By
NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer
We had an astonishing journey. Who could have imagined Pope Benedict
XVI would pass within a foot of our group? That we would hear a powerful
talk by the actor Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s
“The Passion of the Christ”? That we would spend time with
Cardinal Justin Rigali? And that we would worship Christ in the Eucharist
with a million new Catholic “friends”? None of us would
have anticipated the joys and tribulations we would encounter in the
five days that encompassed our journey to the 20th World Youth Day in
Cologne, Germany, nor the change it would cause in us.
Day One
In a pilgrimage, it is understood that the journey will not be easy.
That came to my mind when Iarrived with my five friends at Philadelphia
International Airport, todepart for Cologne, and discoveredwe would
have no food service on our overnight flight, because of astrike on
our airline.
In a day that lasted 36 hours, we all lived through enough comedies
of errors to be certain we’d learned one of the most practical
lessons of our journey: Don’t sweat the small stuff.
For instance: Don’t sweat the fact that we took more wrong turns
than right turns in order to get evey place we were going. That our
pilgrimage meant cramming into over- crowded trains, trams and buses,
which all seemed to be a thousand degrees Fahrenheit.
By the time we finally did sit down for our first meal — at 11p.m.
— exhausted and famished,we had plenty to talk about. First:our
frustrations. But then, too, wehad to mention all the small graceswe’d
received all day long.
We dedicated the day to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, because
we had to remind ourselves continually to do the little things of the
day with love, patience, joy and perseverance.
Joyce McLane, a Catholic school art teacher at St. Bernard School, reminded
us that we were better off than many other pilgrims, who had already
lost their bags. (Days later when we arrived at Cologne, they still
had nothing.) All we had lost was a sleeping bag.
Judi McLane, Joyce’s sister, said she was impressed that hundreds
of thousands of teens and young adults loved their faith enough to gather
for this event.
As a chastity educator for Generation Life, the nonprofit organization
devoted to spreading the message of chastity and prolife, Judi spends
a lot of time with junior high school and high school students, in both
public and private schools, and she sees the stranglehold that the culture
of death has on America’s youth.
For Judi, seeing the world’s young Catholics gather was a source
of joy and renewed hope, she said.
Jacqui DiGregorio, a nurse manager for a Philadelphia hospital who was
happy to take a break from her high-stress job to focus on her faith,
was pleased with the way we used our waiting time — which seemed
to be in abundance — to pray the rosary or the Liturgy of the
Hours.
She said it helped her to refocus, and to remember St. Thérèse’s
‘little way’ — to remember, really, not to sweat the
small stuff.
Day
Two
Exhausted from travel, my companions decided to sleep in and meet up
with me later. I headed to the Cologne Cathedral.
When I arrived, there were already countless pilgrims, buzzing with
excitement, overflowing from the station into the Dom’s plaza
and all the surrounding streets.
I couldn’t help but catch the joyous spirit that hung in the air.
There were hundreds of flags waving, and thousands of young people singing
hymns in every language.
And the sheer majesty of the cathedral was inspiring.
The spirit of the throng became prayerful and hushed as we entered the
Dom, which is one of the Christian treasures of Western Europe.
I loved the Dom and I loved knowing that I was praying in the same church
where so many saints had praised God and sought from Him the graces
they needed to live holy lives: St. Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein,
the Jewish convert and Carmelite martyr), St. Albert the Great and St.
Boniface, to name a few.
Just before entering the cathedral, I saw the mosaic of Pope John Paul
II that had been created to honor him as the founder of WYD —
a mosaic made from thousands of photos that we pilgrims had sent to
the event’s organizers.
That was an emotional moment.
Hundreds of pilgrims stopped and stood quietly for a moment.
Then they broke into a spontaneous song and the familiar chants: “JPII
we love you,” and “Giovani Paolo” — accompanied
by thunderous applause.
Seeing the image of his gentle, contemplative face, it seemed to me
he was telling us, as he always had, not to be afraid to give everything
to Christ.
My morning was well spent, but now it was time to meet up with the ladies,
and stake out our location for the welcoming ceremony of Pope Benedict
XVI.
Greeting the Pope and spreading the Good News
Unlike other WYDs, when the papal welcoming ceremony had been held in
a single location, this year, Pope Benedict’s route included a
boat ride along the Rhine River and a stop at the Dom —where he
gave a welcoming speech. The pilgrims were asked to choose a spot along
the route to greet him.
“Where on earth do we go? I don’t know my way around here,”
was all I could think, as I rushed to meet my friends. Just as I completed
that thought, I literally ran into my friend Jeff Smith from New York,
who just happened to be accompanied by a native of Cologne and some
World Youth Alliance members.
I could see the hand of Mary. We had consecrated our trip to her before
we left, and it is impossible to say how many times she guided us exactly
to the place she wanted us to be. So we were off.
Judi had brought along some Generation Life stickers that said, “I’m
worth waiting for” to hand out. We were especially eager to distribute
them, since the previous day we had encountered some “Catholics
for free choice,” who were handing out condoms. They were wearing
red T-shirts that looked very similar to the T-shirts the WYD volunteers
wore, and they labeled everything they handed out “WYD-2005”
— as if they were a WYD-approved group.
We had decided to be proactive, instead of reactive — so we got
out a roll of 2,000 stickers, put some on ourselves, and then started
handing them out as we walked to our location.
The pilgrims lined up along the Rhine —many waist-deep in the
water — and we all chanted and applauded when we caught our first
glimpse of our new Pope.
Then a mad rush began, as everyone who had been lined up along the Rhine
headed to the Dom to hear the Pope’s address.
The ladies seized the opportunity to line up along the walkway, with
stickers in hand, talking to the teens and young adults passing by about
chastity and saving sex for marriage.
“We were talking to them, and praying that they understood what
we were saying,” Judi said. “We learned the word for purity
in German, Italian and Spanish. People seemed really receptive —
but of course they’re going to be receptive since it’s the
message of the Church. It’s the message that Pope John Paul II
and Pope Benedict are sharing. It’s the message of the Theology
of the Body.”
“Our stickers were red, and looked like the ones distributed by
the condom people,” Judi said. “But the people we met really
trusted us. … It was such a great way of meeting people too.”
All 2,000 stickers were handed out.
Cindy Thompson, a junior high school English teacher, gave a sticker
to one young Polish woman, who asked if she could sit down and speak
to her some more; she had questions. At first, they talked about chastity,
but soon Cindy realized that this was a conversation about the Catholic
faith. The woman was no longer Catholic, and wanted to know why we prayed
to Mary, and where in Scripture it said everything we Catholics proclaim
about her.
Cindy shared her own story of how she returned to the faith through
Mary.
“It challenged my faith, and made me realize that although I’ve
read a lot, I’ve forgotten much. So I’m going to reread
the Church’s teaching on Mary and refresh my memory,” Cindy
said. “It’s good to have resources available to give to
them. We exchanged e-mails. … I did encourage her to pray the
rosary, because she said she used to, and she used to feel at peace
doing it. She was obviously searching or else she wouldn’t have
come to WYD.”
It was no accident that we ended up where we did. God was working.
Prayer and partying, Catholic-style
After our rendezvous with the Pope, we headed to the Church of the Apostles,
which is run by the Missionaries of Charity.
There, we sought the refuge of eucharistic adoration and confession
to rejuvenate ourselves. For some of us, this was the highlight of the
evening.
Tara Williams, who works in sales and marketing for the Catholic publishing
company, Ascension Press, said she felt as if she had won the lottery
after going to confession.
“Adoration and confession was exactly what I needed, and it helped
me refocus,” she said. “You could tell that the priest I
went to had a deep prayer life, and that he was filled with the Holy
Spirit.”
Jacqui, too, told us later: “It was one of the most powerful confessions
I’ve ever had. The priest had this peacefulness that was contagious.
… He said some key things to me that made me see things differently.
Up until that point, I was falling asleep in church, but that woke me
up — it literally woke me up spiritually.”
Our long day ended with a free concert at the Gloria Theater, where
top Catholic musicians were being showcased. That was one of the highlights
of my day. There is always something to be said — a great example
to our contemporary culture — when young people can get together
and have fun without getting drunk or high or getting caught up in immorality.
Catholics do know how to party.
Next week: Continue to walk with the WYD pilgrims to Duseldorf, Frechen
and finally to the closing Mass with Pope Benedict XVI as we feature
days three, four and five of this WYD journal.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo can be reached at npozo@adphila.org
or (215) 965-4614.