Light blogging for the weekend

Sorry, but due to the arrangements at Randwick Racetrack, I will not be able to live blog from there with the pilgrims. So I'm going to try to resume blogging after everyone returns Sunday evening.

Please keep us in your prayers during this culmination of World Youth Day. It's going to be a cold one, too, but we'll be warm with the Spirit!

Media Center tour

For those wondering what the media center is like:

-- It takes up one of the five enormous exhibition halls in the Sydney Exhibition Center (the massive vocations fair is next door in another hall).

-- There are nine huge rows of tables, all set up with phones, Internet connections and electric outlets.

-- There are four sets of two flat screens staggered down the middle of the room where we can watch and listen to the official WYD video feed.

-- Around two sides of the hall are three rows of temporary studio booths, primarily for radio and television. The other two sides have a large press conference area, a business center if you need photocopies and printouts, and a lengthy area of media assistants who pass out the event passes and answer questions about arrangements.

-- In one corner is a 4-foot tall statue of St. Francis De Sales, the patron saint of journalists.

-- The media center has its own WYD gift shop, so you don't have to wait in long lines like at most sites.

-- There is a cafeteria in the back. Expect to pay $12 for a sandwich, drink and chips. Beer and wine are also sold there. There are vending machines that charge $3 for a 20 oz. soda/water bottle and $2.20-$3 for chips or candy. There are water coolers too, and they're amazingly free of charge.

-- On the side of one wall of offices (you can see it on the far right) are transcripts in several languages of all major speeches by the pope and dignitaries, as well as tons of fact sheets on those speakers, on the Catholic Church (since many secular media journalists are covering this) and miscellaneous topics (i.e. all you want to know about the popemobile).

-- On one wall, there are eight clocks keeping the time of: Sydney, the Vatican, Rome, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and London.

-- All media must pass through security screenings every time they enter the media center.

Another neat thing not at the center... for events at Barangaroo, we had a special ferry that shuttled us to near the back of the main stage/altar. One of my favorite memories from this week is hopping aboard it after an event and quietly absorbing the nightlights of Sydney all around me.

That's about all I have now after a quick glance around the room. The picture above was taken a few seconds ago. It's a bit empty since a bunch of photographers and writers have gone out to various Stations of the Cross sites. If I took this picture again three hours from now, it would be pretty full and hectic.

If there's anything you'd like to know about the media center, fire away.

Make your own cutline

Oye! Adam Bull of St. Gabriel Parish and Greg Papineau of St. Paul Parish are taking to Australia quite well. (Herald photo by Bill Howard)

WYD Day Seven: Group photo

Several people have asked to see a group photo from Sydney... happy to oblige.

Thanks to Michelle Maher, who took the picture right as we arrived at the convention center for catechesis around 10 a.m. this morning. Props to her, as she has been working hard behind the scenes to make sure everyone has as fulfilling a pilgrimage as possible.

Lens envy

What a showoff...

(This was taken at the media section for the pope's opening address this evening.)

WYD: Find the pope

Click on the picture for a larger version...

(Herald photo by Bill Howard)

WYD pilgrim backpack

Each World Youth Day, as part of the package to attend, pilgrims get a backpack full of goodies. This year’s pack contains:
- A rain poncho
- A “heat sheet” that looks like a huge piece of foil. Many are using it so far to put on the ground as blankets.
- A hand-cranked flashlight
- Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
- Gospel of Luke in book form
- Sydney Airport coupon book
- Pilgrim festival and transport guides
- A small, washable WYD 08 tattoo
- A pen
- A bandana with the WYD logo
- A photo book of Australia, “The Great South Land of the Holy Spirit”
- A discount card for McDonald’s around downtown Sydney.
- A bottle of water

I may have missed some small items, but those are the major ones. I ended up getting a second pack as part of the media and it did not contain the McDonald's card, water or photo book but did have a little WYD koala clamp. The media center also provided us with liturgy guides.

Many pilgrims also ordered special WYD sleeping bags for the overnight campout for the vigil and closing Mass the 19th and 20th. Those bags – red with a blue inside – came to our rooms on Tuesday. They will definitely be needed as it has been quite cold at night. I have to admit that I'm a bit ticked about the sleeping bags. I thought the picture had a cool gold cross on the red bags but the ones we received are just solid colors -- albeit the shades of red and blue that is in a lot of WYD stuff. But there's no WYD identifier on it. It will still come in very handy on Saturday night, so I'll stop my whining there.

I’ll recap Tuesday (the official opening of World Youth Day) soon… I am in the process of shoring up that post as well as cropping a couple of pictures of Sydney and the opening Mass. I also hope to start getting the guest blogging rolling again.

BTW

You can click on any picture on our blog and you should get a much larger version of it to view. I know the shot of the Brazil group at the airport can be tough to see, but just click on it.

C.S. Health Watch: Not as sweaty as Denver and better abs, too...

A couple of weeks ago, Colorado Springs was named the 91st sweatiest city in America, with Denver topping the Springs at 69th place. Not only are we not as sweaty as Denver, but we are happy to report that, according to Men's Health magazine, we also have better abs. The Springs ranked 12th, with Denver 14th.

One thing I love about living Colorado Springs is how close you are to so many great trails. The Stratton Open Space trail is a short walk from where I live, allowing me to get in a nice one-hour hike on most days.

Since, of course, the body is the temple of the soul, I'm curious as to what your favorite hiking trail is in the diocese. In addition to really enjoying the Stratton trail, I'm also a big fan of the Waldo Canyon loop.

How common are you?

I was doing a little research for an article today, and I came across an oddity in the archives. Looking through some letters to the editor of a secular paper, I found someone with the same first and last name and middle initial. Plus, there were some other instances of Jim Myers in the Colorado Springs area.

So, I decided to go to the site HowManyOfMe.com to see how common my name was.

It's a pointless exercise, but a curious one nonetheless. Go there and see for yourself. Incidentally, I am one of 4,174 James Myers in the U.S., according to that site.

Another American cardinal in the making

Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications since 1984, was named pro-grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher by Pope Benedict XVI.

According to the Catholic News Service article, this move "seemed to indicated that he would be named a cardinal during the next consistory, which likely will be held in November."

Interestingly, while Archbishop Foley will be heading the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, an organization dedicated to supporting Catholicism in the Holy Land, he told CNS that he hasn't been to that area since the 1970s.

Chastity ring banned at English school

The first news item I heard when I got in the car this morning was a story on a girl who was banned from wearing her chastity ring at a Millais School in Great Britain. Lydia Playfoot, who attends a "non-denominational religious secondary school for girls," was forbidden to wear her ring on the grounds of the school's anti-jewelry policy that also forbids crosses and crucifixes from being worn. The same school allows Muslim girls to wear their religious garb, including bracelets.

Two things:
1) What is a non-denominational religious school? Judging by the variety of religions that attend, it seems like a secular school to me. I went to the school's Web site and could only find one place that mentions religion: The religious education department, which has four symbols on its page (among them a cross, a Star of David, a crescent moon for Islam). The department's mission statement: "The R.E. Department at Millais School aims to provided [sic] an environment which fosters genuine, non-denominational enquiry into the place of Religion in society"

2) Does this seem like anti-Christian bias, or were the school officials just being consistent?

Colorado Springs gets distinguished honor

This doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but Old Spice ranked Colorado Springs the 91st sweatiest city in its annual top 100 list. Take that Portland, Ore., and Flint. My last stop of residence, Dallas, ranked third.

Denver ranked 69th. Darn you, Denver... we'll get you next year. Everyone start loading up on carbs tonight. Don't worry about dropping in the "healthiest city" poll.