Cebu Archdiocese to host youth meet

The Cebu archdiocese has been named as the next host of a huge religious gathering – the National Youth Day (NYD) – an event organizers believe will again make history next to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC).

The formal announcement was revealed last Thursday in the culmination of the youth gathering in Zamboanga City, where the Archdiocese of Zamboanga played as this year's host of the biennial event.

"Cebu is chosen to host NYD 2019. It was officially turned over last Thursday at the Summit Centre of Universidad De Zamboanga during the Grand Festival Night of the NYD 2017," said Cebu Archdiocesan Commission on Youth coordinator Frankel Gerard Margallo.

Since the NYD was conceived in 1986, it would be the first time for Cebu, known widely as the country's cradle of Christianity, to host the event.

He said the commission wants to set the bar higher amid expectations from the successful staging of the 51st IEC last January 2016 in Cebu.

"It will be a grand celebration of the youth. We want to give our all. We want to showcase the best of Cebu this 2019 taking pride of a flourishing youth ministry," he said.

Margallo added they anticipate the participants to reach around 10,000 to 15,000 – the same number of delegates that joined the 51st IEC.

The Cebu archdiocese alone, he said, has over 10,000 youth members from 155 parishes.

"We will have a thorough preparation and this may start as early as January next year," he said.

Margallo said the local organizing committee is set to meet the representatives of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.

He said the event also serves as a precursor to a bigger event which is the fifth centenary celebration of the arrival of Christianity in 2021.

History has it that Christianity came to the country's shore through Cebu in 1521.

"It is very inspiring to know that the youth of Cebu will be part of a big event that is in anticipation of the 500th anniversary of the coming of Christianity. We had been dreaming of this that the (Cebu) archdiocese be given a chance to host the NYD," he added.

The NYD is an occasion offered for young people to celebrate and deepen their faith, coming together and united in a journey towards intimacy with Christ.