WYD Day Six Recap

World Youth Day pilgrims crowd in front of the casket of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati in St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. In addition to papal wax seals on the various seams of the casket, Blessed Frassati's popular saying "Verso L'Alto" ("ever upward") is inscribed on top. (Herald photo by Bill Howard)

More singing and dancing, this time at Hyde Park in downtown Sydney. (Herald photo by Bill Howard)

An Australian welcome to World Youth Day pilgrims at St. Mary's Cathedral. (Herald photo by Bill Howard)

Today was pretty much another open day as we prepare for the pope’s first public appearance here tomorrow. While the pilgrimage group ventured to the Blue Mountains (I'm trying to track down some pilgrims to post on that), I went to Hyde Park to check out the outdoor concert (one of many), go to confession and pick up a couple of souvenirs now before things get really hectic.

(Google Map note: If you click on the Hyde Park link above, our hotel is located in the bottom left area of the map on George Street just south of its intersection with Goulburn Street.)

I must say, it’s quite impressive to see confession tents sprouted up around major World Youth Day sites. In each tent are about 10 priests, each portioned off for privacy and ready for face-to-face confession. It’s not normal to talk about the penance one receives, but I was moved when I was asked to pray that someone outside the tent who needs to go to confession but is avoiding it for whatever reason would get the courage to walk in there. Walking out of the tent and just absorbing the friendly, unapologetically Catholic atmosphere around the park really energized me.

On one corner of Hyde Park is the massive St. Mary’s Cathedral, home of the Archdiocese of Sydney and where the Holy Father will be lodging later in the week. The magnificent cathedral had two exhibits inside… one for Australia’s only beatified Catholic, Blessed Sister Mary McKillop (she would be the first Australian saint if she was canonized), and another for Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (see earlier posts for a brief bio on him).

Blessed McKillop was born in 1842 and simultaneously became a nun while founding her own order, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, in her mid-20s. She became a symbol of Catholic education in the country, establishing several schools. She survived a temporary excommunication by her local bishop for alleged disobedience in the 1870s. Pope John Paul II beatified her during a visit to Australia in 1995.

The Blessed McKillop exhibit was a small one and the first that you encountered in the church. From there, you began a “Frassati Pathway” of staggered displays with reflections on his life and quotes from his writings. The prayer path ran up the right aisle of the church, around the front of the church behind the altar and down the left side, ending at the site where the wooden casket with his remains lay (his body is not incorrupt). From there, you were shuffled out the side exit so that the next group of pilgrims could enter the church (there were thousands of people waiting to get in, and there was a 90-minute wait to get in). It was moving to see such a large crowd around the casket area, with many youth praying for Blessed Frassati’s intercession. I have heard many tales about Frassati (and there is a Frassati young adult group in the Diocese of Colorado Springs) and know folks who visited his casket and even met with Frassati’s older sister (who died last year at the age of 105) in Turin during the 2006 Winter Olympics. Blessed Frassati's popularity has exploded thanks to the past few World Youth Days since he is considered the embodiment of the World Youth Day spirit.

Tomorrow, the pope arrives and this city – which is already electric – will be amped up several more notches. I can’t wait to hear the first reaction of the crowd as Pope Benedict makes his first public speech for World Youth Day. One interesting note – there are threats of a public transportation strike tomorrow as well, with the day purposefully picked. Public transportation (save for the light rail, which is privately owned and quite expensive, I might add) around downtown Sydney has been free for all pilgrims who have their “passport ID.” Fortunately, our hotel is located in the epicenter of the action, so if we have to walk, we’ll be fine.

That’s about it for now. It’s time for a late dinner and some rugby action on TV. It seems that the two FOX Sports channels that we get in the room are running live or archived rugby games 24 hours a day.

Expect some audio archived on here and on the Herald Web site audio/video page. I've got a couple of high-quality MP3 clips of the singing and dancing scene at the airport on Monday. I also -- please pray this works out -- hope to be able to record Bishop Sheridan's public catechetical sessions for Wednesday and Thursday and post them here and on the audio/video page.

Today's headlines:

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: "Pope on the move" (referring his travel to day from his retreat at Kenthurst Seminary in northwest Sydney to St. Mary's Cathedral.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: "Benny and the pets" (a play on an Elton John song title and a reference to some time he spent yesterday meeting native animals. It recalls one of the more famous John Paul II photos from his visit here, where he is posed with a koala).

THE AUSTRALIAN: "Pope on the move for World Youth Day"