Journal of My Experiences
Catechesis with Cardinal Arinze and Visit to Bonn
In the Morning, we went to Catechesis. It was in a nearby church, St. Francis Xavier in Dusseldorf. Other than the chapel in the Benedictine Monastery, this was the only modern church I saw on the trip. Judging by the style, I think it was probably built in the 50s or 60s. The morning began with music from some ladies from California. They liked to do a lot of �holy parodies� of popular songs, such as �I�m a Believer� from the Monkies. They were quite cheesy, but I could tell they were women of faith and trying their hardest.
We had Cardinal Arinze as our Catechist, which was almost as good as having the Pope himself. He gave a general talk on the Eucharist. An exciting part for me was when he said that Jesus �ordained� the twelve apostles at the last supper. A classmate of mine was corrected for saying this before, and a big discussion ensued. Providentially the Cardinal ended it. His original talk was somewhat dry, but he really warmed up when the youth began to ask questions. I was very impressed by the questions asked they were all sincere and mature. (Toronto was annoying, with a lot of silly people just trying to put in their two cents)
Some of the questions involved conduct in a church, communion in the hand, liturgical dancing etc. Arinze answered with charm, humor and gave very straight answers. He was constantly encouraging people to come to the seminary. Some of his classic quotes were:
�If you don�t own a copy of the Catechism, go out, sell your shoes and buy one�
�The only thing better than Mass�.is��another Mass�
�I want to ask that person. Why? Why do you want to do such a silly thing in a church?� (Responding to a question about liturgical abuse).
One young man asked why the laity are not generally permitted to receive communion from the cup. Arinze gave a very thorough explanation of the Catholic Doctrine and concluded: �If you still want to receive from the cup, every day, come see me, we�ll send you to the seminary and make you a priest in eight years.� A wonderful man. God Willing, May he become Pope someday!!!
Also during his talk he started rattling off excuses about why we would skip Mass on Sunday. The crowd started howling, but the funniest thing was that when the laughter subsided, he was still naming off his list. He just kept on going throughout the laughter and did not stop!!
We were asked to sit with strangers during the talk, and were given discussion questions between the talk and the question period. I sat with some pilgrims from California and had discussion with a man from Alaska. There were also youth from Uganda present, but I had a difficult time communicating with them.
Bonn
That afternoon we traveled to Bonn for the Papal welcoming service. Since Koln was crowed and the streets were closed for the Pope to arrive along the Rhine, we were to watch it via screens in Bonn. We arrived and found the Market where the live feed was playing, via a German News station. The market was very crowded and the screen was somewhat small. However, we slowly worked our way in. It was uncomfortable sitting on the cobblestone, but for the Pope, or a picture of the Pope, it was worth it!! Since we were not in Koln, there was no translation available, it was even hard to listen to the Pope�s words in English, since the German�s were translating over top of it in a loud voice. One of the things that hit me was the Pope�s phrase, �Allow yourselves to be surprised by Christ this week�. I think these words summarize in many ways my experience of World Youth Day in Koln � Christ was doing so many things and I had no idea what to expect. I had a profound sense of the Lord�s providence � what he wants to happen will happen. And many good things happened. Much greater than I had expected.
After the papal welcoming ceremony a group of us went touring around Bonn. Our first stop was a church that was being used by the Taize community. It was set aside completely for prayer � numerous volunteers held up signs saying �Silence� in about six languages. The only noise was the Taize music playing in the background. We sat to pray and reflect for about half an hour. It was a very special time. Although my mind was spinning and it was very difficult to concentrate, I felt that it was important to take the time out for the Lord. I really had a sense of the Lord�s presence on the trip whenever we stopped. Although I was unable to meditate in any real sense of the word, I think that just being in the Lord�s presence and taking some time out for him was important. Although nothing exciting happened, this was a very important stop on our trip.
Every time we stopped to pray, I was always very self-conscious of those around me. Was I spending too much time? Holding them up? But I found that many wished to take time before the Lord like I did.
We very sad to hear later that night that Brother Roger had been stabbed earlier in the week by a crazy Romanian woman. He had actually been planning to come to Koln, but could not due to his health. It was sad news and there was no indication of the fact at the Taize Church.
We toured around a little, shopped for souvenirs and bought some supper. The waitress spoke little English, and I tried to translate for my friends, which was a boggling affair. Afterwards we gave her a tip, with which she was quite surprised.
We met some Canadians who had a Canadian Flag attached to hockey sticks. We also met some Italians who tried to get our flags, and who wanted a picture with us. Before going home we stopped by to see Beethoven�s house and got some Ice cream.
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