Eighteen young adults from twelve different countries embarked on a missionary adventure with the Chemin Neuf Community to serve at the Pre-WYD Festival-Forum and World Youth Day in Seoul. Their base camp: SanLo in Manila. Their motto: to serve Christ.
Father Luciano Couto, a priest in the Chemin Neuf Community and head of the Jeune Internationale mission, shares with us the joys as well as the challenges encountered in organizing the project.
The missionary year for World Youth Day 2027 has begun
On September 20, life at the SanLo house in Manila took on a different rhythm. That day marked the official start of the missionary year leading up to World Youth Day 2027 in Seoul. Not with a ceremony, but with what more closely resembles the reality of a mission: suitcases, jet lag, getting to know one another, and a crowded jeepney to explore Manila!
There are eighteen young adults from twelve countries: Poland, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, France, Vietnam, China, Belgium, Mauritius, and Thailand. Most are between twenty and thirty years old. Some had never left their own continent. Their arrivals were spread out: Claire on September 17, followed by Terry, Aurora, Maciek, Weronika, Jessie, Irene, Nicklaus, Erick, Ryanne, Amaïa, and Myriam. Others are still on their way—from Hong Kong in late September and early October, and from France on October 20. This sense of community is building in waves—literally.
What they’re here to do is anything but abstract. For a year, they’ll be leading the preparations for two events: the Pre-WYD Festival-Forum, from July 28 to August 2, 2027, followed by World Youth Day in Seoul, from August 3 to 8. Translation, communication, fundraising, welcoming speakers, music, logistics—tasks are assigned based on each person’s skills and preferences. It’s real work, with deadlines, budgets, and partners. And at the same time, it is a year of formation, community life, prayer, and social service. The two go hand in hand.
Our sister Dominika Ercsey is in charge of the missionary year. She is the one who fosters community life, sets the pace, and manages everyone’s daily routine—the very glue that holds a house together when eighteen people from twelve different cultures share the same kitchen. Timothée Tillard is the local coordinator for the World Youth Day project: he coordinates the work, maintains ties with Korea, and oversees the practical aspects of the preparations.
The entire SanLo house is committed to this adventure. And the young missionaries, too, are involved in the social projects led by the Community in Manila. This isn’t just a group of young people with a separate life on the side. It is the entire community that embraces the project, welcomes it, and takes ownership of it. Time spent together, shared fellowship, mission. It changes everything.
At Hautecombe Abbey, Célie Pignier is also joining the missionary year, but from France, to support the Chemin Neuf Jeunes International team on the World Youth Day project. Manila and Hautecombe are working on the same project, separated by 11,000 kilometers and six time zones.
A project carried out by two communities
The Festival-Forum is not a project of Chemin Neuf alone. It is being developed in partnership with the Emmanuel Community.
This collaboration is one of the strongest aspects of the project today. In September, there were four of us in South Korea: Timothée and I representing Chemin Neuf, Sister Myriam Moderne, the international youth director, and Father Benoît Leclerc, a missionary in Indonesia, representing Emmanuel. It was the first time the four of us had spent ten days together.
This trip was supposed to finalize the festival venue. It ended up serving a different purpose. The project we had been preparing for two and a half years with the Archdiocese of Daegu, in Gyeongju, came to a halt upon our arrival. We learned this once we got there, and we spent the following days looking for another option. A promising lead emerged in a diocese near Seoul: an agreement in principle was reached, an official request was submitted, and the technical documentation was forwarded. All that remains is the decisive step: a letter signed by the moderators of both communities asking the bishop to welcome us. Until his response arrives, the location remains undecided. What will remain of these ten days, beyond the disappointment, is that we experienced this rejection together. We closed this door together and opened the next one together. Chemin Neuf and Emmanuel emerge from this ordeal stronger rather than weaker. For both teams, this is a true consolation.
“Take heart”
The theme chosen for Seoul 2027 is taken from the Gospel of John: “Take courage” (Jn 16:33). This will be Pope Leo XIV’s first World Youth Day. For many young people in Asia, it will be the first time a gathering of this scale has been held within reach of their continent. Nothing is set in stone yet. The venue for the event hasn’t been confirmed, budgets are being finalized, and people are looking for plane tickets. The message of World Youth Day is first and foremost for our planning team and for the young missionaries! With courage, we move forward! Take heart!