Posted on 08/02/2005 10:10:46 AM PDT by NYer
COLOGNE, Germany (CNS) -- The city of Cologne is preparing for an invasion of hundreds of thousands of young people scheduled to attend World Youth Day and activities surrounding Pope Benedict XVI's visit.
Stefan Neuhoff, head of the Cologne fire department, described the pope's Aug. 18-21 visit as "the biggest planning challenge since the end of World War II."
By late July, just weeks before the start of the Aug. 16-21 World Youth Day celebrations, organizers had received registrations from 370,000 young people from 160 countries, nearly 700 bishops, 8,000 priests and 5,100 journalists.
During the international celebration, those people and more will have to be housed, fed, moved around, entertained and inspired. Before Aug. 16, about 120,000 of them will stay in German dioceses for a few days, sharing the life of Catholics throughout the country.
Once they arrive in Cologne, many of the pilgrims will be housed in school halls and sports facilities, but people throughout the region have offered places in their homes to more than 89,000 of the young visitors. Some pilgrims will stay in a brewery, some in a castle, others in a cowshed. Ten young people will sleep in a couple of rooms in the studios of Germany's popular comedian and TV show host, Harald Schmidt.
The offer by individual local Muslims and, in one case, a whole Muslim community to take in pilgrims caused some problems for the organizers, who eventually accepted the offers.
Msgr. Heiner Koch, World Youth Day general secretary, told the German Catholic news agency KNA: "The places which offer hospitality are not, for us, simply random locations. They should, after all, lead to Catholic encounters."
The Muslim community in the nearby town of Niederkassel has offered 60 young people a place in the communal hall beneath the mosque. The community's chairman, Niyazi Ileli, said, "Pilgrimage is central for us as Muslims, and if young Christians want to do that, we support it happily."
However, he added Muslim leaders turned down organizers' request to allow young people to hold Christian morning prayers in the mosque.
World Youth Day registration includes a public transportation pass, and providers are running rush-hour services all day and into the nights.
To help the many foreign visitors, travel information will be offered in several languages, including Latin. The German railways are adding more than 140 extra trains.
On Aug. 21, 1,200 extra buses will shuttle pilgrims from 12 stations and parking lots to the closing Mass with Pope Benedict, which will take place 15 miles outside the city and is expected to attract more than 800,000 people.
For that Mass on the Marienfeld, a recultivated open-cast mine, construction workers have laid out more than 30 miles of new roads and tipped 80,000 cubic yards of gravel to create the 30-foot high "Pope's Hill," on which the altar will stand.
Cell phone operators are building an entire network of transmitters to cope with the increased population at the Marienfeld, but they are issuing no guarantees that the network will not break down when the pope drives by and people try to use their phones to take pictures and send them to family and friends. German Telekom is also offering special "sacred" ring tones, including church bells or the tune, "Go Tell It on the Mountain."
Police chief Klaus Steffenhagen said the London subway bombings had made security a central concern, and the pope's arrival June 18 will turn Cologne into a high security zone. Bridges will be closed while the pope travels on the Rhine River; airspace will be closed over papal events. Police say they have called in all the crowd barricades they could find in Germany
Meanwhile, the pilgrims will have to be fed, and, as Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne said, they will need more than five loaves and two fishes.
Sodexho, the company that catered for World Youth Days in Paris in 1997 and in Rome in 2000, will make 6.3 million meals throughout celebration -- 100 tons of food a day. The menu will be international; organizers said German specialties like pork knuckle and sauerkraut might not appeal to international visitors.
Here's hoping GipperGal gets the brewery .... Octoberfest in August :-)
EWTN Coverage of World Youth Day
WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2005, COLOGNE, GERMANY WELCOMING
CEREMONY LIVE (3 ½ HOURS)
Thursday August 18, 10:00 AM
Encore: Thursday August 18, 9:30 PM
LIFE ON THE ROCK LIVE FROM COLOGNE, GERMANY
WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2005 (90:00)
Thursday August 18, 8:00 PM
WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2005 COLOGNE GERMANY
WAY OF THE CROSS LIVE
Friday August 19, 1:00 PM
WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2005 COLOGNE GERMANY
MASS VIGIL LIVE (4 hours)
Saturday August 20 2:00 PM
Encore: Saturday August 20 8:00 PM
WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2005, COLOGNE, GERMANY
CLOSING MASS LIVE (3 ½ HOURS)
Sunday August 20, 3:30 AM
Encores: Sunday August 20, 2:30 PM
Sunday August 20, 9:00 PM
If you don't forget me in your prayers this Sunday, I might get that brewery after all! I'll take the castle too. (But if I end up in the cowshed, you'll hear all about.)
I just bought all my camping gear yesterday! I've got my backpack, my super lightweight air mattress, etc. All ready to face the elements.
I’ll be attending WYD with a group of 3000 pilgrims (mostly students from Jesuit colleges and universities from around the world) organized by the German Jesuits. The pilgrimage site is www.magis2005.de -- check it out for details. As you'll see, the Jesuits have called this pilgrimage "['magis]".
We even have a special ['magis] song:
The ['magis] song text reads: "Te magis novisse, magis amare, magis te sequi, te Christe rogamus" (we ask you Lord that we might know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly).The text comes from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, paragraph 104, where Ignatius asks those on retreat during the second week to pray for an "interior knowledge of the Lord, who became human for us, that we might love, know, and follow him more easily."
I'll be meeting up with the group on August 13th at the Loreley. We're camping at the Loreley (out in the middle of nowhere!) for two days in tents. And then we're taking a boat up the Rhine to Cologne for WYD.
Here's the Magis itinerary (note: the organizers are Germany so cut them some slack for the weird grammar issues):
August 15: Magis Pilgrims depart Loreley on boats up the Rhine River to arrive in Bad Godesberg (a suburb of Cologne).
Details from Magis Coordinating Team: “We have reserved the two biggest ships from the company ‘KD’. The ships are: MS RheinEnergie and MS Wappen von Köln. On August 15, we will hike from the Loreley-rock to the Rhine (1,5 kilometer). There, in St. Goarshausen we go onto the ships until 1 p.m., but it depends on the water level and if we can ascend at the same time on both ships. The navigation duration is around 5 hours, so that we reach Bonn at 6 p.m.”
Here's some pics of the boats:
August 16: World Youth Day - Opening Mass with Cardinal Meissner
August 17-19: Morning Catechesis and Mass
August 18: Afternoon welcome celebration for the Pope
August 19: Evening Way of the Cross
August 20: Pilgrimage to final meeting and vigil with the Pope
August 21: Closing World Youth Day Mass
Some other ['magis] info:
Here is Pope Benedict's special benediction for the ['magis] pilgrims:
After the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the ['magis] team sent a letter of congratulations and support. A few days ago, we received a letter in reply from the Vatican: "With joy, his holiness Pope Benedict XVI received your letter in the name of your coworkers on the WYD project ['magis] and the German Province of the Jesuits on the occasion of his election as successor to the Holy Apostle Peter. He conveys his blessing and prayers as you labour for the universal church. The Holy Father thanks you sincerely for your thoughts and indication of fidelity to the Chair of Peter. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God, the Holy Father extends to you, and the young people you are working with during the preparations for World Youth Day, his Holy Apostolic Benediction."
Here's some more interesting info sent to me from the ['magis] organizers:
Benedict XVI will use the same ship as us - the "Rheinenergie".On Tuesday, the Vatican officially released the travel plans of Benedict XVI to Germany. On 18 August at 12:00 pm, he will land on the civilian section of the Cologne-Bonn airport where he will be received by Horst Köhler, the President of the Federal Republic.
Subsequently, the Holy Father will drive to the Archbishop's house in Cologne where he will stay during the events. After his arrival, he will participate in a welcoming celebration on the ship named the "Rheinenergie." Youth will be standing alongside the shore and on the Poller meadows and the Pope will speak to them from the water. He will then go to the right shoreline and travel on foot to the Cathedral. From there, the Pope will use the Pope-mobile to travel through Cologne.
The Pope will come on Friday, 19 August to Bonn in a private vehicle, and in the villa Hammerschmidt, he will have a second service with the President of the Federal Republic. His return journey is planned for Sunday, 21 August at 7:15 pm, and the detailed information will be published in July.
Talk about a "triumphant entry" into his native land! Entering Cologne on foot to march up to the Cathedral! All that's missing is the donkey and palms leaves!
The article even features one young Freeper (who also happens to be related to me!). Hint: He's the one quoted as saying that these devout young Catholic WYD Pilgrims are “the future and hope of the church and mankind.”
Also, with the help of NYer and netmilsmom, I've created a special FReeper inspired WYD t-shirt for my group of Jesuit-led pilgrims.
You can see and purchase the t-shirt here. Also take a look at my two other WYD inspired t-shirts here and here.
Forgot to ping you on #4
*August 19: Evening Way of the Cross*
If this is anything like the one they did in Vancouver, it should be a very moving experience. They selected a young actor to portray Christ. As he carried the cross from one station to the next, they chanted one of the Taize hymns 'Adoremus Te'(?). Had they videotaped this, I would have added it to my collection.
I hardly ever post anything, but I would like to wish you a very safe trip and hope that you recieve many, many blessings.
roamer
God bless,
GG
Is the 'magis monicker a play on the Koln Domkapelle's veneration of the Three Wise Men?
(As You Like It)
Check out the magis website (click on the flag to get into the English version of the site) and tell me what you think. I'm late to the game with these folks. I'm not actually attached to one of the small groups that are participating in the first stage of the project (shhh! don't tell anyone. They let me slip in and join us with everyone at the Loreley for the second part of the magis project. I'll be in Rome on my own from Aug 9-12 before meeting up with them on Aug 13).
BTW, if any Freepers from the Juventutem group is going and would like to meet up for one of the Tridentine Masses being held, please let me know! I would like to work that into the itinerary (and, of course, report back to all of you here!).
You should be coming too, Mrs. Don-o!!
Ping.
Good deal. Have a few friends over in Grand Rapids Michigan who are attending. Didn't have a clue it was this huge. I was tempted to go myself.
"magis" is Latin for 'more.'
However, knowing the Jebs, one can't help but think that the 'magis'/Magi play could have been in mind...
To my knowledge, the Magi had little to do with church music. But for whatever reason, the cathedral at Cologne features the Three Kings
There seems to be some sort of a musical theme to this group, so I wouldn't be surprised if you're right. One of the groups from the states is going to Taize for some musical thing. They're also going to Sacre Coeur, and Paray-le-Moniel).
As a member of the Juventutem Pilgrims' Choir, I invite you to browse the liturgies at which we will assist. [PDF]
Particularly noteworthy are the following (all events at St. Antonius, Dusseldorf):
My daughter leaves Tuesday for WYD. She is a tour guide and will go to Lourdes first.
What a great time for our youth!
Will you be singing at all of them?
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