Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
 

World Youth Day (WYD) is not for the "faint of heart." If you have ever been selected to chaperone a bus full of active, high school sophomores, multiply that experience by at least 100,000, and you might come close to the constant energy and enthusiasm experienced at WYD.
 
This event has been called the “Catholic Woodstock.” However, if Woodstock was "sex, drugs and rock and roll," then Catholic Woodstock is "Jesus, prayer and celebration." There's no alcohol, I didn't see drugs and the numbers of the young who attended Catholic Woodstock was doubled – if not tripled – and it's been happening every three years for 31 years.
 
One of the inspirational concepts of St. John Paul II was to bring young people from around the world and allow them to celebrate their pride in their faith, their love for Jesus and to listen to the successor of St. Peter challenge them to offer a witness to change the world by living the Gospel.
 
Pope Francis was present when the young gathered at the welcoming ceremony, the Stations of the Cross, the vigil prayer service with adoration and the final Mass, with estimates of over 2.5 million people. The phrase, “As far as the eye could see,” certainly applied to this year’s numbers.
 
I remember my uncles who served in the European theater during World War II. Their lives were changed by the experiences they encountered in another country; our whole nation was changed by those experiences multiplied in a million ways.
 
Because of the genius of St. John Paul II, millions of young Catholics meet and greet one another at every WYD. They are family; barriers are destroyed and customs celebrated. There were an estimated 40,000 American Catholics. If even half of that had been at the last 11 WYD, then over 200,000 young Catholics see themselves as part of the World Catholic Family. This has got to make a difference in their lives and the parishes of which they are members.
 
One of the experiences at WYD is the catechesis. Fr. Jim Lobacz and I traveled to a rural community where we were greeted by the pastor who generously opened his Church to about 150 English-speaking young people to hear about the Church's teaching and the Gospel. This particular group had members from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee led by Father John Paul Mitchell, Eileen Belongea and Brian Zanin. I was privileged to celebrate Mass for these modern pilgrims and we prayed for the archdiocese.
 
On Saturday morning, we had a Mass for American pilgrims and I was able to connect with Frs. Javier Bustos, José Gonzalez, and Mauricio Fernández, who accompanied young pilgrims from the Neocatechumenate Way. They were filled with the spirit and planning to have a rally for the international organization at the end of WYD.
 
Kraków, Poland and Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz (former secretary to St. John Paul II) did themselves proud. Everyone gave them an A+ for hospitality. Every time you turned around, someone was offering to help. In this Year of Mercy, the Poles took it to heart. Try to imagine Milwaukee invaded by 2 million young people. All public transportation and roadways jammed 16 hours a day, stores, parkways and fields filled with excited young people. Yet, the citizens would reach out to the strangers and at the same time seemed to be happy about their presence.
 
Pope Francis challenged the young Catholics of the world to answer the violence we have experienced through solidarity and project our sense of family on a world that needs the love of brothers and sisters through Jesus.
 
The pope announced to the youth at the final Mass that the 2019 WYD would take place in Panama. He said to a group that Peter's successor would be there – implying whoever occupies that chair. We are believers and we all pray that we will fulfill God's will. How powerful are His instruments in the young of the world who seek to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
 

Note: This blog originally appeared as the August 2, 2016 "Love One Another" email sent to Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. If you are interested in signing up for these email messages, please click here.