PRESS RELEASE
11th July 2007
Archbishop Martin celebrates Mass in Sydney to young Irish as part of advance preparations for World Youth Day 2008
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Diarmuid Martin, has celebrated Mass with young Irish people in Sydney as part of advance preparations for World Youth Day (WYD) 2008. An estimated 10,000 young Irish people are living and working in Australia.
World Youth Day will be held in Sydney this time next year, and will mark the first visit to Australia of Pope Benedict XVI. 1.2 million people attended the final WYD Mass in Cologne two years ago.
Catholic Youth Care in Dublin is inviting young people, in Dublin and Australia, to book online with them for the event. The Dublin group will be based in St Patrick’s Parish in Bondi Beach, where Archbishop Martin celebrated Mass this week.
Today Archbishop Martin addressed the Melbourne Clergy Conference on the theme ‘The Parish: a new Mission Field’. Speaking on the changing nature of religious practice in Dublin he said many young people in the Diocese were totally un-churched, despite years of Catholic religious instruction in schools.
Archbishop Martin said the work of faith formation must become more and more central in the work of Parishes. He said the message of the Gospel is not ‘yesterday’s message’. “The family is the first parish, the first Church,” said Dr Martin. He added that parishes must invest in parents as the primary educators of children and restore their confidence in passing on the faith.
He said passing on the faith to young people is a time-consuming task. There are, he added high moments in such a task, among them the success of World Youth Days.
ENDS
More information on World Youth Day 2008 is available at www.wyd.ie
The full text of Archbishop Martin’s speech is available under ‘media archive’ at www.dublindiocese.ie
Further information:
Martin Long Director of Communications (086 172 7678)