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Local youth preparing for pilgrimage to Rome By Mary Claire Gart For hundreds of young people in the archdiocese, the high point of Jubilee Year 2000 will come in August when they board planes for a pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2000 in Rome. Approximately 350 pilgrims, including chaperones, are signed up for the event. That more than doubles the number of local pilgrims who traveled to Paris for the last World Youth Day in 1997. Apparently the good reports from the Paris pilgrimage have encouraged more to sign up this year, said Pat Pacer of the Catholic Youth Organization, who is coordinating the local pilgrimage committee. Remembering Paris, Pacer said, “It was a grueling week because of the heat, but it was a wonderful trip. The kids liked it mainly because it gave them the opportunity to meet young people from around the world and to learn more about their faith.” In Rome, the Chicago group will join thousands of other American pilgrims. As of last month, more than 13,000 were registered from the United States, said Michelle Miller, one of the coordinators for U.S. participation. “The energy is high and the momentum is growing,” she said, adding that the event has special significance because it is taking place during the jubilee year. More than 1 million young people from around the world are expected to converge on Rome, but officials are preparing to accommodate up to twice as many. Pope John Paul II is scheduled to welcome the pilgrims during the opening ceremony Aug. 15. Groups from all over the world will gather by language on the mornings of Aug. 16-18 for catechesis with bishops. Each afternoon and evening will be filled with worship, prayer, song, dance and other celebrations. World Youth Day 2000 activities will take place throughout the Lazio region of Italy, which includes the Diocese of Rome and 10 other dioceses. Each registered group will have a daylong opportunity to participate in the jubilee pilgrimage of the holy sites in Rome, including passing through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s, visiting the tomb of St. Peter, and attending Mass in the Circus Maximus. All participants will then travel to the university campus site of Tor Vergata for the closing vigil Aug. 19. Pilgrims will sleep under the stars and finish World Youth Day 2000 with the closing Mass with the pope on Sunday morning, Aug. 20. Many of the older European pilgrims will be camping out during the week. The group from the Chicago area, which includes teens as well as college students affiliated with the Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will stay in hotels and religious houses. Richard McCord, director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth, said church officials in Rome were working to coordinate logistics, such as food, transportation and accommodations so they do not become distractions. Youths are being asked to pack a small AM-FM radio so they’ll be able to tune in to multi-language programs about the jubilee while in Rome. McCord also advised them to bring comfortable shoes. “One thing we know is there will be a lot of walking,” he said. “This will be a pilgrimage in the literal sense of the word.” Since it is a pilgrimage, the trip calls for special spiritual preparation. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, two catechetical sessions have already been held for participants. They also are invited to a special prayer service at Holy Name Cathedral June 27, when Cardinal George will address them on the meaning of making a pilgrimage. On Aug. 4, they will be commissioned as representatives of the archdiocese at a Mass at Old St. Patrick’s Church. Cardinal George, who attended the World Youth Day in Paris, will also be traveling to Rome, along with Bishop Edwin M. Conway and Bishop Thad J. Jakubowski. Some of the local groups are expanding their itineraries to other religious sites in Italy, such as Assisi and Turin. A group of 54 young people from the Focolare Movement will participate in the worldwide movement’s Genfest Aug. 17 in Rome. More than 80 pilgrims from St. Julie Billiart Parish in Tinley Park will visit the Holy Land before traveling on to the Eternal City. Father Wayne Watts and 63 students from Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary will begin their pilgrimage in Lourdes, France. No matter where else they travel, Pope John Paul II has said he hopes they will leave Rome as evangelizers and “builders of a civilization of love.” When the pope met with the international planners of World Youth Day last January, he gave them a message for the young participants from their countries: “I would like to greet them through you and tell each one of them: ‘The pope loves you, he’s counting on you and he’s expecting you for the great festival of faith and witness that we’ll celebrate together next August.’” Catholic New Service contributed to this article.
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