The Ghana National Catholic Youth Council (GHANCYC) which is the parent body of all the Catholic youth in the 20 Archdioceses, Dioceses and Vicariate is celebrating the 4th Ghana Version of the World Youth Day.

This programme which is being hosted by the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, seeks to bring together all the youth from the other 19 Dioceses to share their faith, their different cultures, learn and also to network.

It will be held under the auspices of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) on the theme “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favour with God” (Lk 1:30).

The celebration begins from the 27th July and ends on 5th August 2018.

The programme is divided into two main parts. Part one is from 27th – 31st July 2018 and Part two is from 1st – 5th August 2018.

The first part which is called the Mission days or Days in the Deaneries will see pilgrims arrive in the six deaneries in the Archdiocese of Accra.

These youth pilgrims will stay with families of parishioners they have been assigned to. There will be programmes held across the six Deaneries concurrently which ranges from games, musical concert, evangelisation and medical screening, as well as a tour of Accra

Part two is when all the youth will move from the various parishes in the Deaneries to converge at the University of Ghana where various programs will be held. Some of the programs to be held include the Opening Mass by host Bishop, Opening Ceremony, Seminars, Catechesis, Float, Movies, Choral and Drama Night climaxed with a Closing Mass.

Over 5000 youth are expected to participate in this celebration. Some of the dignitaries expected to grace this celebration include the President and Vice President of Ghana, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, the Bishops from the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC), Ministers of State and Members of Parliament.

Background of the World Youth Day

The world youth day was initiated by Pope John Paul II now St John Paul II in the year 1985. This was an occasion that brought all the Catholic youth around the world together to celebrate their various cultures, socialize and also celebrate their faith. This convention of millions of youth, priests, religious men and women, is celebrated triennially (every three years) at the International level in a particular (selected) country. Two years ago, the World Youth Day saw over 3 million youth gather in Krakow, Poland. In January of 2019, the event will be hosted in Panama.

The Holy Father asked countries, dioceses and deaneries to organise the world youth day at their levels too ahead of the international one. In Ghana, the world youth day is celebrated at the National, Diocesan and Deanery Level.

In 2018, the Archdiocese of Accra will be hosting the 4th Version of the World Youth Day at the National Level. This program aims to replicate what happens on the international platform in our country Ghana. For this reason, it seeks to bring all the youth from the 19 Catholic Archdioceses, Dioceses and Vicariate to join the youth in the Archdiocese of Accra to celebrate the Ghana version of the World Youth Day.

Due to the success of the previous celebrations in Tamale, Kumasi and Cape Coast, the number of participants kept on rising.  At the last version in Cape Coast in 2015, about 4,000 youth celebrated the Ghana Version of the World Youth Day.  It is expected that in 2018, not less than 5,000 youths will participate in this national event.