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Magis 2011
August 5-15
Locations around Spain
Including Loyola and Madrid
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World Youth Day 2011
August 16-21
Madrid
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Welcome to this resource page for Magis 2011 and World Youth Day, Madrid 2011.
World Youth Day is a weeklong Catholic gathering of youth and young adults held every 2-3 years in different cities around the globe. Magis is the Ignatian program of events for pilgrims from Jesuit institutions that will precede the WYD. The Jesuits of Spain and their collaborators will sponsor Magis 2011.
The World Youth Day programs will run from Aug 16-21, 2011. The Magis dates will be August 5-15, 2011.
The U.S. Jesuit Conference has asked Fr. Phil Hurley, S.J., to be the Jesuit Conference Coordinator for Magis/WYD 2011. He will facilitate preparation, communication, and collaboration among pilgrim groups from Jesuit institutions around the country in the lead-up to the two events. Fr. Phil is the new youth and young adult director for the U.S. office of the Apostleship of Prayer. He is also on the international consulting team helping to plan the Magis 2011 events in Spain.
As you plan to organize a young adult pilgrim group from your Jesuit university, parish, or other institution, please contact Fr. Phil and plug into this national network of Jesuit-affiliated pilgrim groups: phurleysj@apostleshipofprayer.org or 414-486-1152
Magis-USA Regional Gatherings 2010-2011
 UPDATE: In order to allow more time for more Jesuit institutions to form pilgrim groups, we are canceling the Magis-USA national conference originally scheduled for August, 2010. Instead we are making plans for several Magis-USA regional gatherings during the school year 2010-2011 to assist local groups in promotion and preparation for the pilgrimage to Spain.
Given the opportunity we will have in Spain to visit some of the locations of St. Ignatius' conversion and pilgrimage, these gatherings will offer a prayerful experience of the Spiritual Exercises with the aim of introducing participants more deeply to the person of Ignatius and the way he offers to lead us closer to Christ. We'll explore the places and the graces of Ignatius' pilgrimage, relate these to his development of the Spiritual Exercises and explore how the Exercises are relevant to the desires and decisions of our lives today.
We'll also experience a bit of the themes and daily elements that will be part of Magis 2011 in Spain.
Please contact us for more information and to plan for your pilgrim group to attend a Magis-USA regional gathering in your area. We are looking for some Jesuit colleges and universities to serve as our host locations - please let us know if you can offer this assistance!
Links
Magis 2011 Site
WYD (JMJ) 2011 Site
Magis and WYD info for USA Groups on Facebook
What is World Youth Day?
 World Youth Day is a weeklong gathering of Catholic youth and young adults held every 2-3 years in different cities around the globe. Pope John Paul II began World Youth Day in the 1980's, and the tradition has continued with Pope Benedict XVI. The last three WYDs were held in Sydney, Australia (2008); Cologne, Germany (2005); and Toronto, Canada (2002). Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims of high school, college, and young adult age come from all over the world to join in these celebrations of the universal Church.
The week features several days of catechetical sessions and Masses in various locations around the hosting diocese. Afternoons and evenings are filled with youth festival events around the city. Venues are open for live music, drama, and other arts. There are opportunities to duck into one of the many eucharistic adoration chapels for some quiet prayer. Pilgrims can choose from hundreds of world-renowned speakers on topics such as faith and freedom, social justice, sexuality, prayer, vocations, and inculturation.
 After these days of catechesis and festival, the final weekend of World Youth Day is structured after the pattern of the Easter Triduum. On Friday there is a city-wide stations of the cross. Pilgrims gather in different groups at the locations of the various stations around the city. The whole procession is filmed and shown live on jumbotron screens at each of the locations, so that there are literally hundreds of thousands of people all over the city joined in common prayer.
On Saturday all the pilgrims set out from their various host schools, churches, and family homes to make a pilgrimage ride/walk to the location of the final outdoor prayer vigil and Sunday Mass. The pope comes Saturday evening to lead this massive congregation in a beautiful candlelit prayer vigil. Afterwards, the pilgrims lay out sleeping bags to spend the night under the stars. The pope then comes back in the morning to celebrate Sunday Mass with the world's "parish."
For the past several World Youth Days, the Jesuits of the host country have organized an extended introductory program of prayer, pilgrimage, cultural immersion, and service called Magis. These activities take place in the week before the WYD events. The Apostleship of Prayer will be involved with groups from the U.S. going both to Magis and World Youth Day when these spectacular events occur in the future.
The next World Youth Day will be in Madrid, Spain, in the summer of 2011. Will you join us?
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