Icon set to cross through Dandenong

WORLD Youth Day celebrations will hit Greater Dandenong next week with the arrival of the event’s sacred Cross and Icon to the city.
The symbols of Catholic and Christian faith will arrive in Dandenong on Monday 5 May and following a procession through central Dandenong at 5.30pm, it will arrive at St Mary’s Catholic Church at 7.30pm, where it will stay overnight.
The Cross and Icon (a painting of Jesus’ mother Mary), both blessed by the former Pope John Paul II when he introduced World Youth Day in 1986, have travelled the world and been touched by millions of people.
The Cross and Icon are on their way to Sydney, in an Olympic torch style journey that has so far seen both travel around most of Australia, including parts of Melbourne’s south-east.
World Youth Day 2008 is the biggest Christian event to hit Australia this year and will culminate with the Cross and Icon’s arrival in Sydney in July.
Young people keen on celebrating their faith have already enlisted as ‘pilgrims’ and are following the cross and icon to Sydney.
This includes young people from around the globe, and organisers say they expect the Sydney pilgrimage to attract more than 125,000 people.
The Catholic Church is organising World Youth Day 2008 and Pope Benedict XVI will give a mass to conclude the event on 20 July in Sydney.