In 1985, Pope John Paul II of the Roman Catholic Church invited the young people all over the world to Rome, Italy, to celebrate the United Nations International Year of Youth. On this day it was decided that the first World Youth Day would begin. World Youth Day (WYD) was created for all young people, ranging from 16 to 30 years of age to unite with the Pope in one location for catechism, fellowship, worship, and renewal of our faith today and forever. Since 1985, World Youth Day has taken place in many different cities all over the world.
This past August, World Youth Day took place once again in Rome, where it all began, back in 1985. There was an exceptional celebration this year, because of the year of Jubilee, which takes place every 25 years for the Roman Catholic Church as a special time of solemnity, repentance and piety. In addition to that, this year is the big millennium, which only occurs every thousand years. Therefore everyone was excited to celebrate our Christian faith with the pope and approximately 2.5 million other people from different cultures, ethniticies, and backgrounds, all sharing one thing in common, Catholicism.
As a Korean Catholic in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, I had the opportunity to attend this great festival in Rome, with my group of twenty from our parish, St. Raphael. I had yet to know what was coming at me in this massive celebration. Although World Youth Day didn’t begin until the middle of August, there was much preparing to be done—not only on what to pack, but what to hold in your heart, to share with fellow Christians, in Rome and from all over the world.
Because there were so many people in Rome at the time, our group had to sleep in the gym of a church in a city called Marconi, just outside Rome with two other groups from America and a young adult group from Nigeria. This was also the situation for most of the groups attending WYD because it was so crowded in Rome. We were told there would be many difficulties in our stay because of the amount of people that would be there that week, and we should look at it like the suffering of Jesus, and how we strive to be like him. Food was somewhat of a problem, also. There were various locations throughout the city where about a few thousand, like us, were assigned to receive our food in a bundle. Sometimes we waited in line for an hour and even after,we had to eat on the grass, with the bugs. Transportation seemed to be a bit difficult. The buses and subways were always overflowing with people, therefore we were almost always walking, when unlucky. Since the sun was always burning many got tired easily and some couldn’t sleep at night because of the humidity. And these are only a few of the problems we encountered.
Walking around to different churches, we would meet an immense amount of people. It was so much fun just greeting others, knowing that they were there for the same reason, for God. You could tell if a certain person was in Rome for World Youth Day, because you always had to wear a pass around your neck. I met people from Hungary, France, Poland, Brazil, Canada, and many other countries. You could tell everyone was excited by the look on their faces and the smile they carried, even though you couldn’t communicate by word of mouth. Some groups, including my youth group, were singing while walking and one could hear many triumphant voices through the streets. It was glorious.
In addition to meeting unexpected groups we had a chance to go to a Korean mass in the middle of our stay and meet Koreans from across the countries. It amazed me that even in Rome, in the week of WYD, that there would be a Korean Catholic mass. Upon our arrival for the mass, there weren’t many people besides a few students from Korea. We introduced ourselves, but there was still a bit of awkwardness. This was probably from the difficulty of communication that can exist between Korean Americans and Koreans. As minutes passed the big church filled to overflowing with Koreans mostly from Korea, and some like us, from America. It was embracing to see that there were so many Catholics in Korea, which I personally had never expected. Then to my surprise a well-known archbishop of Korea introduced himself and so began our Korean mass in Rome!
After the mass everyone was given bags of snacks to eat and plenty of drinks. We said our goodbyes and walked out to to munch on the goodies they gave us. At the park we met a young adult group from Korea and because it was a time of fellowship, we asked them to eat and spend time with us. Approximately forty of us ate all together, and we communicated in many different ways. We sang songs in English, while they sang songs in Korean. We even played a game that all of us could understand. We laughed and laughed, and somehow the awkwardness disappeared. By the end of our lunch, we had exchanged gifts and names and our group was so amazed at how much fun we had with others who, although they shared with us a common Korean ethnicity, seemed to come from a completely different world.
Along with the encounter of Koreans from Korea, we were able to attend a concert given by Tom Booth, a famous Christian Catholic musician, song writer, and performer from the United States. Since most of my youth group had gone to the Steubenville West trip in Arizona earlier in the summer, where Tom Booth had performed, they were all familiar with his songs and uplifting spirit. Yet, I had no clue of this man. When he started off, I fell asleep in the back, but I was shaken by a few students who told me to leave if I was going to be rude and sleep. I awoke and went to the front, where I was able to experience a great amount of joy from his music that sang wonderful words to the Lord. I was petrified that I had not previously known of this man and his music.
Soon after, along with the praise, a priest walked along the stage. As he introduced himself, many smiled and cheered, for this was the famous Father Dale—also from America. He gave a personal testimony that made me realize that we are not alone in this difficult journey of life—that no matter how bad we fall or cause a problem, Jesus is waiting for us to see his face and know that all things will be fine. He was an inspiration to many that night and we should all know that as difficult as it may get Jesus is on our side.
As time progressed, I noticed a small coincidence; there was a question that everyone seemed to ask me and my fellow church people. Almost all the people we met asked us if we were Japanese, and some would inquire if we were Chinese. I wondered why no one asked whether we were Korean. Was it because there aren’t many Catholics who are Korean? Or, could they just not tell because of the color of the skin? Maybe it was that Korea wasn’t as well-known a country. Then another question arose: many asked if we were from Korea. This was a hard question, because most of us were Korean-born, but American citizens. Yes, our parents were from Korea but most of us were not. How were we to answer? We explained to them that we were Korean Americans from America, and everyone found it hard to believe because of our skin color. It was interesting to learn how little we knew of each others’ cultures.
My pilgrimage to Rome was a great experience altogether. There were many hardships and life lessons learned, but being able to be with more than two million people sharing one faith was tremendously heart warming. It showed me the power of God and his works. I can’t explain the feeling, after coming back. It wasn’t my favorite trip, in that it was hard and there were many uncomfortable situations, especially because we take many things for granted and we do not know the meaning of poverty. I feel lucky to have gone to Rome for World Youth Day 2000, and I look forward to WYD in Toronto, Canada, in the year of 2002, because on the last day of the week I saw what God’s powers can do. I witnessed the more than 2.5 million young people gathered at the Closing Vigil and the subsequent Mass, all waiting to lay down their lives for Jesus, like Jesus, wanting to be humble servants of the Lord.

Victoria Oh is in 11th grade and attends Cerritos High School in Cerritos