In Hyde Park there were tents were any enquiring mind could be satisfied on any detail of WYD or the Catholic church. Some people thought that there were high pressure sales people there trying to convert people or to talk them into becoming priests. That just was not so. Most of these tents were staffed by well informed young people. Or those at least young at heart. Despite the crowds trying to get into these venues there was no pushing but there was lots of conversation between people who had not met before they joined the queue.

The celebrations commenced on Tuesday 14 July. On the previous Thursday, the 10th, our ‘pilgrims’ arrived. They should have been here on Monday the 7th but due to a minor glitch they did not know they were expected or actually where they were going. They had come from Paris, France and had a short detour and lightning tour of Vietnam. There were 12 ‘pilgrims’, four boys and 8 girls. One of the boys was a priest from Notre Dame de Lorette, Fr Antoine, and another was a seminarian, Manuel Tois. Manuel was a practicing solicitor who has decided to become a priest. He was also a gifted pianist. The ‘pilgrims’ arrived late Thursday afternoon and had to leave at 7.30am on Saturday morning so the planned program had to be abandoned. They were taken to Umbarra which they thoroughly enjoyed and then they came to Larry Phillips home for a barbecue. Careful planning had calculated that 34 people would be at the B-B-Q but as usual 42 people arrived. During the afternoon some of the pilgrims – different lot- from Cobargo came and after a brief phone call a French bishop and his staff turned up. Two of the bishop’s staff were Fr Oliviers. There are kangaroos resident on Larry’s property and one of them obligingly posed with practically everyone for photos. It was quite a wrench to part with this wonderful little group of pilgrims who had been preparing by prayer and practice for about 6 months. Fr Antoine was one of those who had melded his group into a choir and we were delighted with the Gregorian chant they displayed in our church in Narooma. The bus took them to Canberra for a special mass celebrated by a French Cardinal and then they joined a convoy of buses which went to Sydney.

When my wife and I got to Sydney, due to some small hiccup, we had no paperwork to show that we were pilgrims. One of the tents in Hyde Park was for Registrations. A lovely young lady, Amelia, listened to our story and about an hour later we had everything we needed. While we were waiting the French bishop and one of the Fr Oliviers arrived at the tent. They too had the same problem. No paperwork. Nothing was too much trouble for the staff and soon both priests were on the way with their documents.

Barangaroo is attached to the north end of Darling Harbour. It had been divided up into dozens if not hundreds of enclosures. Each pilgrim was allocated to one of these enclosures. Huge television screens had been set up all along the water edge of the area so that everyone should be able to see. In the excitement many people forgot about those behind them especially those carrying big flags and sometimes it was difficult if not impossible to even see the screens and this did cause some complaint. There was precious little floor space but we saw no instance of complaint.

Crowd control was divided between police, on the outside, and volunteers on the inside. To facilitate crowd movement the police had decided in advance that everyone should exit through the north end of Barangaroo. In many instances this meant that instead of walking a few hundred yards to get to public transport you had to walk about 5 or 6 kilometres. This did not seem to upset anyone. Everything done by both police and volunteers was done with the utmost courtesy.

Randwick racecourse, the subject of much coverage by the press, had been divided up in the same fashion. We were in an enclosure with a group of Taiwanese who were delightful. Their chaplain was an Italian missionary priest and he had 40 kids in his care. He personally welcomed us and said they had brought 400 young people from Taiwan including his group. Some of the group came and talked to us. The opening remark no matter where you were was “Where are you from?” When they found out you were from Aus they were delighted and could not stop asking questions.

Many wonderful things have been said about this WYD.

Morris Iemma MP, our premier, said

“WYD08 brings together two of the most powerful forces in human life – youth and faith.”

A reporter in a Catholic newspaper, Naomi Fallon said

“If World Youth Day hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t believe it was possible to have a week-long party with thousands of people, where there were no drugs or alcohol, hate or violence and everyone had an awesome time.”

Our archbishop Mark Coleridge said

“It is impossible to believe that such an outpouring of blood, sweat and tears in the preparation – to say nothing of the money – and such an outpouring of grace won’t produce great fruit. The fruit may not be the ones we are expecting: that’s often the way with the Holy Spirit. But a mighty seed has been sown in this land, and I cannot believe that the seed will come to nothing.”

An exhausting and exhilarating experience which ended all too soon – however WYD will have tentacles which will reach far into the future.