An estimated 650 young people from 23 countries arrived at the University of Limerick campus yesterday for the first Redemptorist youth congress to be held in Ireland, which starts today.
The five-day event, which continues until Monday next, is on the theme "Pazzo per Amore - being young and Christian in Europe today" and is "a lighter version of World Youth Day", said congress communications director Fr Gerard Moloney.
It will focus on the challenges facing young Christian people, with discussion groups on faith themes and workshops on subjects as diverse as salsa, sexuality, suicide prevention, whether it is allowed to have fun with the Bible, line-dancing and Gaelic games.
There will be a "Eurovision song congress" with a 1970s theme at the Redemptorists' Mount St Alphonsus centre - the founder of the congregation - in Limerick on Saturday night, when young people will represent their country with an Abba song.
Such congresses take place every three years and are part of the Redemptorist congregation's commitment to youth ministry. This is the eighth such event to take place since the first at Pagani, Italy, in 1987. Limerick was chosen as Ireland's host city for this year's congress because of its long association with the Redemptorists.
The first Redemptorist community in Ireland was established there in 1851 and, as many of those first Redemptorists came from all over Europe, it was felt appropriate the first Remptorists' youth congress in Ireland should be in Limerick.