Denver Catholic

8I 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF WYD 1993 JULY 3, 2013 I DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF WYD 1993 DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER I JULY 3, 2013 Families and apostolates spring from pope's Denver visit This story continues a Denver Catholic Register series celebrating 20 years of faith since the Denver Archdiocese hosted World Youth Day Aug. 11-15, 1993. BY NISSA LAPOINT It's hard for some to describe without crying. World Youth Day in Denver was for many the beginning of the rest of their lives and the impetus for new ministries. For David and Mary Tschumper, the moment happened at Mile High Stadium Aug. 12, 1993, when the pope landed and emerged from a helicopter to the 90,000 young pilgrims before him anxious to see the man from Rome. Everyone around them was rocking the stadium with song, dance and shouts. Trumpets blared and Pope John Paul II came to the crowd with an appeal for hope and Christian love. "It was a feeling it the air, and it was almost electric," said Mary, who helped chaperone youths from their parish, St. Thomas More in Centennial. She and David just began dating. "I can remember David being right by me when all of this happened, and we had all these young kids around us. When you're with someone when something so intense happens, it kind of solidified us." A week later, David bent down on one knee and told Mary, "Either break up with me or marry me," he said. "And she married me." World Youth Day was the stage for their call to marriage and their decades-long call to Church ministry. The couple has four children and both work at St. Thomas More Parish in Centennial. David passed his 20-year anniversary as youth minister and has since taken youths to every subsequent World Youth Day. Denver's pilgrimage solidified his desire to bring the Gospel message to the modern world. "That definitely impacted my ministry and why I evangelize," he said. Epicenter of new evangelization Evangelization was on the lips of many after the pope's Denver visit. His use of the phrase "new evangelization" became the inspiration for many to launch new apostolates and ministries. "At this stage of history, the liberating message of the Gospel of life has been put into your hands," the pope told youths gathered for Mass at Cherry Creek State Park Aug. 15. "And the mission of proclaiming it to the ends of the earth is now passing to your generation. Like the great Apostle Paul, you too must feel the full urgency of the task: 'Woe to me if I do not evangelize' (1Cor 9: 16)." "Woe to you if you do not succeed in defending life. The Church needs your energies, your enthusiasm, your youthful ideals, in order to make the Gospel of life penetrate the fabric of society, transforming people's hearts and the structures of society in order to create a civilization of true justice and love." Since then, the Archdiocese of Denver announced the renaming of its campus to the John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization. Denver became the site of budding ministries that grew into national and international initiatives. FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) was founded in response to the pope's call. Their goal is to communicate the Gospel to young adults in a dynamic and culturally relevant way by hosting outreach events, Bible studies and mentoring. The organization has grown to include 300 missionaries serving 74 campuses in 30 states. Likewise, the Augustine Institute graduate school in Greenwood Village began in 2005 to transform Catholics for the new evangelization. Students are trained to proclaim the Gospel with "new ardor, method and expression" based on the pope's urging. Many of the founders and now teachers were pilgrims in Denver. "Many ended up landing here and a part of the mission, and all in many ways felt an inspiration to become part of the Church and work for the building of new evangelization," said Jim Beckman, who teaches at the Institute. "Only God could orchestrate all the moving parts to bring them to the same place at the same time." PHOTO BY TED KEAN PILGRIMS from around the world participate in the Stations of the Cross at Mile High Stadium Aug. 12, 1993. Representatives of the 90,0000 youths later presented the Holy Year Cross to Pope John Paul II after his arrival at the stadium and papal address. Days after returning from the Denver pilgrimage, Beckman met his wife with whom he struck up a conversation because she noticed his World Youth Day T-shirt. Beckman eventually came to Denver and became a lecturer and director of youth leadership and evangelization at the Institute. "In some ways I feel that the Augustine Institute transformed me as a person and what I'm doing as a ministry," he said. No coincidence During the bustle and excitement of World Youth Day 1993, minds were sparked with beginning ideas of spreading the Gospel. For others still, men and women of the John Paul II generation discovered their call to another way to spread the Gospel: forming a Christian family. In an interview with the Denver Catholic Register, Inma Alvarez shared the story of how she Pope John Paul II arrives to Mile High City WYD 1993, Day 2: Aug. 12 WHAT HAPPENED Rain fell from the Denver skies as Pope John Paul II arrived at the Stapleton International Airport. Former President Bill Clinton and Denver Mayor Wellington Webb welcomed him. The pope addressed abortion during his first speech after arriving. "If you want equal justice for all, and true freedom and lasting peace, then, America, defend life. All ER CATHOLIC REGIST MCHENDRY/DENVER PHOTO BY GEORGE the great causes that are yours today will have meaning only to the extent that you guarantee the right to life." –Pope John Paul II after arriving in Denver met her husband, Salvatore. The pair had first met at World Youth Day in Czestochowa, Poland, in 1991. She came from Spain and he came from Italy. "We became friends and began to write letters back and forth to each other—then there was no Internet, no Skype, or low cost flights or any of the modern conveniences that we have now," Inma wrote in Spanish. "I liked him, but a long-distance courtship would not be possible. We could never see each other." But they met again. In 1993, although neither was aware, both traveled toward Denver for the next World Youth Day. The spiritual experience was intense. "(The pope) said we should be brave and break with our comfortable lifestyle, and that we had to make Christ known in the large, modern cities," she said. The next day, at a gathering of the Neocatechumenal Way, a Vatican approved catechumenate, the two crossed paths. "And there, when I least expected it, I found ... yes, the young Italian who I had met in Czestochowa," she wrote. "It was no coincidence, because God does not simply roll the dice with us." Today, the couple has seven children and lives in Valencia, Spain. Their experience continues to sustain their vocation. "When we have had crises and obstacles, the Denver experience helped us a lot to keep in mind that the vocation to marriage is a call from God, and it is much more than our own human project." BY CINDY BROVSKY Chris Stefanick was 16 when he traveled from his New Jersey home to World Youth Day in Denver. Twenty years later, he reflected how the enormous spirituality of the event influenced him and others to work in youth ministry and how WYD continues to help keep Catholicism strong and growing. "It definitely was life-changing to see the tangible universality of the Catholic Church—every nation and every race together as one," Stefanick said. "We are taught about the universality but with World Youth Day you actually see it." Stefanick, former director of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Archdiocese of Denver and well-known Catholic columnist, said many of his peers in youth ministry continue to feel the impact of the 1993 gathering in the Mile High City. "World Youth Day was a pillar experience for them and it is part of who they are now," he said. The lessons learned from WYD are passed down from generation to generation, Stefanick said. "There is not a division among young people and the Gospel is as relevant as it has always been," he said. World Youth Day can help youths who are struggling with their beliefs or are facing peer pressure to drift from their faith, Stefanick said. "World Youth Day sends a message that the youth can do the right thing, that they are not alone," he said. Stefanick's wife, Natalie, was at a crossroads with her faith when she attended the 1993 gathering, he said. The couple didn't know each other when they both were in Denver as teenagers but the grace of the event still radiates in their marriage and raising their six children, he said. "She told me that when she heard the pope's voice she knew he was her shepherd and his words showed her the way to love Jesus and the Church," Stefanick said. Cindy Brovsky: lou5213@ aol.com; www.twitter.com/ DCRegister A throng of people from more than 70 countries cheered, danced, stomped and sang when the pope arrived that evening and circled the stadium in a white pick-up popemobile. DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER FILE PHOTO President Bill Clinton with the pope at Regis University "Go in search of God because he can also be found in the heart of the modern city. Recognize him in so many young people full of hope and noble ideals. Feel the breath of the Holy Spirit among so many different races and cultures." WHAT HAPPENED PHOTO BY TED KEAN WHAT HAPPENED –Pope John Paul II to youths at Mile High Stadium More than 90,000 soaked but spirited pilgrims gathered at Mile High Stadium for a rally, praise and worship concert, welcoming ceremony and papal address. PHOTO BY JAMES BACA/ DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER Youth days give hope, strengthen faith in young, columnist says WHAT HAPPENED "It is my hope that the success of this extraordinary gathering of young people will create a greater spirit of unity and community among them and a renewed commitment among those who are Americans to work for greater justice and opportunity here at home." After arriving by helicopter, President Clinton and the pope conferred for an hour at Regis University about a commitment to youth and international peace, especially in war-torn Somalia and Bosnia. The president gave the pope a walking stick with an angel carved on top. The pope gave him a Bible. I9 WHAT HAPPENED DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER FILE PHOTO Youths presented Pope John Paul II with the WYD Holy Year Cross as a symbol of their faith and new life in abundance.

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