More on WYD: Denver, A Parishioner's Memory

I went to World Youth Day with a group from my home parish, St. John the Evangelist in Grafton, North Dakota. We were a part of a large delegation that went from the diocese of Fargo. We rode on a large coach bus down to Denver, stopping in Spearfish, SD, for a night with youth from our region.

Most of the papal events we had tickets for in Denver were in the old Mile High Stadium. We went to the opening ceremonies, Stations of the Cross, and daily Mass at Mile High. The energy at the welcoming ceremony for JP2 was something I’ll never forget!

Daily mass was quite an experience too.  I’ll never forget how Mass at times was in mostly in English, but since we were sitting with kids from all over the world, and they all had little radios to translate, I listened to Mass in all different languages. What struck me is that no matter the language or culture, everyone followed with Mass in sync. That’s a testament to how amazing Mass is!

There was a good mix of reverence and fun with all of the events. We stayed in the Denver Stockyards building, which had cots and makeshift showers. We were there with Americans and Italians. It was fun to spend time talking to the Italians!

The final 2 days were spent on a pilgrimage to Cherry Creek Park, where the Pope would appear twice, first on  Saturday night for an address and Sunday morning for the closing Mass. He would helicopter in and out.

We slept on the ground in the park with thousands of other people in between. We were awakened Sunday morning with the sound of helicopter rotors overhead. I remember the Pope opening with something like, “Children of God- Good Morning!” in a very enthusiastic voice.

The closing Mass was extremely long, and it was a dangerously hot day... a few of our friends had heat exhaustion and heatstroke and went to the hospital. We couldn’t leave Denver that night without tracking down what hospital they were in.

It was truly a pilgrimage! I made a scrapbook of the trip too, and saved all of the newspapers I bought along the way. One day I’d like to sit down and reread all of that. I think his words would mean something different to me as an adult. Plus he would switch languages a lot so it was sometimes hard to follow. But the feeling of excitement and the overwhelming presence of God was life changing.