Experiencing the Church in different cultures helps unite young people to Christ, Bishop says about upcoming World Youth Day as diocese prepares for pilgrimage

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

World youth day is an international gathering of youth and young adults — a celebration uplifting their presence in the Church. In 2027, the next World Youth Day will take place August 3–8 in Seoul, South Korea — the first time that World Youth Day will be hosted in East Asia. The theme for this year’s event is “Take courage! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16:33)

As in years past, the Diocese of Covington will be coordinating a pilgrimage — with interested parties, especially young adults ages 18–25 (although all are invited to accompany them on the journey), invited to register by March 16 to reserve a spot.

Bishop John Iffert, who attended the previous World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023, reminisced on the experience. “I still remember the crowds with the flags from every nation being brought in,” he said, “I still remember the prayer services that were organized by young people — very kinetic, very active.”

“It’s a time of great joy and enthusiasm,” he said, “for Christ and the life of the Church.”

Bishop Iffert said that he remembers seeing World Youth Day “stir faith in young people,” he said, “You see young people who come to World Youth Day and who leave with a more directed sense of their faith and how to move out into the world. It’s something to look forward to.”

Those who attend World Youth Day can expected to “encounter the Church around the world and see the vitality of faith that young people around the world bring. I pray that when young people attend World Youth Day and they get to know the people they encounter, not simply as aliens to them, but as brothers and sisters in Christ — I pray that these kind of encounters will make the violence that we’re seeing in the world today unthinkable for us to participate in,” said Bishop Iffert.

“It’s an encounter,” Bishop Iffert then described of World Youth Day, “The Church is the Body of Christ on earth. As we come to know the Church better, we come to know all the manifestations of the Church in every culture … We can’t help but come to know Christ more intimately, more completely.”

Bishop Iffert, who has also previously attended Mass and experienced the Church in foreign countries such as Vietnam recalled witnessing Christ “embedded in that culture, in a way that helped me come to know Christ better.”

Bishop Iffert also plans on joining other bishops worldwide in Seoul next year, saying that he is most looking forward to “encountering the Church of South Korea” and “encountering the Churches from around the world through their young people.”

“Experiencing from all those different perspectives,” he said, “Helps us learn more and more of the Body of Christ and who Christ is … and that is what I hope for.”

Interested parties can register at https://forms.gle /9JW61qveAUGbdWxy6, or contact Isaak Isaak, director, Catechesis and Evangelization, at (859) 392–1529 or iisaak@covdio.org.