Sydney gears up for WYD 2008

The pilgrim path leads to Sydney next year for the World Youth Day celebration, the largest gathering of young people in the world. Up to half a million people are expected to gather in Sydney for the event, with over 200,000 registered pilgrims, more than half of them international visitors. About 6,000 pilgrims from the Philippines are expected to attend.

World Youth Day (WYD) was established in 1986 by Pope John Paul II as an annual event to reach out to Catholics of the next generation, and as an invitation to all youth worldwide without discrimination. WYD is held each year in Rome on a diocesan level, and is a major international event every two or three years in a different host city. WYD has been held in Buenos Aires (1987), Santiago de Compostela (1989), Czestochowa, Poland (1991), Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997), Rome (for the 2000 Jubilee), Toronto (2002) and Cologne (2005). The final mass in Manila in 1995 drew a record four million people, double the number that attended the Jubilee WYD in Rome in 2000.

WYD2008 begins on July 15 with the opening mass celebrated by Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell and Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko of the Vatican, followed by a welcome concert. The next three days will be devoted to catechesis or teaching sessions – to be conducted in over ten languages – in numerous locations not only around Sydney but in other areas where the pilgrims will be staying, many of them with host families. Others will be housed in hotels, inns, schools and parish halls. Afternoons and evenings will feature youth festival events, including music and dance concerts, films, debates, art exhibitions, forums, street performances and community gatherings.

On Friday, July 18, the Stations of the Cross will be dramatized with a traveling reenactment of Christ’s passion and death. The 14 Stations of the Cross set up all over Sydney will feature depictions by Australian artists.

Pope Benedict XVI will arrive on Thursday, July 17, entering Sydney Harbor on a Captain Cook Harbor Cruise vessel, to be welcomed by an expected crowd of 150,000 people. This is the first papal visit to Australia since 1995.

On Saturday, the pilgrims will gather at the Mary MacKillop Shrine in North Sydney at the start of the pilgrimage walk to Randwick Racecourse, where the final mass with the Pope will be held. Pilgrims will hold a vigil and sleep out under the stars until the final mass the next day.

It is fitting that the WYD pilgrims will pay homage to Blessed Mary MacKillop, patron for WYD 2008. The shrine is run by the Sisters of Saint Joseph that she founded in 1868 as a refuge for young women recently released from prison, an orphanage and a home for older women. Within four years of its founding there were 130 sisters working in more than 40 schools and charitable institutions in South Australia and Queensland.

Mary, born in Melbourne in 1842, was truly a woman ahead of her time, pragmatic and down to earth, never tiring of helping those in need. She lived by the credo, “Never see a need without doing something about it.” She was not afraid to question and stand up for her beliefs, even against the institution she served. Despite being excommunicated by a church hierarchy that could not appreciate the work she was doing, Mary never wavered in her faith. She died in 1909 and was beatified in 1995.

The countdown to the largest international youth event began last July 1 with the arrival in Sydney of the WYD Cross and Icon, the most tangible symbols of WYD. Pope John Paul II gave the 3.8-meter high wooden cross to the youth of the world in 1984, to be carried as a symbol of Christ’s love for humanity.

Accompanying the Cross on its journey through the 28 dioceses of Australia is the Icon of Our Lady, a copy of the ancient painting of Salus Populi Romani (Protectress of the Romans), and an aboriginal message stick inviting indigenous youth to be part of WYD.

For over two decades, the Cross has traveled the world, by plane and boat big and small, by truck, train and tractor, even dog sled. Youthful hands of all colors and sizes have carried the Cross, as a fitting a symbol of peace and unity.

The Cross and Icon were handed to Australian representatives in Rome on Palm Sunday 2006, and has since been through Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania, visiting the Philippines last March 1. The journey of the Cross, Icon and message stick will culminate with their arrival back in Sydney at the WYD welcome mass on July 15 next year.

Sydney has had some practice hosting large events with the 2000 Olympics, but WYD will involve about five times the number of people. An estimated 2,000 clergy will be present. Over 8,000 volunteers will work out the logistics of this huge event, such as serving over 3.6 million meals and coordinating transport for the 3,000 media people expected to cover the event, as well as over 225,000 registered pilgrims from 166 countries (as of November).

Visa procedures have been simplified for pilgrims attending WYD. Visas for registered pilgrims will be free, and valid for three months allowing multiple entries. There is no quota for visas overall or from any particular country. Pilgrims though must be registered, and they can do that online at www.wyd2008.org where they can also get all pertinent information, including customs and quarantine regulations, accommodations available, pre- and post-WYD activities and tours, and much more.