About 12,000 young Catholics, 10,000 from Indonesia and 2,000 from South-East Asian nations, will take part in the Jakarta Catholic Youth Festival 2018 (JOYFest2018), the organizing committee announced at a press conference presenting the event held three days ago. The initiative, said organizing committee chair Joseph Satria, is based on the experience of sharing of hundreds of young volunteers from the 67 parishes, who last year took part in the Catholic families’ conference of the Archdiocese of Jakarta (K3J17). Funded by various sponsors and through ticket sales, the festival will last from 9 am to 9 pm, starting with a solemn Eucharistic celebration, officiated by many priests.

Set for 11 September 2018, in Serpong (Banten province), a town that is 25 kilometers from Central Jakarta, the event is an initiative of some Catholic youth groups that belong to the PeMiKat (Pertemunan Mitra Kategorial), which brings together various charismatic and non-charismatic associations that are not parish-based. Fr Andang Listya Binawan, a Jesuit priest who supervises a number of youth groups in Jakarta, noted that the youth will participate in discussions centered on 20 issues in two separate sessions of seminars.

The topics covered will focus on their everyday life: personal relationships, professional career and challenges in the workplace, Catholic faith and evangelization in the digital age, business models for young people, health and spirituality, development and strengthening their capacities.

Source: www.asianews.it