World Youth Day 2008

Watching the coverage of World Youth Day in Sydney has me thinking back to World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto. I had the privilege to travel to Toronto with a small group of pilgrims. What an experience that was. What a pilgrimage. I remember sleeping outside overnight with the other pilgrims in anticipation of the papal mass, waking up to rain drops that gave way to a torrent, which lasted until the singing of the Gloria during the papal mass as the sun came out and everybody dried off. I remember spending one of my days there with the group of Eastern Rite (Byzantine) Catholics in what was a very eye-opening experience. I remember arriving late from the airport with my fellow pilgrim from my parish and missing our bus to our sleepsite, having to put our trust in some Toronto natives to guide us through the city on foot, through empty fields and neighborhoods, ultimately delivering us safely to our destination.

The Church is young. And now we learn that the next WYD (which now constitute an ordinary part of the life of the church) will be in Madrid in 2011.