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Church in the WorldFears over visitor numbers for World Youth DayAustralia Mark Brolly - 12 April 2008With fewer than 100 days until Pope Benedict joins the pilgrims, organisers fear that the number of young people travelling to World Youth Day (WYD) in Sydney will fall well short of estimates and there are concerns about the high costs of the event. The director of communications for WYD08, Jim Hanna, told The Tablet this week that he was still expecting 125,000 overseas pilgrims to join 100,000 Australian Catholics for the six-day event. While the number of Australian pilgrims registered was "a little bit under" expectations - namely that 40,000 will come from Sydney and 60,000 from outside the host city - Mr Hanna attributed this to Australians leaving it late to register. Last Monday the Sydney Morning Herald reported that fewer than 10 per cent of the 125,000 expected international pilgrims had been granted visas and that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship had said it could not guarantee that any applications made after 1 June would be processed in time for WYD, which starts on 15 July. As of 24 March, 10,071 visas had been granted, the biggest national groupings being 3,249 from the US, 1,261 from Germany and 970 from Poland. Only 382 visas had been granted to UK pilgrims and 441 for those from the Republic of Ireland. The Church has so far only secured the services of half of the 8,000 local volunteers it is seeking, according to the paper. |
 In this week’s issueMaking markets moral Iron and velvet Love in a Catholic climate Someone to talk to A good Lent takes planning South American surprise Can the Church support abuse victims on its own terms? Elena Curti Is the Church too slow in recognising that academies are the future for Catholic schools? Christopher Lamb Goodwin the scapegoat Elena Curti The pain of being a coeliac Catholic Sr M, guest contributor The Church's moral obligation to victims of clerical sexual abuse Speeches from this week's conference in Rome This week in Rome bishops and religious superiors met at the first Vatican-backed symposium devoted to forging a global response to the crisis of clerical sexual abuse that has disgraced ... Archbishop voices 'shame and sorrow' after priest's abuse trial Longley to visit parishes 'damaged' by Walsh Today, Tuesday 7 February, Bede Walsh, who served as a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, has been convicted by a jury, following a 10-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent ...
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