MAKATI CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- An 87-year-old grandmother was among those who applied to join the official Philippine delegation to the 2008 World Youth Day (WYD) celebration in Sydney, Australia, in July.

About 600 Filipino delegates to the World Youth Day celebrations in Australia during a preparatory session on June 28 in Makati City.

Bishop Joel Baylon of Masbate, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY), told UCA News the woman was among about 100 applicants the commission could not accept. Youth delegates must be aged 13-39.

ECY is the body organizing the official Philippine WYD delegation.

Bishop Baylon, other ECY officials, staff and volunteers conducted a preparatory session June 28-29 for more than 500 delegates at Salesian-run Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati City, southeast of Manila.

The bishop estimated the ECY rejected 100 of the 1,000 applications it received. The Australian Embassy in Manila later refused to issue visas to another 100 people who applied through the commission, he told UCA News, so the ECY delegation numbers about 800, but others are going on their own.

About 2,000 pilgrims are expected from the Philippines, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines media office reported.

Pope John Paul II began WYD as an annual observance in 1984, and international celebrations have been held every two or three years since then. This year's theme is: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8).

During the July 15-20 WYD events, Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to attend a July 17 program welcoming him and a July 19 prayer vigil before he celebrates the closing Mass. Organizers, on their official website, say 500,000 pilgrims are expected at the closing Mass.

While they report the majority of WYD participants will be Australians, they expect 125,000 international visitors.

Philippine delegates at the Don Bosco session included students, teachers, non-teaching school personnel, priests, nuns, seminarians and youth ministers. Bishop Baylon told UCA News another session is scheduled for early July in Davao City in the southern Philippines.

At the June 29 orientation session, ECY executive secretary Father Conegundo Garganta reported that delegates represent 25 of the country's 87 Church jurisdictions. They include members of the Federation of National Youth Organizations, Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference, and seven schools, Religious and socio-civic communities.

Five Chinese studying in the Philippines are going with the Philippine delegation.

Bishop Baylon said ECY did not approve other applicants because "their motivation for going was unclear." These applicants could not list linkage to Church groups or activities, the 54-year-old bishop explained.

The prelate cited "reasonable" decisions by the Australian Embassy to deny visas. One youth minister who overstayed his visa in Germany for the World Youth Day 2005 celebration there, in order to visit family members, was not issued a visa, the bishop said.

In the case of a husband and wife ministering to youth, the embassy issued a visa only to the wife, he continued. "I suppose they think the woman will return home to her children."

Sister Estrella Castalone shares her reflection on Pope Benedict XVI's message to young people on June 28 in Makati City.

The embassy also rejected applicants belonging to groups they "may not be familiar with," he speculated, citing rejected applications of Neocatechumenate members.

The Neocatechumenate movement, or Neocatechumenal Way, is dedicated to the Christian formation of adults, parish and family renewal, and formation of priests. Spanish painter Francisco Arguello initiated it in 1964. Bishop Baylon said the movement is active in his diocese, southeast of Manila.

However, Father Garganta noted during his June 29 talk at Don Bosco that while some of those applications were rejected, 130 Neocatechumenate pilgrims will still be going, the biggest single group in the ECY delegation.

Bishop Baylon told delegates, in welcoming them at the institute on June 28, "We should have been more today, but there is so much negative news about Filipinos that they doubt us so much." He expressed his hope that "we come back the same number as we left."

His executive secretary reported that seven of the 12 bishops going to Sydney are ECY officers and members. Some of the bishops will conduct catechesis there July 16-18 on various topics related to the Holy Spirit.

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