Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 16, 2013 / 14:03 pm
During World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, more than 250 bishops from around the world will preside at catechetical sessions for pilgrims from July 24-26.
"At the catecheses, we will have to limit the number of entries," Father Leandro Lenin, director of World Youth Day's pastoral preparation department, announced July 15.
Each session will take place from 9am to 1pm, and will conclude with a Mass said by the bishop catechist. Throughout the morning, young people will be able to go to confession and ask questions of the bishops.
"Each catechesis has been designed for a certain group of pilgrims, and we will avoid, if possible, overloading any catechesis session," Fr. Lenin said.
The bishops will be stationed at a different catechesis location each day. Fr. Lenin added that the location of each bishop will not be revealed.
"We would like that contact between the young people and the bishop to be a surprise every morning."
The bishop catechists will focus on three different themes during each of the sessions. Only July 24, the theme will be "Thirst for hope, thirst for God." On July 25, "Being a disciple of Christ" will be the theme, and on July 26, "Go be a missionary."
Eight American bishops will be giving catecheses in English. They are Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York; Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver; Bishop Edward Burns of Juneau; Bishop Frank Caggiano, auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn; Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia; Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio; Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee; and Cardinal Sean O'Malley, archbishop of Boston.
In addition, Bishop Edgar da Cunha, an auxiliary bishop of the Newark archdiocese, will give catecheses in Portuguese. Bishop da Cunha is a Brazilian native, and became a missionary to the U.S. for the Vocationist Fathers before he was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Newark in 2003.
Another 16 bishops, from Antigua, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, the Philippines, England, Ghana, India, Ireland, Malta, Nigeria, Scotland and South Africa will join the American bishops in giving English-language catecheses.
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