Czech National Meeting of Youth Leaders in Kroměříž 2010

One week long Czech National Meeting of Youth Leaders started in Kroměříž in Moravia on Sunday August 15, 2010. Bishop Jiří Paďour from České Budějovice and responsible for youth opened the meeting and welcomed approximately 400 young people from the whole Czech Republic. Also Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka attended this event and on Monday August 16, 2010 in the afternoon was welcomed by Mr. Miloš Malý, the mayor of the city Kroměříž.

Kroměříž: On Sunday afternoon August 15, approximately 400 young people arrived in Kroměříž in Moravia for a Czech National Meeting of Youth Leaders focused on the preparation and formation of young people for work with catholic youth and children. The opening holy mass was celebrated by Bishop Jiří Paďour, bishop responsible for youth and consecrated life. He inspirited the participants to a greater veneration to God and Mother of God and emphasized the necessity of prayer and of the real life in the Holy Spirit.

This meeting that will last till Saturday August 21 will offer activities of formation of spiritual, cultural and sport art. For Tuesday August 17, there is a Day of experiences prepared, during which youth leaders will help in the city Kroměříž with various tasks and works beginning with tidying and ending up with the visit of the retirement house. In the evening at 6 p.m. the music group Adorare, which accompanies the whole programme of the meeting, will play for public at the Big square of Kroměříž. Pay – off of this concert will be delivered to Haiti that was destroyed by earthquake in January this year.

Also Dominik Duka, Archbishop of Prague attended the meeting. On Monday August 16, in the afternoon he was welcomed by Mr. Miloš Malý, the mayor of the city Kroměříž. In the evening Archbishop Duka celebrated holy mass in the St. Maurice church. Among other guests that arrive to Kroměříž there is Jan Graubner, Archbishop of Olomouc, some other Czech and Moravian bishops or Věra Luxová, wife of deceased Czech politician Josef Lux. From the list of lecturers let me mention for example Kateřina Lachmanová (teacher at the Catholic Theological Faculty in Prague), Mons. Tomáš Holub (General vicar of the diocese Hradec Králové and former first military spiritual of the Army of the Czech Republic) or Marek Orko Vácha (catholic priest and Head of Department of Ethics at the Charles University in Prague).  

According to the P. Vít Zatloukal, director of the Youth Section of the Czech Bishops´ Conference the enrichment of the life of the youth leaders, of the young people that dedicate their free time to others, is the sense of this meeting. 'This event should help them to revive and improve the quality of their work for others, to help them to find new inspiration. Last but not least it is also a meeting with friends that should bring joy and a jointly spent holiday,' explained P. Zatloukal.

Beside almost 20 working groups of the organisational team also regional parishes were involved in the preparation. 'Their task was to prepare 400 plates of cakes. Each priest with the help of his faithful had to bring approximately 40 plates,' said the local prior Josef Říha to Kroměříž Daily Newspaper.  

This Czech National Meeting of Youth Leaders takes place after four years, when it took place for the last time in Litomyšl in summer 2006. This year meeting, whose motto is the passage from the Mark´s Gospel 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Mk (10, 17), is at the same time preparation for the XXVI. World Youth Day in Madrid in summer 2011. Young people from the whole world will travel to Spain to meet the Pope Benedict XVI.