to see [the group traveling to World Youth Day] in their young age immersed in their faith and continuing to develop their relationships with God," Monroe said. For more information or to donate an item, call St. Mary's rectory at 567-3124. |
