By Catholic News Service • Posted July 25, 2017

NEW DELHI (CNS) — Young Indian Catholics set to participate in the upcoming seventh Asian Youth Day in Indonesia are expecting the event to change their perspectives on faith, reported ucanews.com.

Father Deepak K.J. Thomas, executive secretary of the Council for Youth of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said 84 young people are part of the Indian delegation going to the seventh Asian Youth Day in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 2-6.

They will join about 3,000 young people from 26 Asian countries in the Indonesian city for the summit, with the theme “Joyful Asian Youth: Living the Gospel in Multicultural Asia.”

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The Indian participants are mostly youth leaders and aware of “what is happening in the church, its structure, way of functioning,” said Father Thomas.

“Interacting with other youths about their role in the church and ways of working and their exchanging about these experiences will be helpful for their lives,” he said.

Delegation members come from different regions of India and were chosen by their dioceses. All will cover their own costs, Father Thomas said.

Leon Pereira, vice president of the Indian Catholic Youth Movement, said he is among 12 chosen from Vasai Diocese and is looking forward to meeting young Catholics from various nations.

“They are coming from different backgrounds — their role in the church, way of prayers, and cultures will be different,” said Pereira. “Interacting with them, I’m sure will strengthen our faith, our prayer life and our role in society.”

The 24-year-old said he was looking to forward to understanding how Catholics from other countries practice their faith.

Jenny Joy, 26, of Delhi Archdiocese said meeting Indians from different regions will be “an experience” because “we are different in our food habit, culture and language.”

Joy said India’s diversity will make it a challenge for the delegation to tell its whole story.

“Life situations, culture and language of Christians from different regions of India vary vastly, making it almost difficult to generalize the situation of Indian Christians,” she said.