World Youth Day

March 10 2003 | by

Despite individual hardships encountered in organising a trip, this immense, global pilgrimage has proven to be an extraordinary spiritual experience, strengthening and renewing participants. Expected to draw over a million people and generate $80 million for the local economy, WYD 2002, to be held in Toronto, will focus on human relations, peace and justice, the environment and, above all, faith and trust in God. Two Messenger authors, Art Babych and Guy Levac, examine WYD experiences in the past and Canada’s gearing up for 2002

Yesterday in Rome...

By Guy Levac

NINE MONTHS BEFORE the actual event, going to World Youth Day in Rome as a group leader sounded like an absolutely wonderful opportunity. On a terribly hot and sticky August day, however, as I made my way through the two million young people who had gathered at Tor Vergata for a vigil and a Mass with the Pope, I resolved to have my head examined upon my return home.
What was a 38 year old husband and father of two doing at an event which was obviously geared to people who were much younger and more carefree, I asked myself repeatedly. Had I, at considerable risk, left Canada to die here, suffocated by the heat and the crowd? Fortunately, these gloomy thoughts were quickly swept away. We arrived at our designated seating area, it was not as crowded as the entrance and I was able to relax a little bit, despite the terrible heat. If some of my fears had been exaggerated, I nevertheless felt that I still had a lot to think about.
The August 2000 World Youth Day in Rome was my third World Youth Day. I had attended the gatherings in Spain (1989) and in Paris (1997). In Spain, I was still single and ten years younger. That said, due to difficult personal circumstances and a grueling preparation and itinerary, I look upon that pilgrimage as a very trying experience.
For World Youth Day in Paris, I was married and our children were four and one. Since my wife Pamela and I had met in France and she had lived there for several years, we decided to make it a family trip, even though Pamela and the children did not actually attend World Youth Day and stayed with some friends in a nearby city. In other words, I did not worry about them, since they were very close by.
When it was time to make a decision about Rome, Pamela and I talked about it and decided it would be best for me to go on my own. She knew no one in Italy, the children were still young to appreciate such an opportunity and it would be difficult for them to adapt to the time changes. We thus made our decision peacefully, though we had many doubts about it later.

A spiral of worry

For one thing, Pamela and I do not really enjoy air travel. We love traveling, we marvel at the technology which allows us to fly, we are delighted by the view from above, but we also worry every second that the plane is going to crash.
For another, it was the first time Pamela and I were going to be apart for so long since we were married ten years ago. This looming family separation and the fear of flying proved to be a difficult combination.

I worried about flying. Pamela worried about what would happen if the plane crashed and I died. I then worried about Pamela worrying too much. It was a spiral of worry.
To complicate matters, we had scheduled an ambitious family vacation, traveling over 6000 kilometers by car and returning a week before my departure for Rome. Then, my sinuses started acting up three days before I was due to leave. More worry! Would I get sick in Rome? Would my sinuses give me problems on the plane?
At one low point, I contemplated calling the whole thing off, but that made me very sad, so I did not. Pamela cried at the airport and the children were very tense when they said goodbye, sensing correctly that all was not right. Was the experience worth it?

An extraordinary experience

There are statistics to prove that airplanes are very safe; others which indicate that most fatal accidents occur when one is close to home.
Basically, life is full of risks. In marrying and in having children, I have learned to weigh potential consequences and pick and choose more carefully than I did when I was 20 and traveled through Europe all alone. No doubt something similar happens to many single adults too, for different reasons. Perhaps we value life more as we grow older? Perhaps we just get more fearful?
I will think twice about leaving Pamela and the children again. That said, World Youth Day 2000 was an extraordinary experience.
Like many other group leaders, I told the young people I was going with that this experience was a pilgrimage and not a vacation. However, it was as much a pilgrimage for me as for them, and mine started even before I left and boarded the plane!
I feel that I have returned spiritually renewed, having had time to pray, contemplate the sacred mysteries, receive the sacrament of reconciliation and participate in many beautiful Masses and liturgies.
It was wonderful to meet with young people from around the world in the days preceding the gathering in Rome. I also very much enjoyed being with my own group and felt that it was one of the best groups of young people I had ever worked with.
Prior to our departure, group members had participated in compulsory monthly gatherings, these gatherings united us, but our shared experience in Rome brought us closer still.
When you spend so much time together, you naturally get to know each other better. You help each other out when the load gets too heavy and laugh and laugh and laugh at some of the crazy things which occur.

Going all out for youth

Meeting our Italian hosts and being welcomed so warmly by Pope John Paul II was also a very moving experience. A priest I met during the trip reflected that the Church does not organize such massive gatherings for just anyone and that, despite what some people say, the Church probably does more for young people than for any other age group. When I considered all the logistics which went into feeding and lodging so many young people for a period of about 12 days, I had to agree with him.
Furthermore, it was wonderful to see how ordinary Italians took the young people into their hearts. On our first morning in Rome, for example, a group of us went to get some food at the local market. The man behind the counter laughed so hard at our attempts to communicate with him in Italian that he invited all five of us to lunch at his home that day. Although I could not go, the four others returned delighted by the experience and by this wonderful hospitality which we encountered everywhere.

Joy in the streets

Young people are often portrayed as troublemakers, yet there were no problems in Rome throughout the length of their stay. They are presented as strange and difficult, and yet there was joy enough in the streets of Rome to move the hardest heart.
World Youth Day 2002 is scheduled to be held in Toronto, Canada, in my own country. Once gain, I will be too old to participate as a youth, but with all my heart, I hope it will be as huge a success and as unforgettable an experience as our days in Italy, with the same joy in the Streets of Toronto!
See you in 2002!

...Tomorrow in Toronto

By Art Babych

IT WASN’T A COMPLETE SURPRISE but Pope John Paul II’s announcement in August that Canada will host the 16^th World Youth Day in 2002 was greeted with loud cheers and applause anyway from the 4,000 Canadian delegates attending this year’s week-long international Catholic celebration in Rome.
In announcing at the closing Mass of WYD 2000 that Canada had been chosen to welcome young Catholics from around the world in Toronto in 2002, the Pope set into motion two years of mammoth preparations involving the Catholic bishops of Canada, the federal and Ontario governments and the city of Toronto.

Most popular celebration

We in the Catholic Church in Canada are extremely pleased and grateful that our country has been chosen by His Holiness to host what has become one of the largest and most popular celebrations of faith in the world, said Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Meagher of Toronto, President of the Catholic WYD 2002 Council.
He was reacting to the announcement at a news conference in Toronto moments after the Pope officially announced Canada as the host country for the next World Youth Day. A theme for WYD 2002 will probably be ‘commitment’ and what this means to human friendship, love, family, peace, justice, the environment and, above all, faith and trust in God, he said. In Rome with the Canadian contingent when the announcement was made, Bishop Gerald Wiesner, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said It is with great joy and pride that I greet the news that Canada will host World Youth Day in 2002.
The celebration, said the bishop, will provide an opportunity for the Church in Canada to share its hospitality and the natural friendliness for which our country is known with hundreds of thousands of people from around the world. It will also be an important moment for young Catholics in Canada to share with one another their faith and their hopes for their Church.

A cold accountant’s eye

The CCCB made its request to host WYD 2002 in 1998 and since then has been quietly planning for the event, which is expected to draw more than 1 million people and pump more than $80 million into the local economy.
Before giving their approval, however, the bishops set up a committee to study the implications of hosting WYD 2002. Recognizing that the visit to Canada of Pope John Paul II in 1984 cost about $12 million, Bishop John Sherlock of London Ont., in 1997 suggested that a CCCB committee study the costs involved in hosting the WYD with a cold-blooded accountant’s eye. His fellow bishops agreed.
At the bishops’ plenary assembly in Niagara Falls a year later, the committee presented a report predicting not only that Canada would not take a loss by hosting World Youth Day, but also that it could end up $2.5 million in the black. At the very least, I think we can break even, said Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Meagher of Toronto, then chair of the ad hoc committee.
Church officials estimate the cost of holding the 16^th WYD in Canada at $20 million.

Church Life God’s will

But whether WYD 2002 is successful from a financial point of view may depend on whether the Pope, now 80, is healthy enough to attend. His presence in Toronto would be seen by many Canadian and U.S. citizens near the Ontario border as reason enough to turn out for the celebration. Member of Parliament Dennis Mills, the federal government’s liaison with the Catholic bishops on WYD, acknowledged concerns about the health of the aging and frail Pope. But he pointed out they’ve been saying that about his age for a long time now. We just proceed, because the Holy Father and his destiny is God’s will, not ours.
About eleven federal departments, including National Defence and Foreign Affairs could be involved in WYD 2002 because of the likelihood of the Pope’s attendance. Even though this is primarily a pastoral visit, there is a technical component, said Mills, noting that the Pope is also a head of state (Vatican).
We’ll collaborate, cooperate and make sure that the wishes of the Vatican from a technical and infrastructure point of view are met, he said.
As a show of support for the bishops’ application, Ontario Premier Mike Harris, Toronto Mayor Mel Last-man and Mills, representing the federal government, met with the Pope in Rome before he officially announced Toronto as the host city for the next international youth celebration.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, responding to the selection of Canada, stated His Holiness Pope John Paul II has greatly honored Canada by selecting Toronto as the site of the next gathering of Catholic young people from all over the world. He added, These young pilgrims will be here demonstrating their faith and their hope in the future. I am sure that all Canadians will be very pleased to welcome them.

Hands-on experience

Rev. Thomas Rosica, CSB, the Canadian national director for WYD 2002, has been working for several months with an organizing committee preparing for the possibility that Canada would be chosen as the host country in 2002. He and members of the committee traveled to Rome in mid-July for hands-on experience working with WYD 2000 organizers in Italy. They’re now gearing up for the Canadian event.
The first World Youth Day was organized in Rome in 1984 at the request of Pope John Paul II. The pastoral gatherings have also been held in Buenos Aires (1987), Santiago de Compostela (1989), Czestochowa (1991), Denver (1993), Manila (1995) Paris (1997) and Rome (2000). The celebrations are spiritual and cultural events in which Roman Catholic young people the world over profess their faith and renew their ties with the Church.

Updated on October 06 2016