More than 200 youths from across Uganda gathered last week in the Diocese of Lira from December 9-12, 2015 to celebrate the 2015 National Youth Day event.
The annual event, which was conducted under the theme of, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God’ was held with an aim of providing an opportunity for the youth to live and share in the universality of the Church, that in Christ we are indeed one, creating awareness among the youth on topical issues within their community and encouraging them to become change agents as well as strengthening and enkindling the apostolate in the host Arch/diocese.
“As Catholic youth, young people contribution towards helping each other to know and experience the different realities in the North, East, South, West and Central, thus this event promotes solidarity,” said the National Youth Coordinator of the Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC), Joyce Zako adding “By coming together, the young people are able to discuss their most intimate aspirations and experience the Church as communion, and make a commitment to the urgent task of evangelization.”
The four-day event was marked in style with lots of activities including a Holy Mass, confessions, music entertainment, cultural performance and sports competitions as an expression of unity among youth of different cultures, religions, and Christian denominations.
It attracted youth participants from the 19 dioceses in the country, National Youth Movements and Associations which include Young Christian Students, Young Christian workers, Xaverians, Uganda Catholic Scouts Fraternity, other Catholic Ecclesiastic movements and youth representatives from neighboring Episcopal Conferences like Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and South Sudan among other countries.
The UEC Chairman and Archbishop of Gulu, John Baptist Odama, Bishop of Lira, Rt. Rev Joseph Franzelli and Bishop Chairman of the Lay Apostolate Commission, Rt. Rev Paul Ssemogerere were also in attendance.
Since 1993, the Uganda National Catholic Youth Apostolate council which brings together all the diocesan youth apostolate leaders and their animators as well as youth within the Ecclesial movements and Association resolved that the National Youth Day celebrations be on a rational basis. The 2014 celebrations were held in the diocese of Kampala.
By Jacinta W. Odongo; Media Officer, Uganda Episcopal Conference