VIENTIANE (UCAN) -- Catholic youth leaders in Laos have expressed some sadness and frustration over the cancellation of their national gathering, but they hope the meeting will be rescheduled soon.

Xui, a member of the national youth leadership team, expressed disappointment at a meeting in Vientiane on Aug. 28, a day after the cancellation. "I do not want to participate in this any more," he said.

Others at the meeting expressed sadness, noting that close to 70 young people from all four vicariates -- Luang Prabang, Pakse, Savannakhet, Vientiane -- were expected and had been preparing for the event.

The Second National Catholic Youth Leaders Meeting was scheduled for Aug. 30-Sept. 3 in Pakxan, 130 kilometers northeast of Vientiane, and the necessary permissions had been obtained. But on Aug. 27, the Pakxan government asked the Church organizers to move the venue of the meeting.

Youth chaplain Sister Jess Encio, a Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul nun, discussed the matter with Oblate Bishop Jean Khamse Vithavong, vicar apostolic of Vientiane. Members of the leadership team told UCA News the bishop decided to cancel the meeting since it would have been impossible to arrange another venue on such short notice.

Bishop Khamse was scheduled to preside at the national meeting. Bishop Louis Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, vicar apostolic of Pakse, priests and Religious also had planned to attend.

The leadership team proposed rescheduling the national gathering for Oct. 14-17 in Ban Keng Sadok, a village near Pakxan, or in Vientiane, team member Khankham Keosavang told UCA News. But the matter is yet to be decided.

The parish church in Pakxan is located opposite a local government building, where an education meeting was scheduled concurrently with the Catholic youth event. Officials said they did not want the two meetings held simultaneously, a Church source explained.

However, some youth leaders and Church workers raised doubts over the government action. They pointed out that officials knew about the venue and dates of the Catholic youth meeting well ahead of time but asked the Church to move the venue only a few days before the meeting.

Earlier, in June, young Catholics of Pakse vicariate were scheduled to meet at the vicariate level. Government officials cancelled that meeting, saying the youth had written a "wrong" reason when they requested permission for it.

In Vientiane youth leaders planned to leave Aug. 29 for Pakxan to prepare for the national gathering.

Khankham said all the delegates around the country "had been preparing for a few months because they knew they would share many things with their friends about the achievements, hopes and dreams of their local youth groups."

"What they were not prepared for is the disappointment," she added.

The only delegate from Luang Prabang vicariate was preparing to attend her first national meeting. Boun Mee, 20, who just finished a vocational course in Vientiane, told UCA News that travel to and from her home in western Laos is difficult so she had decided to stay in the capital in case the national gathering is reset for October. Otherwise, she said, she could not come back.

Luang Prabang vicariate has no organized youth ministry, and Church activities effectively ended there when the last vicar apostolic, a foreigner, was expelled in 1975, when the communists came to power. Its current apostolic administrator and only priest, Monsignor Tito Banchong Thopayong, is based in Vientiane. He has been detained a few times on visits to the vicariate and is allowed to visit Catholics only in certain parts. The vicariate covers 83,700 square kilometers and borders China, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Khankham said the Catholic youth would take cancellation of the national meeting in stride, because such difficulty in organizing "is the atmosphere of Christian life in Laos." According to the youth leader, "it not only helps strengthen us, but encourages us to work harder -- it is a challenge for us."

The first national meeting of young Catholics, aged 15-25, was held in September 2003 in Vientiane.

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