austraLasia 1230
WYD - from a wide-angle lens
ROME: 25th August 2005 -- There has been saturation coverage of WYD 2005 in the some of the world's press from many perspectives, but for the EAO region possibly not an overall picture, one that goes a little wider than merely Salesian participation. In fact, this writer, who was simply taking the fortnight in the year that he could find for a break, decided to do so in Germany, part of which time enabled a skirting around the edges or along the various pilgrimage routes to and from Cologne, or of getting involved in the thick of it all as the whim suggested, without actually having to organize anything. Prior to the event we had done our best to provide the opportunity to link. Whether people did so or not one cannot be sure. Certainly there were a thousand or more from all over, gathered at the Don Bosco Worldwide event in the northern suburb of Mulheim one day and that was the chance for people to link up.
There were wonderful moments, especially at any moment of any day or hour around the Hauptbahnhof-Dom, the central railway station outside the Cathedral in central Cologne. A review of random wide-angle shots from that position sees large banners of Don Bosco waving amongst hundreds (or thousands) of others. One photograph, again random, shows a Salesian sister dancing with a group of Brazilian youths in the middle of the Square. These were definitely random shots and the 'Salesian' element was not discovered until afterwards. Classic comments too - interestingly, when two groups from different nations spoke to one another it was invariably in English that they spoke. Overheard: one Czech asking a German: "What country do you come from?" Answer: "We don't come from any country - we're from a parish in Germany"!
Of the 400,000 young pilgrims, probably around 10,000 came from countries in 'our' region. And, by the way, when the newspapers report, as most did, that there were one million young people in Marienfeld on the Sunday morning that's not quite true. Perhaps three quarters of that number were 'young' but there were a lot of middle-aged and older ones there too. At least several hundred thousand plus His Holiness! But for sure there were a lot of people, despite the leaden sky. The vigil on Saturday evening made the most spectacular television one would want to see - partly for the colour that went with the event, but equally for the colour that nature provided as the sun set and evening gathered, and the solo Jewish clarinetist's Ave Maria beats any 'last post' I've ever heard. You'd go a long way to hear something as haunting as that.
Australia had as many as 2,000 participants. It is a common thing for Australian Catholic secondary schools to offer some assistance towards youth who wish to participate, several per school, at least. A number of Salesian schools supported individuals along these lines, and there were past pupils too amongst the ranks, usually attached to a parish group. Many of the Australians stayed in a south-eastern parish (Porz) which became a little Aussie colony for the week.
Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese were there in good numbers - who knows how many. Estimates indicate at least a thousand. We know that the Salesian group numbered a tenth of this, but it was evident that Chinese youth from many dioceses in China were there. Bishop Zen from HK and Bishop Bosco Lin Chi-nan from Taiwan between them covered the catechesis for Chinese in Cantonese and Mandarin respectively. For the Chinese, especially those from the mainland, this catechesis would have been a precious time.
Between the Cambodians, Japanese (and a handful of Bhutanese) there were at least another 500. Laos and Mongolia - hard to estimate - maybe 50. Thailand possibly the same number. There were at least 100 from Indonesia, from various parts of the nation. Despite every effort to espy the East Timor flag one has to admit it was hard to find. Maybe there were some there from ET.
Koreans - in huge numbers, it seemed. More than a thousand for sure. As many as 200 from Vietnam, probably more. Near enough to 3,000 from the Philippines.
The lasting impression of WYD 2005, however, for one staying amongst Colonians - is that what you call them, and despite a very rough familiarity with their language (they speak 'Koelsch' rather than Hochdeutsch which makes it harder) was the extraordinary effect of half a million young people on the city and its denizens. It encouraged absolutely everybody, especially officialdom, to show their softer side. KBV officials (railway personnel), for example, even at moments when the system broke down because it was simply carrying more people than it was ever built for. And one of the very nice moments was the Sunday afternoon and Monday morning after, when the train stations ran a verbal announcement in quaint English which said "we thank you for the best visitors we ever never had! We thank you for your constant good humour and comprehension which helped us through the difficult moments" - and boy, were there some of those!
But for all that, 'Colonians' are still going to work daily, humming 'Jesus, you are my life...'. and the handful of skinheads who have dared to reappear look even more lost than they did before. Somehow, except for the skateboard kids outside the cathedral, it's not quite their city any more! As for the rest of the young population, well, Australia just might gain a massive infusion of youthful German blood in 2008.
____________
WYD - from a wide-angle lens
ROME: 25th August 2005 -- There has been saturation coverage of WYD 2005 in the some of the world's press from many perspectives, but for the EAO region possibly not an overall picture, one that goes a little wider than merely Salesian participation. In fact, this writer, who was simply taking the fortnight in the year that he could find for a break, decided to do so in Germany, part of which time enabled a skirting around the edges or along the various pilgrimage routes to and from Cologne, or of getting involved in the thick of it all as the whim suggested, without actually having to organize anything. Prior to the event we had done our best to provide the opportunity to link. Whether people did so or not one cannot be sure. Certainly there were a thousand or more from all over, gathered at the Don Bosco Worldwide event in the northern suburb of Mulheim one day and that was the chance for people to link up.
There were wonderful moments, especially at any moment of any day or hour around the Hauptbahnhof-Dom, the central railway station outside the Cathedral in central Cologne. A review of random wide-angle shots from that position sees large banners of Don Bosco waving amongst hundreds (or thousands) of others. One photograph, again random, shows a Salesian sister dancing with a group of Brazilian youths in the middle of the Square. These were definitely random shots and the 'Salesian' element was not discovered until afterwards. Classic comments too - interestingly, when two groups from different nations spoke to one another it was invariably in English that they spoke. Overheard: one Czech asking a German: "What country do you come from?" Answer: "We don't come from any country - we're from a parish in Germany"!
Of the 400,000 young pilgrims, probably around 10,000 came from countries in 'our' region. And, by the way, when the newspapers report, as most did, that there were one million young people in Marienfeld on the Sunday morning that's not quite true. Perhaps three quarters of that number were 'young' but there were a lot of middle-aged and older ones there too. At least several hundred thousand plus His Holiness! But for sure there were a lot of people, despite the leaden sky. The vigil on Saturday evening made the most spectacular television one would want to see - partly for the colour that went with the event, but equally for the colour that nature provided as the sun set and evening gathered, and the solo Jewish clarinetist's Ave Maria beats any 'last post' I've ever heard. You'd go a long way to hear something as haunting as that.
Australia had as many as 2,000 participants. It is a common thing for Australian Catholic secondary schools to offer some assistance towards youth who wish to participate, several per school, at least. A number of Salesian schools supported individuals along these lines, and there were past pupils too amongst the ranks, usually attached to a parish group. Many of the Australians stayed in a south-eastern parish (Porz) which became a little Aussie colony for the week.
Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese were there in good numbers - who knows how many. Estimates indicate at least a thousand. We know that the Salesian group numbered a tenth of this, but it was evident that Chinese youth from many dioceses in China were there. Bishop Zen from HK and Bishop Bosco Lin Chi-nan from Taiwan between them covered the catechesis for Chinese in Cantonese and Mandarin respectively. For the Chinese, especially those from the mainland, this catechesis would have been a precious time.
Between the Cambodians, Japanese (and a handful of Bhutanese) there were at least another 500. Laos and Mongolia - hard to estimate - maybe 50. Thailand possibly the same number. There were at least 100 from Indonesia, from various parts of the nation. Despite every effort to espy the East Timor flag one has to admit it was hard to find. Maybe there were some there from ET.
Koreans - in huge numbers, it seemed. More than a thousand for sure. As many as 200 from Vietnam, probably more. Near enough to 3,000 from the Philippines.
The lasting impression of WYD 2005, however, for one staying amongst Colonians - is that what you call them, and despite a very rough familiarity with their language (they speak 'Koelsch' rather than Hochdeutsch which makes it harder) was the extraordinary effect of half a million young people on the city and its denizens. It encouraged absolutely everybody, especially officialdom, to show their softer side. KBV officials (railway personnel), for example, even at moments when the system broke down because it was simply carrying more people than it was ever built for. And one of the very nice moments was the Sunday afternoon and Monday morning after, when the train stations ran a verbal announcement in quaint English which said "we thank you for the best visitors we ever never had! We thank you for your constant good humour and comprehension which helped us through the difficult moments" - and boy, were there some of those!
But for all that, 'Colonians' are still going to work daily, humming 'Jesus, you are my life...'. and the handful of skinheads who have dared to reappear look even more lost than they did before. Somehow, except for the skateboard kids outside the cathedral, it's not quite their city any more! As for the rest of the young population, well, Australia just might gain a massive infusion of youthful German blood in 2008.
____________
