Final Push for Mini World Youth Day!

by Erin Carelse · October 20, 2017

The organisers for the Mini World Youth Day in December in Durban say that slow registration for the event is placing booked accommodation in jeopardy.

SACBC youth chaplain Fr Mthembeni Dlamini CMM said that the main challenge at the moment is meeting the target of 5000 pilgrims.

With less than two months before the pilgrimage, the biggest challenge has been that the hotels needed confirmation by October 1, and with the numbers at hand, the organisers have had to decide whether to release some hotels.

“If hotels are secured and people don’t occupy the rooms we would be liable for the full payment as per our agreement — and if we release the hotels and people do register we will have difficulty in finding other accommodation that will give us the same rates,” Fr Dlamini said.

Register Right Now

He issued an appeal to all dioceses to push for registration and not to delay till the last minute, “as that will make us incur unnecessary expenses”.

“We are giving dioceses the last chance this month to add more pilgrims. If we can register at least 1200 more people in the month of October, that would be great,” he said.

“We appeal to parish priests, parish pastoral councils and parents to support the Mini World Youth Day by encouraging young people to attend, and by sponsoring them,” he said.

“This is not an event, but a pilgrimage of the young where they will encounter Christ, learn from one another, and build bridges.”

Take Youth Ministry Seriously

Fr Dlamini noted that responses to the online questionnaire in preparation for next year’s Synod of Bishops on Youth indicated a need to take youth ministry seriously and to invest in our youth.

“The challenges we are facing in planning the Mini World Youth Day are a result of the challenges of youth ministry from parish to diocese,” he said. “Please support all our initiatives to grow youth ministry within the conference.”

Dioceses were to work towards 174 pilgrims each, but only Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Mthatha have managed to do that so far.

The total number of pilgrims registered by October 2 was 2801.

For more information on Mini World Youth Day and to help with sponsorship visit www.miniworldyouthday.co.za or contact Fr Dlamini on