World Youth Day – Krakow 2016

Dominican Friars leading pilgrimage to World Youth Day – Krakow 2016.

The Dominican Friars will be taking a group of pilgrims to the World Youth Day celebrations in Krakow next summer (22 July – 1 August 2016). Pope Francis is expected to join over 2 million Catholics from all over the world, gathered in a historic city with a strong Dominican influence.
The group is being organised by the Dominican Youth Movement and is open to all Catholics aged 18-35. It follows the success of our pilgrimage to WYD Madrid in 2011 and the Dominican Way pilgrimages to Canterbury in 2014 and 2015.

 Fr Greg Pearson, the principal organiser of the Dominican group, told us:
‘The Dominican Friars are very excited to be taking a group to World Youth Day in Krakow next year. WYD will be an opportunity for our group to deepen their faith together with as many as two million fellow young Catholics from around the world, and we’re really looking forward to being part of that.’

The group will travel by coach from the UK, taking the opportunity to visit Cologne –site of the relics of St Albert the Great, patron of our Edinburgh chaplaincy – and stay overnight in Colditz Castle (now a youth hostel rather than a prison!). At WYD itself the accommodation will be provided by the organisers, either with families, in school halls or in large tents – so pilgrims will need to bring a sleeping bag!

The main World Youth Day events in Krakow run from Tuesday 26th to Sunday 31st July. There will be events all over the city – including in our own Dominican priory – building up to the vigil with the Pope on the Saturday evening, and the Sunday Mass, also celebrated by Pope Francis, which concludes the event.
The city of Krakow has a great Dominican history. St Hyacinth, who received the habit from St Dominic himself, established the Dominican presence there in 1223, and is a patron of the city. Every day, many pilgrims visit his tomb in the Dominican church. Amazingly, the Dominicans have maintained a continuous presence in Krakow since the 13th century, one of only three such places in the world.

So Krakow is a great city to visit, WYD is a great event, and the Dominicans will make sure you have a great time!

 Places are already filling up, but there is still time to join WYD 2016. The cost is only £650, which is cheaper than any
English diocesan group (as far as we’ve seen). This covers all meals,
accommodation, travel (London-Krakow return) and registration fees.
There is some limited financial assistance available – for details email Fr Greg
Pearson gregory.pearson@english.op.org or wyd@english.op.org. Local parishes or chaplaincies may well also
be doing some fundraising, please check with them.

• You can keep up to date by visiting the Facebook pages of
  World Youth Day 2016 with the English Dominicans or
  Dominican Youth Movement – English Province.
• Here is the official WYD Krakow 2016 website.
• Book a place online: World Youth Day 2016 with the English Dominicans.

Main image is WYD Madrid 2011. For more images see Fr Lawrence’s album.