‘Church has bright future if young people are given a chance,’ said Yuma Pilgrim of World Youth Day

By Carissa Krautscheid 
 
Nothing could have prepared Tony Negrete for his first World Youth Day. The 27-year-old Yuma native traveled for 17 hours from the southwestern corner of the United States to the western edge of Europe: Portugal. He was accompanied by 20 young adults and 8 adults from Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Yuma and joined by 1.5 million Catholics from across the globe. 
 
Lisbon hosted the 17th World Youth Day, a tradition that originated in 1984 by Saint John Paul II. Every three years, young Catholics (typically ranging in age from 16-35) from every corner of the world gather for a week with the Holy Father, catechetical sessions with bishops, Eucharistic adoration, reconciliation, music, stations of the cross, a walking pilgrimage to an overnight vigil site, and Mass with the Pope. This World Youth Day had no fewer than 13 patrons, including St. John Paul II, St. John Bosco, St. Anthony of Padua, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, Bl. Chiara Badano, and Bl. Carlo Acutis. Throughout the pilgrimage, participants sought the intercession of these holy men and women, and also looked to their lives as models of holiness for young people.  
 
Attending World Youth Day is certainly an investment, especially for those traveling overseas. Pilgrims from St. Francis were responsible for paying $3,125 for the 14-day trip, which included extended visits to Fatima, Lourdes, and Paris after departing Lisbon. The Yuma pilgrims were very grateful to receive support through fundraisers and in the form of grants from Catholic Home Missions and the local Knights of Columbus Council #1806. 

 

Before Negrete left Yuma, he “wanted to know what place young adults had in the Catholic Church,” said Negrete, who is a teacher at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School. “I have been told that young adults and youth are the future of the Church, but that means the future is going to be shaped in the image of our generation; it’s not going to look like how the previous generations envisioned it. I wanted to go and meet with these young people and see what our future looks like. I wanted to come back with my faith reignited so I could share that vision with my parish.” 
 
A Yuma native, Negrete was well-acclimated for the Portuguese heatwave. Even so, World Youth Day was not comfortable, but Negrete discovered that he is stronger than he thought because he had his faith to sustain him. Negrete was inspired by so many people who were “putting up with a lot of discomfort and pain to see a man who wasn’t a politician, a singer, or an actor. Even though it seems faith is on the decline in America and Europe, 1.5 million people were doing this to see the Pope.” 
 
Negrete’s fellow pilgrim, Hector Aceves agreed. “It was surreal,” said the 36-year-old. During World Youth Day, Aceves felt consolation in his calling to serve Christ as a medical doctor. “I am used to being the minority around friends and colleagues. Seeing so many young Catholics was uplifting and encouraging.” For Aceves, seeing Pope Francis was “a big morale boost.” 

 
 
Negrete observed that the Holy Father “clearly cares a lot about the youth of the Church.” Despite his health limitations, “he still faced the youth of the Church to encourage us to continue striving for holiness.” The young people chanted, "Esta es la juventud del Papa! These are the youth of the Pope!” 
 
Yuma chaplain, Father Emilio Chapa, has been to four World Youth Day pilgrimages. “I love to see how excited the young people are to be together and celebrate their faith together as One Church,” he said. “You see the youthful part of the Universal Church because there are literally youth from all over the world at World Youth Day, and they all have one goal: to get closer to Christ. There was so much energy, and creativity, and friendliness. Young people from all different countries would approach the youth from my group and strike up a conversation even though they are complete strangers and from far off lands because at World Youth Day, no one is a stranger: all have a common bond and that bond is Christ.” 
 
“However, despite the energy and the socializing,” said Fr. Emilio, “when a sacred moment came, when they brought out the monstrance with the Eucharist for adoration, all 1.5 million youth and their chaperones got on their knees and just adored our Lord. It was amazing: 1.5 million and you could have heard a pin drop. All were silent because they knew that our Lord was truly there, and our Lord was going to do something incredible at that time: speak to our hearts! That was one of my favorite moments of World Youth Day, all the youth from all over the world adoring our Eucharistic Lord in complete silence. It was so special and hard to describe.” 
 
According to Mariana Nuñez, a young adult leader at St. Francis, “taking young adults to World Youth Day allows the young adult to do some soul searching, healing, and exploration of the world.” 
 
Surely young adults around the globe echo the sentiments of the pilgrims from the Diocese of Tucson: “World Youth Day was unbelievable,” summarized Negrete. “Everywhere I looked, I knew that the people I saw all believed in the same thing and wanted to focus their lives around a common goal. It made me believe that the Catholic Church has a bright future if we can make sure that young people are given the chance to grow and become the next generation of leaders.” 
 
The 2027 World Youth Day will take place in Seoul, South Korea. Young adults and youth are encouraged to attend this inspiring pilgrimage.