wYD Update

I forgot to mention earlier. At the parish catechetical site, confessions have been going on at a brisk pace.

Also, I met a priest from LIBYA!!! Praise Jesus! LIBYA! I think we in the Church need to pray very hard for the Church in North Africa, this is the true cradle of the Catholic faith and many in those countries wish to worship openly or even convert but it is nothing short of dangerous.

Lets see . . . Friday, now what happened?

On Friday I headed out to my catechetical site, Salvador del Mundo parish, at 5:30 am. I normally stop at Java Joe's to get coffee and two blueberry muffins for the road. I said hi to a sister, a fellow employee. BTW they had no blueberry or banana nut muffins, it was only my WYD charity that restrained the bubbling stream of profanity within.

This time I had settled on a completely different route to the parish and Yes! it worked out perfectly. I got there in under 45 minutes. The day had started of wonderfully.

The church was full and we were all ready to go. On Friday we had Cardinal Bevilacqua giving catechesis and celebrating mass. I had asked earlier about him and I was told, in good humor, that he was like the godfather. They told me that he was very regal and very Italianish. Well it was true. He is absolutely great. he appears very regal and I could see what they meant about him being like the godfather. His appearance is nothing like Brando, but it is just that he has very well defined and powerful features and a strong presence. He is from Brooklyn and has a very Brooklyn accent and he is utlimately down to earth. Needless to say, THE YOUNG PEOPLE ABSOLUTELY ADORED HIM!!!!

I don't know much about the cardinal but I am a fan. His talk was a mixture of prepare text and spontaneous delivery. He had the young people rolling in laughter and his honesty endeared him to them. They loved him. After his catechesis, the leader broke them up into groups to talk about the catechetical topic which was "Be ye reconciled to God." However, many abandoned their groups and tried to accost the Cardinal to take a picture with him and so we had the makings of a riot. I had to stop them and promise pictures after mass, even though I had no idea if the Cardinal would be available. He is a take-charge kind of guy, but very, very easy to work with. The musican had asked to go over the mass and I suggested that he talk with the Cardinal, the poor guy was trembling but His Emminence was really re-assuring, great guy! Mass was also wonderful, his homily continued the theme of reconciliation and again he had the youth laughing and listening.

After mass, I had to lock the sacristry doors to give the Cardinal a moment to catch his breath. Even though he had a later apppointment, he was gracious enough to remain and take pictures with everyone. so we created a line going down the aisle of the church and he began to take pictures with the pilgrims. They couldn't get enough of him. There were young girls hugging him like he was their grandfather. he wanted to know everyone's name and where they were from and he made sure to give them his blessing.

When we finally got done, I asked if he would bless my rosary that my wife gave me for Xtmas so that I can give it to my daughter. His brow popped, up. "What's your daughter's name?" I told him (it's Oviereya which is a Urhobo [my folk's Nigerian language] word for Queen). "How old is she?" "8 months" I replied. He then pulled out a plastic bag with a buch of little crosses and gave me one of them for her and then he blessed the rosary. needless to say, I was estatic. Now, you have to understand, I generally could care less about blessings or things like that, I'm not sure why, but this meant a lot to me and I think it was because I met him in person and was personally touched. (Of course, when I got to my hotel I called my wife and insisted on speaking to my baby and I told her, I think she got the gist, her babble and cooed response was good enough for me).

Friday was also the way of the cross re-enactment. I did not see it in person, again because of the crowds. However, I watched it on TV and was very moved by it. I think it was powerful and I only hope it had the desired effect on the youth.

The Canadian media coverage has been pretty good in my estimation. I think that they are obliged to cover all aspects including opposition, so I think criticisms of the media coverage by Catholic conservatives is unwarranted. Also the coverage from Buffalo, whose TV stations are accessible here have been pretty good.