What's the big deal about World Youth Day?

I have noticed that many people do not know about World Youth Day. I mean they never even heard of it.  When I mention I'm going, they look at me curiously as if I'm talking about some sort of regional high school pep rally that wouldn't garner the interest of a local newspaper. Perhaps they take the word "World" in the title lightly, like "the world's largest corn palace" that only fascinates  people who are interested in buildings made of strange materials, or in all the wonderful things you can do with corn.

No, there's nothing corny about World Youth Day; and it may be the fruit of an abundant harvest, but it's a harvest of a completely different kind.   When they say 160 countries will be represented, they don't mean just a handful from each one. They mean hundreds and thousands from many of them. It is the largest gathering in the world, period.  Nothing even comes close. They can't even estimate the number that may show up at the Vigil Mass with the Pope on the final day. Since the election of Pope Francis, they say many from his home country of  Argentina are signing up last minute. In fact, the Argentine Pope is a source of pride for all Hispanics in a way, so I won't be surprised if his election inspired more people from all around Latin America to come.

So this is my first WYD, first time going to Brazil, and I'm going to see the first Pope from the New World and the Southern Hemisphere. The things I've already heard of this champion of the poor have inspired me. I heard he encouraged all priests and religious sisters with luxury cars to sell the cars, buy something more modest, and give the rest of the money to the poor; and he invited the poor to dine with him in The Vatican. He'll visit the slums of Rio, and won't use the Popemobile there.

Apparently, Pope Francis rightly sees WYD as the perfect opportunity to exemplify Catholic Social Teaching, because the great event has gained such communal power. The message of charity that politicians and celebrities try to convey on similar big stages will be put in action when Pope Francis comes to Rio de Janeiro.

I find the roots of this colossal event 28 years ago to be quite ironic. Pope John Paul II called the first WYD in 1985 in solidarity with the United Nation's declaration of an International Youth Year. So, in an age when people are saying religion is becoming less and less relevant, and when they're saying the Church no longer has the communal power it once had to unite nations, the United Nations declares a year for the youth and the Catholic Church runs with the idea, bringing together more young people than the U.N. ever could even if it hosted an event with every rock star and global leader in the world. Back in 1985, it was as if Mother Church was saying, "You want to unite the new generation and give people hope, United Nations? Let me show you how it's done."

Tomorrow we will take off from Newark Liberty International Airport for a day of air travel to Rio, to continue the legacy that began in Pope John Paul II's historic pontificate. All the preparations have been made. The wait is over. Tomorrow it begins... well, kind of. 

The WYD pilgrims have been commissioned

Last night it began.

Well, if you can call a sending forth blessing from Bishop da Cunha of Newark Archdiocese a beginning, then it's fair enough to say it began. Then again, if that counts as a beginning, so can the moment I officially decided to go to Rio for World Youth Day seven months ago, and so can the moment I made the first deposit in my savings account for the pilgrimage, or when I finally paid the full $4,000, or when we started actually hosting fundraisers for the trip, or when I finally received my visa; and so can the few solidifying events that still remain like driving to the airport July 21, landing in Rio the next morning, and then starting to see the other pilgrims from around the world who will be incredulous at the same time as I because they'll realize they've finally arrived.

It's hard to find a true beginning really, because so much has already gone into this event, so many demands tug at us for attention, so many go-aheads, wait-a-seconds, 'do you have this and that's, 'did you do that and this'es, all pushing to be top priorities, that the true beginning, the true moment when I CAN REALLY SAY THAT I'M GOING TO WORLD YOUTH DAY never seems to really, actually, technically, literally arrive.

A bishop's blessing can be pretty convincing, though. So can driving an hour and a half up to Newark to get the blessing, come to think of it. That little adventure, in my beat-up Buick, with a phone GPS losing power, made me notice that even the smaller journeys in our every day lives can be seen as pilgrimages. Zigzagging through Newark, I certainly offered up my share of prayers while hoping that I make the right turn to get to the archdiocesan retreat center in Kearny. I'm still not exactly sure where it is.

We all make sacrifices. Every blessing comes with its sacrifices, including this chance to go to WYD. My sacrifice is an emptied bank account. Even though most of the trip has been paid for by others, this pilgrimage has already left me broke; and it hasn't even started yet. Nonetheless, just like our guide from Regina Tours told us last night, "No one has ever gone to World Youth Day and said I wish I hadn't spent all my savings to go."

Burning with anticipation, I can only hope that she's right.