BOSTON, 29 (NE) "Pilgrimage 2000" is the name of an ambitious program to culminate on April in Boston, gathering youth from all over the Archdiocese for an encounter with the Lord Jesus. It will be "a remarkable spiritual renewal effort for all Catholic teenagers, college-age students, and young adults," recently said Cardinal Bernard Law, Archbishop of Boston, commenting on Pilgrimage 2000.

    As the Cardinal himself explained, on Saturday, April 29, 2000, there will be a culminating celebration of Pilgrimage 2000. The event will begin with the morning gathering of participants in a Welcome Area on the Boston Common. This area will include musical and other performances, games, displays for various Catholic organizations, areas for Eucharistic adoration, confession, and vocation information, food, and other activities.

    After mid-day, there will be a great march by all the participants from the Boston Common to Fenway Park. At Fenway Park, the afternoon program will include inspirational speakers, musical performances, witness talks by young people, and a interaction with all the participants. The celebration will climax with a Mass, at which a representative group of teenagers, college students and young adults will be baptized, confirmed, and will receive their First Holy Communion.

    "It is my hope and prayer," said the Archbishop of Boston, "that the thousands of young people who will be gathered with me at Fenway Park on April 29 will commit themselves to a life of ongoing formation and education." "It is essential for all of us to recognize more clearly our responsibility to grow in our knowledge of the faith and to deepen our participation in the life of grace," he further emphasized. On September last year, 22.000 young people gathered with the Cardinal at Foxboro Stadium, in a event of preparation for Pilgrimage 2000.