By Bishop Don Sproxton
World Youth Day will always be bigger than the Olympics. The sheer number of people who make the journey to participate proves the point. Forty thousand young people from the United States alone made their way to Poland. They joined 3,000 Aussies and the young people from countries across the world, including China. For two weeks, we lived as brothers and sisters in the faith. It is estimated that 1.8 million Catholic youth, young adults, companions, priests and bishops celebrated the faith in our God of mercy.
Since returning to Perth, I have been asked by so many: What was the highlight of the World Youth Day events in Kraków? I have found it very difficult to settle on one. There were many for me.
The first has to be having the chance to spend two weeks with such a great group of young people from the Archdiocese. I do not get this sort of opportunity to be with groups of Catholics in the Archdiocese for an extended time like this. It is a unique experience to get to know some of our younger Catholics and for them to get to know me.
On the way to Poland, we met the Archbishop in Rome. He accompanied us as we visited the four great basilicas and with us passed through the Holy Doors of each. We prayed for a deepening of our own faith, for our families and for the intentions of the Holy Father, Pope Francis. Many of our pilgrims had never been to Rome, but despite the very warm weather, the great city worked its charm on them. They will return one day, I am sure, to discover many more of its wonders.
We then travelled to Turin where the Archbishop very gladly introduced us to the life and work of St John Bosco, the founder of the Salesians. The visit to the original house, the Oratory of St Francis de Sales, and Basilica at Valdocco gave us the chance to hear the story of Don Bosco. The Archbishop and I were given the privilege to enter the rooms where Don Bosco spent the last period of his life. His books, some of his writings and a number of personal effects are preserved there. We both prayed for a moment or two in the bedroom, remembering the vast number of Salesians in their work around the world and for the Young Salesians community in Perth.
The parish in Warsaw where we were welcomed for the Days in the Diocese experience is in the care of the Marian Fathers. The priests and people there could not have been kinder or more hospitable.
Warsaw is largely a rebuilt city following its terrible destruction in the Second World War. Its people live in apartment blocks. More modern ones resemble ours in Australia, but those built in the communist times are quite stark.
Our pilgrims experienced great warmth from their hosts. There are stories of parents giving up their bedrooms for the pilgrims and sleeping in their lounge rooms. A wonderful connection developed very quickly between the host families and their Aussie guests. We learnt so much about their history, culture and deep Catholic faith that have sustained the people through the great trials of their history.
Before arriving in Kraków, we spent a night in Kalwaria (Calvary). It is a popular pilgrimage destination in Poland and was the favourite retreat centre for John Paul II when he was Archbishop of Kraków. It is set in very beautiful and extensive grounds. Small chapels have been built at each of the Stations of the Cross sites along a road that is at least six kilometres in length.
Kraków is a city of about 800,000 people. The city was once the royal capital and was fortunately saved from the awful bombardment that devastated Warsaw during the war. The old city is well preserved. It is a young person’s city, due to the number of universities, so it is really alive. The World Youth Day pilgrims only made it more so!
Popular sites for the young people were the Chapel of Divine Mercy, where the tomb of St Faustina is located, and the Shrine of John Paul II. This World Youth Day in Poland, the second there since WYD began with John Paul, gave the Church the opportunity to reacquaint young Catholics with the life of the Polish Pope. It is 11 years since John Paul passed from this life. For many of the youth, he is becoming a distant figure of history. There were fine exhibitions on his life and the significant place he had in post war Polish history.
Pope Francis has captured the hearts of this generation of young Catholics. A survey recently found that 78 per cent of young Poles think that he is a good Pope, with important messages for them.
The speech Pope Francis gave to us at the Vigil on the Campus Misericordia in Kraków was received enthusiastically by the young. He helped them to see how forces in the world today are trying to take away our freedom to choose the way of joy and happiness as presented by Jesus Christ. Young people are being encouraged to seek security for their lives by retreating to a place of safety – as he put it, to seek the ”soft sofa” and be transported from the issues of the world by escaping to the world of video games and the computer screen. Whether young or old, there is the temptation to nod off, grow drowsy and dull. The Pope is speaking of the paralysis that can overcome us because of our fears. People can easily become disengaged from the great issues of the world, from other people and, even, from ourselves.
Pope Francis sees that there are some who remain alert and work for different goals to us. They find it easier to achieve these goals if young people are not free and alert. At the Vigil, he challenged the pilgrims to keep awake and to be always aware of the call of Jesus, pointing them to the future: Go “with him and leave your mark on life, leave a mark on history, your own and on that of many others as well”.
The pilgrims cheered as he finished by saying to them: ”Have the courage to show us that it is easier to build bridges than walls…..to challenge us to take the path of fraternity…..Jesus, who is truth, is asking you to abandon the paths of rejection, division and emptiness…..Are you up to this? May the Lord bless your dreams”.
The following morning we celebrated Mass with Pope Francis. He again called us to not be afraid if we feel too small, or fearful of taking a risk to accept Jesus as he passes by, or put off because of what others might think of us. We are children of the Father of mercies and Jesus looks at who we are rather than our failures. The Pope encouraged our pilgrims to trust in the Lord’s mercy and grace, which will lead us to be what we are called to be: witnesses of the love of God.
These are the highlights that the World Youth Day pilgrimage provided me. It was a wonderful experience and set afresh in me the fire for the Gospel. There is a great hope for the future because of the openness to faith I found in my fellow pilgrims.
From page 5 and 6 from Issue 4: ‘Health’ of The Record Magazine