When you arrive in Pliszczyn for World Youth Day, you get the impression that you’re in some sort of bustling hive – everything here is alive, everyone’s bustling about, walking around, playing, laughing, joking, but above all, talking. They talk in pairs, in small and large groups; peers talk amongst themselves and with the chaplains. Here, the young people know that this is their time – a time for growing, discovering, making decisions or simply enjoying each other’s company.
“This is something we, the Dehonians, are good at,” says Fr. Jakub Kopystyński SCJ, the coordinator of the Dehonian Youth Days. “For years we’ve been asking young people whether they like Dehonian Youth Days and how much they enjoy it, and we always hear that they do, and very much so. So what we have to offer them nourishes their hearts and helps them discover that they are important, loved and valued by God.”
This year, nearly 400 young people came to Pliszczyn. Around 70 young volunteers and 70 members of the adult staff, including priests, nuns, parents and friends, looked after the running of the event.
The participants came mainly from Dehonian communities: the Dehonian Youth Movement and parish groups from Poland. There were also young people from Ukraine accompanied by Sister Sara Ewa Łakoma OP – and from Moldova, specifically Transnistria – a small group led by Fr. Marcin Janus SCJ. A large group, numbering around 80 people, consisted of individual participants.
For several days, it was hard to find a moment to get bored. The programme was packed with workshops: ukulele, drumming, singing, dancing, hairdressing, macramé, psychology, and the ‘God, Sexuality and Me’ workshop. There were football and volleyball tournaments, Runmagedon, Dehoniada – a festival of joy – and the iconic ‘Priests versus the Rest of the World’ match.
There were also meetings with many guests. However, each day was marked above all by prayer and the liturgy: Lauds, the Eucharist, adoration, services of penance and thanksgiving, time spent in communities – that is, sharing – and the evening “Bedtime Stories”.
The theme of this Youth Days was ‘Gifted’. The reflections led participants to discover the sacraments as a concrete gift of God’s presence in human life. It was from the Heart of Jesus, pierced on the cross, that blood and water flowed – symbols of the sacraments, particularly Baptism and the Eucharist. Jesus gave us his Heart and the sacraments. He gave what was most precious to him. That is why we are gifted.
Fr. Adam Pawlak, SCJ, who has been coming to the Dehonian Youth Days for thirty years, and for the last eighteen as a priest, says:
“That is why I am a Dehoninan, because I used to come here. Under the theme ‘Blessed’, I realise that I am a gift from God, my life is a gift from God, and my loved ones—my family, including my religious family—are a gift.”
He also emphasises that Dehonian Youth Days are not only a gathering of young people, but also a meeting of fellow Dehonian brothers who come from all over Poland.
“One of the things we can show young people is the authenticity of our relationships with one another. Young people see our relationships; they see that we enjoy working together. And on the other hand, being with young people frees us up to take on all these tasks and to truly be with them. This is what I teach the young people around me: to be genuine and to tell me what they think, even though it can sometimes be painful.”
Although this year’s Dehonian Youth Days did not spare the participants when it came to the weather – there were heatwaves, violent storms, downpours and cold spells – everything went smoothly and safely. The changeable weather did not get in the way of what mattered most: building community, encountering one another and encountering God. This year’s Dehonian Youth Days have gone down in history as a time full of joy, relationships and the realisation that we are truly blessed. The organisers are already inviting young people to Pliszczyn next year to once again create together a place where the young Church lives life to the full.
