World Youth Day Cross

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
24 Feb 2008

Most Sydneysiders don’t realize how big World Youth Day will be next July.  Early indications are that 150,000 young pilgrims will come from overseas and tens of thousands from around Australia.

On last Monday, the wooden WYD cross was welcomed to the Great Hall at Parliament House, Canberra by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.  It was a symbolic encounter demonstrating the important role Christianity continues to play in Australian life.

The Icon which accompanies the Cross is a copy of a seventh century painting of Mary and the Christ Child.  Both Cross and Icon are symbols of hope and healing, which have visited many places in need of hope and redemption.

In 1985, young people secretly took the Cross behind the Iron Curtin.

In 2002, the Cross & Icon visited Ground Zero in New York City.

On Palm Sunday 2006, they were handed to the youth of Australia by the youth of the previous WYD host nation, Germany in a Vatican ceremony.

They then travelled through Africa, visiting the genocide memorial in war-ravaged Rwanda.

Last year, young Koreans took the Cross and Icon to the demilitarised zone that separates their people and prayed for peace and unity.

Later that year, they arrived in East Timor in the fear and intimidation of a heated election campaign.  Many reported a feeling of calm and hope as the Cross and Icon helped the East Timorese focus on their future.

This is especially poignant now given the current turmoil and violence, but democracy has survived.

The journey continued to our Pacific neighbours in P.N.G. and the Islands before arriving in Sydney from New Zealand.

The Cross and Icon have visited some of Australia’s most significant and beautiful sites such as:

• the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru,
• some of the most painful, such as the former Woomera detention centre, drought ravaged farming communities, and the scene of a massacre in Myall Creek. 

In Australia the Cross and Icon have travelled with an indigenous message stick, bearing an invitation from the indigenous Catholic community of Sydney to the indigenous youth of Australia to come to World Youth Day in July. 

All three sacred symbols have been welcomed enthusiastically in outback communities such as Palm Island, Tennant Creek, Wilcannia, Uluru and Wadeye.
Many older Catholics, including priests and religious, have been surprised by the number of young Catholics who have turned up and by their reverence.

Where some feared there were only ashes, the breath of the Spirit coming from the Cross has caused the embers to glow.  This symbol of Christ’s sacrifice still has the capacity to move every generation, to inspire meaning and confidence, to bring healing, peace and justice.

The World Youth Day Cross, Icon and Message stick issue a challenge from young people to young people for the building of a culture of hope and a civilization of faith and love.