More than 1,400 young people and other volunteers from the Archdiocese of Chicago journeyed to Toronto in late July to participate in World Youth Day 2002.

Some went with parish groups, some as part of other organizations. Father Wayne Watts, an associate director of Catholic Charities, has taken a group to Lourdes for the past few years. This year, the group went to Toronto by way of the famed site of healing in France. At Lourdes, the group assisted pilgrims.

These are the edited reflections of some of the young people and one volunteer who took part in WYD2002 in Toronto.



When I first arrived in Lourdes I thought this is crazy! I am actually in France. Everyone was happy, just waiting to go to Paris, see everything we could possibly see. Everyone in my opinion was ready to see, but not to do, just thinking of ourselves. That would dramatically change when we arrived in Lourdes, as Father Watts was explaining how our days would go by at Lourdes. At the moment, all of us were tired. We had jet lag. The last thing we wanted to hear was that we had to help others, and that we were going to have jobs there.

Father would always say the Holy Spirit will lead the way. And that is how every day went, just trust in the Holy Spirit.

When we started working it was amazing to see so many people with faith. There was so much to do to help, but for me it wasn’t a job at all. I loved helping. Just to see the hundreds of sick people with so much faith gave everyone energy for anything to help them out. It was amazing to see that sickness was nothing compared to faith. Faith was much stronger than sickness.

I didn’t want to leave Lourdes. I wanted to stay to help out, to feel the presence of God in the sick, to hear everyone pray to Our Lady of Lourdes, to see hundreds of sick people at night with candles that made it look like a starry night.

When we arrived at World Youth Day (in Toronto), it was like a dream. Flags everywhere, left and right. Everywhere you looked there was a different flag. Thousands and thousands of young people awaiting the pope’s arrival. You could hear people laughing, cheering, singing. Everyone was happy and eager to see the pope and eager to hear his message toward the young audience that was there from all parts of the world.

When we finally got to see the Pope it was truly amazing, everyone looking up to the sky pointing out his helicopter, everyone screaming “the Pope is here” and the crowd went wild for him. I felt goosebumps just seeing his helicopter land on the same Canadian land I was stepping on. … After he passed in front of me, I had never felt so good and proud to be Catholic and a proud follower of Pope John Paul II.

— Alfonso Valencia, Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary



My daughter Jennifer, who was a pilgrim at WYD2000 and 2002, recommended I be a volunteer for WYD in Toronto. (It) was an experience I never expected.

Our volunteer leader instructed the volunteers to line up along the fence which leads to the main gate. The Popemobile arrived at 4:20 p.m. When the pope was approaching the fence where the volunteers were standing, he stood … and greeted the people with his characteristic wave. Emotions ran high with the chant of “John Paul II, we love you.”

Upon seeing his volunteers and all the youth around the gate, the pontiff became energized. My assignment was to greet the pilgrims as they were coming through the gate. It overwhelmed me that thousands of people were coming through these gates to celebrate and pray with … the pope.

—Vincent Maccagnanao, Chicago (age 50)



After traveling to World Youth Day 2000 in Rome, I knew that my pilgrimage to Toronto would be another remarkable journey in my life. … In Toronto, the pope’s words were strong, and in his smile, I saw Pope John Paul II’s love for the youth of the world. His love for us is a reflection of how much God loves the world.

During the papal mass, I experienced the climax of my trip. My mother, Pat, and I were eucharistic ministers. As we distributed Jesus’ body to people from around the world, we made eye contact with people of many different nationalities and backgrounds, yet we all shared one unique belief: the host is Jesus Christ, our model as “the light of the world” and “the salt of the earth.”

— Jennifer Maccagnano
St. Christina Parish



Here are two basic aspects of WYD, even though they pretty much collide. 1. Religion. See the pope, strengthening faith, learning to love Jesus and God. 2. Unity, peace and love.

This was the amazing part of the trip. … Just the friendliness everyone had for one another, the love that was shared between strangers, the joy that comes from just making another person happy.

I’m going to miss the feeling I received here in Toronto, and now I’m going to try to spread this feeling to people back home. How? No clue. But this trip has changed my life, and I want others to feel it too.

— Elizabeth Below, Immaculate Conception Parish, Highland Park



When I found out I was going to Toronto for a week to see the pope I was thrilled. There was one thing, though. I wasn’t sure why I was going. I know my parents wanted me to go because it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I wasn’t sure if I was going for them or for me.

I arrived in Canada just like I would for any other trip, very excited and open to anything. Through all of the catechesis sessions and walking through the Exhibition Place seeing all of the cheering people, I was still confused. Why was I here? Thursday I realized why I was here. When the pope arrived in the Popemobile I burst into tears.

I never knew that someone could make me cry as much as I did in those five minutes. He gave me a feeling that words cannot describe. It was the best feeling ever. It’s when you know God is there and he’s working every second, minute and hour of the day.

… I thought about the trip and I realized that I went for myself.

— Joanna Niernczyk,
St. Julie Billiart Parish



If I ever doubted the validity of the old adage “God works in mysterious ways,” my experience at World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto reaffirmed its beautiful message. Although I live in Ohio, I was able to travel with the Archdiocese of Chicago to WYD as a student at Northwestern University.

Through the Sheil Catholic Center and in conjunction with the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Newman Center, I traveled with nine other young adults, Father Pat Marshall and Pat Kahl of Chicago. … Each member of our WYD group brought a different light, perspective and flavor to the group. And the amazing, “mysterious” part of it all is we blended so well, we formed such a great, new combination of flavors—my life will never be quite the same again.

In addition to God’s mysterious work through my WYD group, I felt his presence each day in many little ways. Whether it was walking through crowds of people and flags from all over the world, singing songs praising the Lord on Toronto’s street cars, having the Sacrament of Reconciliation given to me on the side of the road, or witnessing many small random acts of kindness by the people of Toronto, God’s presence was everywhere. In fact, one evening after a long and exhausting day, we had a bus driver who went off his route just to drop us off closer to our hotel.

— Elizabeth Kobeszka,
Northwestern University,
Sheil Catholic Center