World Youth Day 2
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
4 Aug 2002
These World Youth Days now have a traditional pattern. Early in the week there are three half days of catechesis for the pilgrims i.e. A religious talk, questions afterwards, prayer and hymns, concluding with the Eucharist. Then follow a welcoming ceremony for the Pope on Thursday night, and a prayerful re-enactment on Friday of Christ walking to his execution. Every pilgrim is encouraged to confess his sins at some stage.
On the Saturday evening there is a vigil service of psalms, singing, and a few testimonies by young people about their lives before they settle down to spend the night in the open awaiting the concluding Sunday Mass with the Pope.
Each Youth Day develops its own momentum as Toronto did. There were 200,000 at the opening Mass by Cardinal Ambrozic of Toronto, 400,000 at the welcome to the Pope, 550,000 at the Vigil and 800,000 at the final Mass.
The estimated 250,000 visitors to Canada injected 110 million dollars into the local economy.
With tens of thousands of happy young people, singing, smiling and talking to strangers as they swarmed across town, the down-side of human nature is unusually constrained if not eliminated. But not entirely.
At the Rome W.Y.D. in 2000 the countries who came from the most distant parts were allocated space closest to the Pope for the final Mass. Arriving a few hours early, the Aussies found their patch occupied by the Puerto Ricans. They were determined to do better in Toronto.
The Australian advance parties left before 4.00am (for the 7.30pm Vigil start). They were well placed at the barrier when the gates opened at 8.00am with their forces divided into fifteen sprinters with our flags, led by a vigorous young trainee priest in his white habit, followed by the carriers with the baggage. A good size piece of turf was captured, hands were joined around the perimeter to secure it and a couple of Tongan-Aussies prevented any foreigners entering. There was a group of Italians illegally present in the area and Australian-Canadian negotiations took place to expel them and share their territory. The first group of security guards were unimpressed, but their successors were made of sterner stuff and expelled the offenders at 4.30am on Sunday morning!
Aware of their ambitions, but ignorant of their success or failure, when a arrived for the Vigil a was delighted to see three different groups of Aussie flags, and an aboriginal flag, well placed in the front section, one group flanked by a large English contingent flying the red and white cross of St. George. It was great to see the pride our pilgrims took in our Australian flag and see their enthusiasm for the Mass to follow.
