Sydney... the best WYD ever?

It would have been almost impossible to live in Sydney last week and not witness World Youth Day pilgrims singing, dancing, praying, waving flags or just generally walking around with their luminously coloured WYD backpacks.

More overseas guests flew into Sydney for WYD than for the 2000 Olympics and Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, the President of the Pontifical Council for Laity (the Vatican body which oversees WYD) proclaimed that Sydney had become “the Catholic youth capital of the world.” 

Despite some initial grumblings, the city seemed to relish in the magnitude and joy of the event and it can now be said that since Pope John Paul II founded WYD in 1985, Sydney is now the only city in the world to have hosted both the Olympics and World Youth Day.
 
As a young Australian living in Sydney in September 2000, I have fond memories of the sparkling Olympic events, the colour of the ceremonies and the thousands of international participants.  Even so, my participation in the Olympics could only ever go so far – I had failed in all my attempts to qualify as an athlete and I wasn’t chosen to ride a kangaroo bicycle.  Ultimately I could only marvel at the genius of Rick Birch and his artistic team and the stamina of Cathy Freeman and our other Australian medallists.  
 
Experiencing WYD08 as a Sydney pilgrim was just as exciting as the Olympics but throughout the week I realised I was actually participating far more in WYD than I could ever have hoped to during the Olympics.  First, I could join in prayer with Pope Benedict XVI, hundreds of Bishops and thousands of pilgrims from across the world; second, I could journey into the mystery of Christ’s Crucifixion through the Stations of the Cross; third, I could undertake an 9km pilgrimage across our Harbour to the Papal Vigil and Sleep-out; and finally, I could enter into the week at a deeply personal level through the sacraments.  Unless you’re into trading pins, it can be pretty hard to touch the Olympics, but not only could I touch WYD but through Holy Communion I could actually consume the very essence of the event which is Christ Himself.

How will the pilgrims at WYD08 remember this past week – indeed how did Sydney’s performance compare with other WYD cities?

Despite the obvious success of WYD08, unsurprisingly, Pope Benedict stayed away from Olympic like comparisons of ‘the best ever WYD’.  One immediate reason for this might be that any WYD hosted in Europe is inevitably more unpredictable because of the potentially enormous number of ‘late registrants’. 

The best WYD to compare with Sydney2008 is probably Toronto2002 as these two WYDs almost certainly involved the largest percentage of pilgrims ‘flying in’ for the occasion.  In both cases the total number of pilgrims was slightly diminished, though the Final WYD Masses in Sydney and Toronto were still the largest recorded public gatherings ever held in Australia and Canada.

From a logistics perspective, transport and catering at WYD have always been significant problems and here, Sydney seemed to fare better than most of the previous cities. In Toronto I remember waiting for hours to get our meals and in Cologne we gave up on trying to get WYD food by about half way through the week heading instead to the cafes and restaurants.  The rail system in Cologne basically choked and I recall walking 5kms to go home one night rather than wait 3 hours to get on a train.  Most experienced WYD pilgrims would probably agree that Sydney2008 was more comfortable logistically than Cologne2005 but this endorsement should be viewed in the context of the smaller number of full-time WYD pilgrims in Sydney.

In terms of the pilgrim’s experiences in Sydney, there were a few unique elements at WYD08:  over 300 parishes, schools and communities were involved in billeting, accommodating and feeding WYD pilgrims including the Muslim community; over 10,000 pilgrims were accommodated in one place at ‘Pilgrim-Park’ at Homebush; Fatty Vautin’s claim for the World’s Biggest BBQ was challenged when over 200 simultaneous BBQs were held on the Wednesday of WYD week; over 400 youth festival events were held across the city including at least 100 concerts, dozens of forums, a public exhibition of 33 Jesus statues and the inaugural ‘Papal Plate’ WYD Soccer and Debating Competitions which were won by Croatia and Australia respectively. 

Its’ also worth noting that 70,000 pilgrims participated in the Days in the Dioceses in other parts of Australia meaning that Sydney was by no means the only winner from this event.

The overseas pilgrims will now go home with inspiring stories and pictures of Sydney’s iconic locations - which also played a major part in the week’s celebrations - and considering that WYD pilgrims are generally younger than Olympic athletes or media there’s probably more chance they’ll return to Australia a second time for a gap year, a university exchange, a holiday, honeymoon or work. 

One aspect of WYD08 which only Sydney residents will fully appreciate was the weather.  Some months ago the WYD08 Coordinator, Bishop Anthony Fisher, announced that he had asked for religious orders across Australia to pray for good weather during WYD week.  This was not a pious joke.  WYD is trying enough in usual circumstances but to contend with bitter cold or piercing rain would have significantly increased the logistical complexities especially during the Randwick Sleep-out.  That Sydney experienced beautiful weather every day throughout WYD week whilst some of its coldest days of the year occurred in the weeks before and after the event is truly quite miraculous.

Finally, WYD08 will be remembered for Pope Benedict’s extraordinary homilies which began by providing us with a profound yet understandable Catechesis on the role of the Holy Spirit and finished by calling us to leave a legacy for the future: “Dear young people, let me now ask you a question. What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure?”

In preparing for WYD08, Cardinal Pell and Bishop Fisher also raised the notion of the WYD legacy and encouraged us to not only participate in the one-off global celebration which is WYD but to then use it to launch a new era for the Church in Australia.  WYD08 even placed a broad timing on this legacy – it should last for at least the next 20 years, until 2028. 

So as dozens of WYD2011 face-book groups spring up across the world celebrating the poetic progression from ‘WYD Syd’ to ‘WYD Madrid,’ at the same time many Australian parishes, schools, dioceses and Catholic associations are laying a framework for the next 20 years. 

If even a tiny percentage of WYD08 pilgrims are inspired by Pope Benedict’s call to leave a legacy through works of apostolate and social service and ultimately by faithfully living our vocations, we should be not be surprised to see a ‘new springtime’ emerge in this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit.

Anthony McCarthy coordinated TOWARDS2008, the WYD project of the Australian Catholic Students Association.