Diocesan youths ready for Cologne

This August, when hundreds of thousands of young Catholics go to Cologne, Germany, for World Youth Day, at least 27 teens and young adults from Oneonta and Rensselaer will be in the throng that greets Pope Benedict XVI as he returns to his homeland.

"Ever since I've gotten back, we've been talking about it," said Ashley Baker of her experiences at Toronto's World Youth Day in 2002, where Pope John Paul II appeared. "When this [academic] year started in September, we said, 'Yes, we want to go [to Cologne].'"

Members of the Oneonta Newman Club -- which includes students from both Hartwick College and SUNY/Oneonta -- went to Toronto with their home parishes, and, according to Ms. Baker, loved the event.

Ready to go

Nine students expressed a desire to recapture the sense of community and Christ-centeredness that they felt in Canada and started the process of raising enough funds to go to Germany.

Youth who travel to the massive convocation pay a $200 pilgrim fee, which grants them access to all events and helps to subsidize housing and meals. They stay in parishes, schools, private homes and hotels. On the final day, they participate in a pilgrimage to the site of the Papal Mass, where they sleep "under the stars," Ms. Baker said.

The Newman Club raised money for the pilgrim packages only through traditional fundraisers: ziti dinners, carwashes and coupon books. Students pay for plane tickets out of their own pockets.

Changing lives

For many attendees, World Youth Day can be a life-changing experience.

"When I was in Toronto, there was this overwhelming feeling of Christ coming through people," Ms. Baker said. "Everywhere you turned, you saw people who believed in the same thing. I hope to experience that again. I can't wait."

She has been gratified by the response of the Catholic community in Oneonta, which has shown "a lot of support" for their cause. "They seem to love the ziti dinners. They come out, and they really enjoy it."

Hopes for WYD

The students will be accompanied by Rev. Steven Moore, assistant pastor at St. Mary's in Oneonta and a campus minister. He is also a WYD veteran. As a teenager, he attended 1993's World Youth Day in Denver; as a seminarian, he shepherded attendees in Toronto.

Both experiences, he said, had a hand in helping to shape his life. As a seminarian getting ready to be ordained, he said, WYD helped him consider questions of "what does it mean for me to minister to a Church this big and this diverse?

"I hope it'll be a great experience for the group, a real strengthening of their faith and a wonderful pilgrimage experience. There's always something at World Youth Day that pops out. For me, it's a sense of renewal, and I'd be encouraged to see our college students walk away with a real strong foundation of God and their faith."

One more time

For youth minister Linda Remington and her group of teens and young adults from St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph parishes in Rensselaer, going to World Youth Day is a tradition.

The group has more than Toronto under its belt: In 2000, more than a dozen young Catholics adults from there joined the throngs in Rome for the millennial World Youth Day celebration.

"It was something we really enjoyed and wanted to experience again," she said.

Papal homeland

This year, the parish will be adding a tour around Germany to the agenda in order to give the teens a taste of German culture, history and faith. Eighteen teenagers agreed to pay around $1,300 for the trip, which will include visits to Berlin, Munich, Salzburg, Oberammergau and Dusseldorf before WYD in Cologne.

According to Mrs. Remington, the teens have worked more than a year to raise $15,000 through spaghetti dinners, calendar drives, Irish nights, car wash tickets, block parties and craft sales.

"We're really in great shape," she said. "I really hope that they get to see a universal Church. Many of us walk in and out of church for weekend Masses, and that is pretty much what we see. Events like this show us how huge this Church really is."

Benedict XVI

One attraction at this year's WYD is the chance to see the new pontiff.

"Any time that you're in the presence of the Holy Father, it's something you never, ever, ever forget," said Mrs. Remington.

Ms. Baker agreed, saying: "I hope for a new energy. With John Paul II, you could see he was so weak and so fragile. Even though he had energy, you could tell it wasn't as much as he wanted to have. With Pope Benedict, there will be this sense of a new beginning."

What's WYD all about?

World Youth Day -- which actually lasts several days -- began under Pope John Paul II in 1986, when young people flocked to Rome for a week of worship, fellowship and inspiration.

Hundreds of thousands -- and, in some cases, millions -- of Catholic teens and young adults have converged on the successive host cities to meet the pope, worship God and learn more about their faith.

Although the highlight of WYD is the Papal Mass on the last day, the week is chock-full of other activities: catechesis, the Way of the Cross and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, art shows, concerts, Masses, Rosaries, and speakers. (KD)

(5/12/05)