'We came to adore Him'
Detroit World Youth Day pilgrims inspired by unity

By Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published August 26, 2005 

COLOGNE, GERMANY – Imagine riding a bus so packed that you can smell what your fellow rider had for dinner, even as his elbow is pressed into your ribs and another elbow is pressed into your back. Or picture walking miles with a heavy weight on your shoulders and feeling your heartbeat in the soles of your feet.

Think of dragging yourself out of bed – which might actually be a mat on a floor – on just a couple hours of sleep. Or having to skip a lunch because there's not enough food to go around. Or missing a train and getting stuck in a foreign country, unsure of just when, or if, the next train will come.

Fr. Paul Ward, leader of the Trailblazers pilgrimage group, discusses navigation of the city with his pilgrims.

Now imagine this: Hundreds of thousands of people doing all these things for a whole week, in the name of Christ – and loving it.

This was the reality last week for pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Detroit, who joined nearly a million others from around the world for this year's World Youth Day celebration with Pope Benedict XVI in Cologne.

They visited the city's enormous cathedral, which has relics from the three wise men who visited the infant Jesus. They lined the Rhine River to watch the pope offer a short speech and bless them from the deck of a boat. And they packed themself into squares, stadiums and eventually a large field to catch a glimpse of the Holy Father celebrating Mass.

And many Detroit-area pilgrims would tell you that their joy surpassed any litany of challenges they faced on the pilgrimage. Their journey was long and sometimes difficult, but their mission was a simple one – adoring Jesus.

"We came to do one thing," said Fr. Paul Ward, associate pastor of St. Paul on the Lake in Grosse Pointe Farms, who led a group of 180 young people and chaparones on the pilgrimage. "We came to adore Him."

It was the thousands of pilgrims on the streets, in the train stations and at every turn. It was the constant singing, constant praying, and constant smiling. It was finding those few familiar words between peoples of different dialects.  

Those things are what made the atmosphere uplifting, said Victoria Dylegowski, 16, a pilgrim from St. Damian Parish in Westland.

"I'd walk down the streets and be kind of bummed – then I'd see everyone and get excited again," Victoria said. "It was their excitetment that made me excited."

Fifteen-year-old Jake Madigan from St. Germain Parish in St. Clair Shores agreed – though in a soft voice.

"I have no voice left," said Jake just a day after the opening ceremony on August 16. "I've sang so much I can't sing anymore... It's different because you're with just kids. At my school, nobody sings – but here, everybody sings."

Pilgrims from the Detroit area took many different routes to get to World Youth Day. Some came early and stayed an extra week with German families, sharing their faith and ways of life. Others flew elsewhere in Europe and took pilgrimages to places such as Lourdes, Rome or Czestochawa.

Drew Yavor, 18, of St. Paul on the Lake Parish in Grosse Pointe Farms, stayed with a German family while in the country. The Christian hospitality he was shown shattered his preconception that there was a lot of strife between people of Germany and the United States.

"I've learned so much about acceptance of all cultures," Drew said. "Everyone here is just so accepting. I'm definitely going to take this back home and tell them, it's not everything that the news says it is."

In the streets of Bonn, Germany, while going to a Mass Aug. 16, Detroit urban youth minister Alejandro Torres receives a blessing from Cardinal Kazimir Sviontek of Belarus.

Pilgrims came back with stories of local Germans buying them ice cream, or leaning out of apartment windows near sidewalks to offer pastries and drinks to pilgrims passing by. What impressed them most seemed to be staying with local families.

"You never feel lost, you always feel welcome," said Maggie Horne, 18, a pilgrim from Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Grosse Pointe Woods. "The unity of the Catholic Church is something I've never seen before. It is like one big family."

"When we came here, nobody knew each other," said 16-year-old Amanda Brogan of St. Michael Parish, Sterling Heights. "Now, we're all friends."

Cardinal Adam Maida came to Cologne and met some pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Detroit. Also, at one point during the week, Detroit Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn came to Cologne and celebrated Mass for all the hundreds of pilgrims from the Detroit area.

"You've come to look inside, and you've found that the most important part about being Catholic is Jesus, and giving witness to Him," said Bishop Quinn in his homily to the young people of Detroit. "Thank you, not only for taking your faith seriously – but for all you've done so you could be here for this World Youth Day."

Detroit Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn celebrates Mass in Cologne, Germany, with nearly 600 pilgrims from the Detroit area.

The morning after spending 35 hours on a bus, which had a penchant for breaking down, they wandered the streets of Cologne under a hot sun. There – simply by following the sound of songs to the Lord – they ran into the bearers of the World Youth Day cross, which travels the world in between celebrations.

They were asked to carry it up to the packed downtown stadium where thousands were waiting for the opening ceremony to begin.

"We were having a lot of rough points, and when we saw the cross, we knew that's where Jesus wanted us to be," said Christy Lawrence, 18, from Our Lady of the Woods. "He wanted it for us. It was well worth it."

Her fellow parishioner, Erin Jakubowski had the same sense. "It was an amazing experience," said Erin, 18. "He ended up giving us something great that made up for everything that happened to us."

Timothy McCormick, 27, of SS. Cyril & Methodius Parish in Sterling Heights, spent time with a German family and endured some record low temperatures in a rural German community before the World Youth Day celebration began. But it strengthened him in being able to meet the drawbacks with grace, he said.

"A lot of the hardships we've been through, it has united our small sufferings to Christ's suffering," Timothy said. "It makes the Mass we go to at the end of the day more fulfilling."

Mass became more fulfilling for Robert Dolecki, as well. A parishioner of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Farmington, Dolecki said the pilgrimage taught him more about the Church than he had ever learned before.

"I've learned different ways of the Church," Robert said. "And I've grown closer to the Church and God and Mary and all the saints."

Pope Benedict asked the young people to continue the mission of the Eucharist by beginning an "inner journey of adoration."

The Eucharist must not stop at the consecration of the bread and wine, the pope said. Rather, it must gain momentum.

"We are to become the Body of Christ," he said during his homily last Sunday in front of nearly a million people. "Adoration becomes union."

Fifteen-year-old Eric Myers of St. James Parish, Ferndale, sat on the grass so far back that the pope looked like little more than a speck.

"Our seats were far, but I could feel the power through his speaking," said Eric, just after the Mass. "This is a once in a lifetime chance, to see the pope. It's so cool to be so close to Jesus through him."

Theresa Youanes, a 21-year-old pilgrim from the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, said she came to the pilgrimage seeking guidance from the Lord and she received some direction from the pope's message to build Christian communities with each other.

"Just like the Eucharist is a sign of our communion, we have to find other people to build us up in our faith and to accompany us in our journey," Theresa said. "It felt like something I need to do – it felt like a message to me."

Twenty-one-year old Mark Miller of St. Sebastian Parish in Dearborn Heights also was encouraged by Pope Benedict's words to spread Christ's love to improve the world.

"A lot of times I see young people who are in love with God, but then there's this sense of anger toward people who aren't," Mark said. "The pope's message is that we should love everyone else as God loves – and use what God gave us to make the world a better, happier, safer place."

And, like many pilgrims from Detroit, Mark won't think back on the pilgrimage to remember the packed busses, exhausting hikes, food shortages and lack of sleep.

He'll remember the message he recieved from the Church on the week he went to Germany to adore his Savior.

And, heeding the pope's words, he'll turn his love into actions. "A lot of the things I learned this week," he said "made me more ready to go back and do something."