This covers the actual World Youth Day in the Archdiocese of Cologne, starting on Monday afternoon with the arrival at our host parish in Wuppertal (St.Johann Baptist, Normannenstrt. 73), and ending after the final mass with Pope Benedict XVI at the Marienfeld on Sunday afternoon.
Detailed information about all events are accessible at the WDY website.
General remarks:
Travel: You will get your pilgrims backpacks as well as the meal and event tickets after your arrival in Wuppertal. Your pilgrims pass will entitle you to use all public transit (bus, tram, and regional trains [S-Bahn, RB, RE, but not the IC/ICE trains]) in the entire archdiocese. You will need to travel a lot: within Wuppertal, to Düsseldorf, Köln, Frechen (Marienfeld), as well as back to Essen.
Meals: Each pilgrim will receive vouchers for meals. Breakfast is in the host parish (Wuppertal).
Lunch and dinner: Dinners will be distributed as dinner packages along with lunches. Location: Rathausvorplatz, Wegnerstr. 7, 42269, Wuppertal, Opening hours 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
August 15 is the only day on which dinner will be served right at the parish. On August 20, Saturday noon, meals will be distributed at Marienfeld.
Morning Prayer:
The morning prayer will be said at your host parish starting at 7:30 a.m. When you arrive, please ask when and where the prayer will be said.
Monday, August 15: After another opulent breakfast, it was time to go shopping to buy the basics. Then, after lunch, we left for Wuppertal. It tooksome time to get the passes and backpacks, but while waiting ,our hosts took already care of us. Such a warm welcome! An evening prayer was held at the church at 8:00 pm: again, the enthusiastic crowds of hundreds of young people from Italy, Paraguay, Canada, and a few other countries was amazing! Look at some pictures!
Tuesday, August 16: The morning was spent getting to know Wuppertal. Our host, Christel, showed us the way around, especially the famouns "Wuppertal Schwebebahn" (a 105 year old skytrain!). Following a very generous treat of ice cream we lined up for lunch, and then had to rush to get an early train to Düsseldorf. We made it in time to get into the stadium (LTU arena). The opening Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Karl Lehman, the President of the German Conference of Bishops. Here are some pictures.
Wednesday, August 17: Cathedral Pilgrimage day. The day started with a birthday celebration for Edward. Later we repeated singing Happy birthday in the train, whcih was promptly echoed in Italian and some other languages! Happy 21.Birthday Edward! We had to leave early to catch a train to Köln today. We arrived at the Pilgrims centre at the Köln Messe, to take an early luch and then procede to Ebertplatz, where the pilgrimage started. And finally, we arrived at the Cathedral. Most of us had never seen anything like this. So big, so beautiful. Reaching out for the heaven!
Afterwards, we split, with one group heading home, and the other staying on for some catholic music show. Coming home in the evening, the biggest surprise: All our luggage was there! Wow! Finally,our own, clean cloth!
Thursday, August 18:
Catechesis: 9:00, St. Antonius, Unterdörnen 137, 42275 Wuppertal
Our group arrived early, so we got front-row seats. The catechesis was conducted by Bishop William Murphy of the Rockville Center diocese in New York State. The 3.5 hour event included testimonials, music, songs, reflections, and prayers, and concluded with a mass. Bishop Murphy has a special gift to address young people and gave a moving homily. The whole church was filled with the sound of our songs.
Welcome Ceremony for Pope Benedict XVI:
After picking up our lunches, we took the train to Cologne. We decided to greet Pope Benetict at the banks of the Rhine river. A large screen showed the welcome address by the pope, which he gave a few hundred meters upstream from his boat. Surrounded by thousands of young people from all over the world, we listened as he delivered his speech in five different languages. The applaus was strongest when he spoke Italian, as those pilgrims are far the largest group. We also noted that Canadians are especially polpular with Italians - we were always greeted with cheers when our flags were seen, and exchanges signatures, pins, and even one of our flags with Italian guys. Neil even traded his trademark hat for an Italian one.
Finally, the boat with the pope continued its journey, and soon passed our site. The white man was standing at the stern of his boat, greeting the cheering crowds.
Afterwards, we needed to beat the traffic system to make it on a train back. Instead of waiting endlessly at the Köln Messe Bahnhof, we took a tram to the small station of Köln Mülheim, wehre we soon could board our train to Wuppertal. The dayended with an invitation to a barbecue at Dagmar's place (the host of Emerson, Ariel, Edward, and Neil), which we gladly accepted. Here are some pics of the day.
Friday, August 19:
Catechesis: 9:00, St. Antonius, Unterdörnen 137, 42275 Wuppertal
The morning was filled with our second catechesis. After lunch, the rain was setting in, and all plans to attend a youth festival were abandoned. In light of the strenuous upcoming days, we all rested and went to bed early.
On Saturday morning, Norbert picked up our excess luggage, we said heartfelt thanksand goodbuy to our splendid hosts, and we boarded the train to the Marienfeld, where the vigil and Sunday mass will be held. Here you can view the pictures of our departure.
Saturday, August 20 - Sunday, August 21
Marienfeld, Saturday and Sunday, August 20-21. Sector: B12. Following a rather strenuous 5 km hike, in the mids of an ever increasing stream of people, we reached our designated site and set up our tarps and sleeping bags. After some time spent relaxing and wandering around, meeting new people, the night vigl finally started. What an incredibel experience! In the midst of 800,000 chanting and clapping people, listeningand praying with the pope, and watching the many symbols presented. The vigil ended with the eucharistic blessing, and the very moving and fitting song: Belibet hier und wachet mit mir; wachet undbetet. (Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray).
The night was cold, but dry. In the morning, it became foggy, and we were glad to get up for the Laudes. At 10 am Pope Benedict arrived, and celebrated with us the concluding mass. His homily dealt with the eucharist in todays world, telling us to follow the example of the three wise men and bring the light of christ into the world.
We left before the final conlusion to avoid the traffic chaos at the railwaystation, and arrived in the afternoon in Esse, tired, but happy. Too bad we missed the special greetings at the very end in Tagalog! Watch the pictures!
The next world youth day will be in 2008 in Australia.