Who attends World Youth Day?; Benedict arrives; Condolences to Taizé; WYD trivia and Americans in Cologne; Visa problems; Security issues; Comic reliefAnyone who has ever attended a World Youth Day knows there are at least three sociological sub-groups among the hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims.
First are the most committed Catholic youth, active in their parishes or in movements, deeply engaged in the prayer and sacramental life of the church, many considering vocations to the priesthood or religious life. These youth do not have to be persuaded to attend World Youth Day; most would walk over hot coals to be here. For example, I ran into a delegation from Southern California on its way to World Youth Day at the 9:00 am Sunday Mass at Santa Susanna in Rome last week. There was a young man in the group who had Fides Semper tattooed in green gothic lettering on the back of his neck. This, it turned out, was not a reference to the Marine Corps motto, but to his deep Catholic devotion.
Second are those youth more marginally involved with the church. They generally attend Mass, either because their parents insist upon it or because they have a vague sense that doing so is important. They often like their pastor or youth minister, and have found a circle of friends in a Catholic campus center or parish. For them, World Youth Day is an opportunity to explore the faith more deeply, and to meet Catholics like themselves from around the world. They may not know a great deal about the pope, but most of them feel that meeting him is a “peak moment.”
Third are those youth with virtually no involvement with the Catholic Church; some may in fact not even be Catholic. For most of these young people, World Youth Day is simply a great excuse to travel overseas. In some cases, they may be attending because mom and dad would pay for this, while they wouldn’t pop for tickets to Lollapalooza; in other cases, they may have friends in one of the first two groups who asked them to tag along. You can spy these kids, because during the morning catechetical sessions, for example, they’re often the ones outside eating ice cream and playing hacky sack.
Tags: Youth
