Traditional Catholic Youth at Juventutem to be Joined by Three Cardinals and Eight Bishops

Juventutem is an international contingent of young Catholics devoted to the traditional Latin Mass, attending World Youth Day 2005 in Germany. They will be joined by three cardinals and eight bishops, including Cardinals George, Arinze and Pell. Juventutem headquarters for WYD will be in Dusseldorf and will include the use of the Church of St. Antonius for liturgical events.

(PRWEB) May 13, 2005 -- This summer, thousands of young Catholics will meet in Cologne to celebrate World Youth Day 2005. They will be joined by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, whose first pontifical trip abroad will be to take part in these festivities in his homeland. One group of Catholic youth coming to this festival has an unusual interest: a devotion to the traditional Latin Mass. This Mass has been celebrated for hundreds of years in the Catholic Church, and continues to be supported in the Church today by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

These committed young Catholics are gathering under the name "Juventutem" after a quote from the prayers at the foot of the altar in the 1962 Roman Missal for Mass: Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum Qui laetificat juventutem meam." Translated from the Latin, this phrase means I will go up to the altar of the Lord, to God who gives joy to my youth."

Juventutem will be joined by an all-star panel of cardinals, archbishops and bishops:
Archbishop Georg Eder, Emeritus from Salzburg, Austria will celebrate a pontifical High Mass in the Abbey Ottobeuren for the opening of the Juventutem Bavarian retreat, on August 10th, 2005. Cardinal Francis George (Archbishop of Chicago; Vice-President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) will address the Juventutem delegation in Cologne and will lead them in praying the rosary; Cardinal Francis Arinze (Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments) will address the Juventutem youth and will preside at vespers and benediction; Cardinal George Pell (Archbishop of Sydney, Australia) will also celebrate traditional vespers and benediction.

Jean-Pierre Ricard (Archbishop of Bordeaux; President of the French Episcopal Conference; member of the Pontifical Ecclesia Dei Commission), Raymond Burke (Archbishop of Saint-Louis, USA), Czeslaw Kozon (Bishop of Copenhagen, Denmark), and André-Mutien Léonard (Bishop of Namur, Belgium) will meet with the youth from Juventutem in Cologne; Archbishop Wolfgang Haas of Vaduz, Liechtenstein, will offer a pontifical High Mass in Bavaria for Juventutem; Bishop Fernando Rifan (Superior of the St John Mary Vianney Apostolic Administration) and Bishop George Alencherry (Thuckalay, India) will accompany Juventutem for the whole program, from August 10th-16th in Bavaria and August 17th-21st in Cologne.

The Juventutem contingent will be staying in Düsseldorf, one of three cities where WYD delegations will be dispatched in the diocese of Cologne. The groups liturgical activities will be conducted in the vast Church of St. Antonius, one of the largest in the diocese. Its style and splendid organ will greatly complement the traditional Masses and pontifical vespers and benedictions that will take place there.

Prior to the 1960s, all Catholic Masses were in Latin and were celebrated according to a rite dating back to the 5th century. In 1988, Pope John Paul II called on all bishops throughout the world to grant generous access once again to the traditional Latin Mass in their dioceses, in a papal letter entitled Ecclesia Dei." Pope Benedict XVI has also supports the traditional Latin Mass, noting in his 1997 book Salt of the Earth": "I am of the opinion that the old rite should be granted much more generously to all those who desire it." The ancient Latin Mass is attracting increasing numbers of young Catholics, a phenomenon surprising to many who associate teens with a lack of interest in religion.

For more information on Juventutem, please visit www.juventutem.com. Deadline for registration is June 5th.

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