Record Numbers from United States Attending World Youth Day in Madrid

WASHINGTON—Currently 29,437 pilgrims from the United States are registered to attend World Youth Day (WYD), August 16-21, in Madrid. This is a record number for U.S. participation in a WYD outside of North America. These pilgrims will be joined by 64 U.S. bishops.

Three pilgrims will represent the United States in the vigil with the pope the night of Saturday, August 20. Victoria Sequeira of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, An Dai Tran of the Archdiocese of Atlanta and Roselyn Scavuzzo of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, will sit in the VIP seating near the pope.

“It will be a profound experience to participate in Eucharistic adoration with so many other young people and so close to the pope,” said Sequeira. “It’s an honor to represent my country this way.”

WYD will include 967 groups from the United States, representing diverse cohorts including Hispanic, Korean, Vietnamese and Polish youths. The largest single group, the Catholic Pilgrims Office, has 1,535 planning to attend. The largest diocesan groups in attendance will be from Brooklyn, New York (636 pilgrims), New York (245), Boston (270), Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (240), Pittsburgh (245) and Arlington, Virginia (285).

Highlighting the cultural diversity of WYD and the Church, a delegation of participants from various U.S. dioceses will contribute to a blog and share photos and other media from the event. Frequent posts and interactive activities throughout the week will allow those not attending to share in the WYD experience. All content will be posted to the Virtual World Youth Day page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/VirtualWorldYouthDay.

Catechetical and spiritual preparation materials for participation at WYD are available at www.wydusa.org.

The deadline to request WYD media accreditation for international media is July 31. To apply please go to www.madrid11.com/pressoffice/en/accreditation. 
---
Keywords: World Youth Day, Madrid 2011, youth, catechesis, pilgrims, record numbers, United States, U.S. groups, Brooklyn, New York, Boston, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Arlington, Hispanic, Korean, Vietnamese, Polish