WYDiary - July 26-29 - The "Meat" of WYD

​If the overnight vigil and the Sunday Mass is the "heart" of WYD,  then the lead-up from Wednesday to Friday are the "meat." 

Each morning pilgrims gather in groups according to language and listen to catechesis given by bishops and cardinals from around the world. The pilgrims I am traveling with from St. Christopher's Parish are with other English Pilgrims from England, Ireland, USA, Australia and other parts of Canada. We are at the Tauron Arena on the eastern edge of Kraków. This site is sponsored by the generous donation of the Knights of Columbus. The arena seats over 15,000 people! 

Relics of Saints at the English Catechetical Site

The agenda each day starts with music and prayer. Then there is usually a witness talk. Then there is catechesis by the bishop and three prepared questions the youth ask the bishop. Then there is another few witness talks by youth followed by Mass. As all of this is taking place, priests are hearing confessions. I have heard confessions for two hours each morning  this week! 

Wednesday we had catechesis Cardinal O'Malley from Boston. Thursday was Cardinal Tagle from Manila. Friday was Cardinal Dolan from New York City. Each day the Mass had a specific theme: 

Wednesday - votive Mass of Mercy
Thursday- Mass of Reconciliation
Friday - Mary, Queen of Mercy

Wednesday evening there was a night of prayer and adoration with talks by Bishop Robert Barron and music by Audrey Assad and Matt Maher. I heard two and a half hours of confessions, but I was the only one from our group inside the arena. It was filled to capacity and the St. Christopher's pilgrims were not able to get in!

Thursday evening was the welcome ceremony for Pope Francis. I watched this from the comfort of my hotel room, choosing not to walk in the rain. The youth from St. Christopher's were on the route of the tram the pope took to arrive at the ceremony and saw him!

If only the St. Christopher's group could pose with Pope Francis for real! For now a cardboard cutout will do.

Friday evening we braved the afternoon rain and were rewarded with a warm, sunny stations of the cross with the Pope. We were challenged to be sowers of hope!

Some observations:

The crowds are definitely here! It is estimated over a million people attended the stations of the cross.

Salads are in short supply at the arena. On the plus side, we found a place that sells fries and takes the WYD food vouchers!

I think that the weather forcasters are from the cummunist era! They think they can dictate that there will be no rain - instead of observing the reality! There was no rain forecast for the last two days yet it rained each day this week.