The World Youth Day (WYD) is again around the corner, the Holy Father; Pope Benedict XVI has permitted 2011 World Youth Day to be held in Madrid the capital of Spain. The whole Catholic world is preparing and looking forward to this great event, the largest world Youth programme in the World.

In line with the WYD 2011, the Church in Nigeria is preparing her Youths for this august encounter by engaging in the National Youth Day (NYD) 2010 in order to give our Young Catholics who may not be able to participate in the Madrid 2011, the opportunity to have a glimpse of it. The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria have graciously allowed the NYD to be celebrated in anticipation of the World Youth Day.

This time around, the National Youth Day will be celebrated in Abuja, the Capital of Nigeria. It is our dream that this event will bring about five thousand young Catholics from all parts of the country to Abuja. It will also be the largest Youth programme in the Nigerian Church.

The theme of WYD 2011 which is also the theme of NYD 2010 is; “ROOTED AND BUILT UP IN JESUS CHRIST, FIRM IN THE FAITH” (col.2:7). The theme is very important because it captures the heart beat of the Nigerian church about the young people of our time. The target is to be rooted in Christ our redeemer and master. When a young Catholic is rooted in Christ there will be no need of dancing around from one Church to another looking for Christ who also continues to invite him or her to look inwards to discover the rich treasures he or she has, the richness of our faith. It is not in the external, not in the shows but in deep rootedness and faithfulness.

In the last visit to Sydney, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI called on young people to be evangelizer to other young people. This is the aim of the NYD, which offers all young Catholics the opportunity to be once more open to the invitation of Christ who says; “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...”(Mt.28:19) It is an opportunity to celebrate our faith. It is an opportunity to encourage young Catholic to be value driven in their normal life endeavours. We want to go back to catechesis which was the secret of the sustenance which the Church has enjoyed in this part of the world. We want to celebrate and encourage deep rootedness and faithfulness to Christ and the Church.

The NYD 2010 has been scheduled to hold in April 2010. We therefore invite all youth groups to start on time to prepare their mind towards this great event, which is one of the greatest events in the life of Catholic Youths in Nigeria.