Denver Catholic

30 AUGUST 11-24, 2018 | DENVER CATHOLIC | WYD 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Perspectives WYD 1993: the turning point O n this 25th anniversary of World Youth Day in Denver, I can't help sharing one of my favorite personal memories of John Paul II. It was Dec. 15, 2004, and as had become our custom during the years when I was preparing Witness to Hope, I was having a pre-Christmas dinner with John Paul, who loved the Christmas season — and believed in opening his Christmas presents when he got them. That year, I had brought him a very large photo album, National Parks of the United States, which the pope proceeded to unwrap as soon as I gave it to him, with some help from then-Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko. The 263rd successor of St. Peter then looked at the table of con- tents — and immediately turned to Rocky Mountain National Park. After a few minutes of quietly browsing through the pictures, John Paul got that look in his eye, and said across the table, "Hmm. Rocky Mountain National Park. Hmm. Denver. World Youth Day. 1993. Hmm. Bishops of America said it couldn't be done. I… proved… them… wrong!" The last sentence was spoken through a big smile, with as much force as the Parkinson's-ridden pope could muster, and he punctuated it by stab- bing his fi nger down on the page with each dramatically drawn-out word. The memory of those remark- able days in August 1993 obviously meant a lot to him, and he wasn't exaggerating the opposition he faced in bringing World Youth Day to the Mile High City. Despite its successes elsewhere, a lot of American bishops thought that a Catholic youth festi- val just wouldn't work in the United States. But the Pope insisted that he wanted a World Youth Day in Amer- ica; Archbishop J. Francis StaŸ ord wanted World Youth Day as a kick- start to the re-evangelization of the Denver archdiocese; and after some eŸ orts were made to hold the event in BuŸ alo (where it was thought it might attract Canadian pilgrims) or Chicago, Denver got the nod and Archbishop StaŸ ord and his team set out to prepare for WYD 1993. It was a colossal undertaking that exhausted everyone involved in it (except, perhaps, for the ebul- lient John Paul II), and it succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations (except, again, for the pope). The event itself was a marvel. The helicop- ter pilot who fl ew John Paul into the old Mile High Stadium said the noise from the cheering crowd created air turbulence the likes of which he hadn't experienced since being under fi re when fl ying in Vietnam. The chief of police later noted that there hadn't been a single felony arrest in the city during the entire time World Youth day was underway — right after Denver had been experiencing a seri- ous crime wave. Skeptical people who hadn't seen the inside of a church in years found themselves giving water and candy to young pilgrims as they walked 15 miles through and out of the city they'd transformed, to the closing Vigil and Mass at Cherry Creek State Park. And during that Mass, the pope brought it all to a fi ne, dramatic concl usion with this challenge: "Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the fi rst apostles who preached Christ and the good news of salvation in the squares of cities, towns, and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel… It is the time to preach it from the rooftops." WYD 1993 was not just a triumph for John Paul II, and for now-Car- dinal StaŸ ord and his team; it was a turning point in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States, and its eŸ ects are still being felt on this silver jubilee. Before WYD 1993, too much of Catholicism in Amer- ica was in a defensive crouch, like too much of the Church in western Europe today. After WYD 1993, the New Evangelization in the United States got going in earnest, as Catho- lics who had participated in it brought home the word that the Gospel was still the most transformative force in the world. Before WYD 1993, U.S. Catholicism was largely an institu- tional-maintenance Church. With WYD 1993, Catholicism in America discovered the adventure of the New Evangelization, and the living parts of the Church in the U.S. today are the parts that have embraced that evan- gelical way of being Catholic. That crucial turning point on the road to a Catholicism of missionary disciples should be remembered with gratitude. The Catholic Di® erence George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. GEORGE WEIGEL I 've never been more proud — of my city or of my Church. I was a Denver native ex-pat living in San Francisco when I got the call. World Youth Day was slated to be held in Denver in 1993. I hadn't planned on attending, being just far enough past my teens that I didn't con- sider myself part of the target audi- ence. But then the committee called and asked if I would be interested in speaking at the event. Would I? You bet!! Our now St. John Paul II had already shaped my life in profound ways. His Theology of the Body had revolutionized my understanding of love, marriage and sexual morality ever since I had fi rst learned about it in my senior year of college. I wanted to share what I learned, as widely as possible. And so, by 1993, I had already been giving talks about his vision of love and marriage to audiences around the world for seven years — since shortly after he completed the series of Wednesday audiences at the heart of the Theology of the Body. I had also recently completed a master's degree from the Holy Father's own program, the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family. So yes, he had turned my world on its head. And yet, the only time I had ever seen him in person was one brief glimpse in a motorcade in San Fran- cisco, during his visit six years prior. So, of course, I was very excited to receive the invitation. It was an enor- mous honor. Plus, I would actually get to attend events where he would be speaking. But sharing my beloved home city with tens of thousands of Catholic youth? That I wasn't so sure about. Denver was already experienc- ing a crime surge that summer. How would this event impact that? Where large numbers of teenagers congre- gate, trouble generally follows. Every hotel room in the city was booked, and youth groups were sleeping in living rooms, parish gyms, and even parking garages. The city would be completely overrun. Would these kids — these sleep-deprived, away-from-their-par- ents, chaperoned-by-equally-sleep-de- prived-youth-ministers kids — actu- ally behave? Or would they add to the crime statistics? What happened here in Denver was truly remarkable. Not only did the kids behave, but even the crimi- nals cleaned up their act. During the events of World Youth Day, the crime rate in the city dropped to practically zero. The 16th Street Mall was fi lled with shiny faced, smiling Catholics greeting each other, many wearing their "Ale Mary" T-shirts specially commissioned by the Rock Bottom Brewery to mark the occasion. The entire city was happy, friendly and, dare I say, holy. My talk was singularly unremark- able. I spoke at Mile High Stadium, hours before the Holy Father arrived. I was not the main attraction, and I was speaking in an enormous venue where audience members' distance from me could be measured in per- centage of a mile. I don't remember what I said, and I'd be surprised if anybody else remembered it, either. And that was okay. We were all just waiting for the main event. The stadium was much more packed that evening, as we awaited the Holy Father's arrival. Rain was falling, but that didn't dampen anybody's spirits. I believe the skies had cleared by the time his helicopter appeared. A few minutes later, when the Pope- mobile appeared in the stadium, the crowd exploded in cheers — and then something else. My own reaction surprised me. As soon as I caught a In the presence of a saint Guest Column Bonacci is a syndicated columnist based in Denver and the author of We're On a Mission from God and Real Love. MARY BETH BONACCI

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