World Youth Day 97

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Saturday, August 23, 1997
The Long March to Longchamps

Mass at St. Severin included several bishops with Cardinal Law

Group shot
The whole Boston group outside St. Severin after Mass.

Five of us at Longchamps
In the crowd at Longchamps
From left: Mike, "Jungle" Debbie, John, me, Kelly
The basic plan for Saturday was simple: Go to Mass in the morning and then get to the Hippodrome at Longchamps as quickly as possible to secure good seating in our section. Of course, the Holy Spirit often has different plans. We celebrated Mass at St. Severin's with Cardinal Law rather than participate in the Chain of Brotherhood, because we would have been as far from Longchamps as you can possibly be and still be in Paris. The Chain was an event where all the pilgrims would gather in a long ring around Paris. By being at St. Severin's near Notre Dame we'd have a shorter trip to Longchamps.
It was great to see all of the pilgrims prayerfully and joyfully participating in this particular Mass. That's because St. Severin's didn't have any pews and we had to sit on the floor. During the Eucharistic prayer I expected that most pilgrims would stay seated, but I was happily surprised to see them all kneeling on the uncomfortable stone floor, giving up a little comfort in order to show respect to our Eucharistic Lord. Following Mass we gathered in the courtyard for group pictures and then the moment of prayer where all the bells of Paris would toll while we prayed for intentions of the Holy Father for this World Youth Day
We were getting set to head over to Longchamps when someone came by and said that the Holy Father would be driving down the adjacent street soon. Our leaders made the decision to wait for him to come by since this was probably going to be our best chance to see him. Well, ten minutes turned into twenty minutes and then an hour and then more, but nobody seemed to mind. We all had fun singing songs and goofing around while waited on the barricades. At one point we had a singing contest with a group of Spanish pilgrims on the other side of the street. Finally, the Holy Father came by in his popemobile and we all cheered wildly and tried to take pictures of the speeding vehicle. It was brief glimpse, but it was enough.
Picking up our backups, we set off for the nearest metro stop that would take us close to our designated entrance to Longchamps. From the metro we had to hike about 5 miles through the beautiful parkland (taking time for a brief detour through a water sprinkler) while we prayed the Rosary and sang some more, thanks to song stylings of Joe Ford. When we finally entered Longchamps, I was again amazed, but this time at the sheer numbers of people gathered here. The seating area extended about a mile from the stage and over 1 million people were expected to finally gather here. Due to the great blessings of the Lord, our designated section was less than 300 yards from the altar. The Holy Father would still be a speck on the huge altar, but at least we could see the altar. More than 90% of the people would be behind us.

Our section looked like it could comfortably seat about 2000 people because we were going to be there all day, through the night and into the next day. Unfortunately, there were already about 2,500 people there. The volunteers just kept telling us to squeeze in and that we just wouldn't be able to lay down. Setting politeness aside, we had to just force our way into the area and claim a little spot for our own. It's amazing how much space we actually were ableto create with a little determination. After that we just had to sit down and wait for several hours until the Holy Father arrived and the vigil began.
The highlight of the afternoon was dinner. As it worked out we were to gather meal tickets from four other pilgrims and go get a dinner basket from the distribution point. Inside we found pre-cooked, partially-defrosted chicken, potato chips, warm pudding, bread, and other delights. While the chicken wasn't much to look at, it tasted okay and was filling. It was cooked to the point that the bones and all were soft and chewable, but after being frozen much of the fat congealed all over it. Some people were put off by it, but I knew that we hadto eat to keep up our strength the next day in the head after a night of little sleep.
That night the Holy Father baptized ten people from around the world in a candlelight vigil that included music, flying kites, a procession of banners, and a light show simulated a cathedral big enough to hold all 800,000 people present. Most of the ceremony was in French, but we could follow along in little booklets we were given as we came in. The whol thing was very moving and it was very cool to look over the crowd and see hundreds of thousands of little candles, not very bright individually, but together lighting up the whole area.
After the Holy Father wished us a good night, we settled down to sleep. Some people went to sleep in the woods surrounding the racetrack with the hope of having more room. The next day we heard stories about people stumbling over them in the dark and the lack of bathroom facilities forcing people to use any old place making travel hazardous. I stayed in our seating area and spread out as best I could. In retrospect, it is funny to see how we all just settled down next to complete strangers from foreign countries and fell asleep with someone's feet or elbows or back in our face.
When I say we fell asleep, I guess I should point out that many pilgrims decided to make an all-nighter of it. A group of Italian pilgrims nearby gathered in a huge group and spent the night jumping up and down and singing. They are a lively bunch. By 5 am, most people were asleep, but wake-up came at an early 6:30 am.
Day Seven
Sleeping Out
Our group was all crunched together that night.

Middle of the Night
Almost everyone's asleep, one on top of another, by 3 am.
It looks like a big pile of puppies.

The vigil included a procession of banners featuring various saints.

Copyright ©1997 Domenico Bettinelli, Jr. All Rights Reserved.
Comments to dom@bettnet.com
Revised November 29, 1997.
URL is: http://www.bettnet.com/wyd/daysix.html

Saturday, August 23, 1997 The Long March to Longchamps
Mass at St. Severin included several bishops with Cardinal Law The whole Boston group outside St. Severin after Mass. In the crowd at Longchamps From left: Mike, "Jungle" Debbie, John, me, Kelly	The basic plan for Saturday was simple: Go to Mass in the morning and then get to the Hippodrome at Longchamps as quickly as possible to secure good seating in our section. Of course, the Holy Spirit often has different plans. We celebrated Mass at St. Severin's with Cardinal Law rather than participate in the Chain of Brotherhood, because we would have been as far from Longchamps as you can possibly be and still be in Paris. The Chain was an event where all the pilgrims would gather in a long ring around Paris. By being at St. Severin's near Notre Dame we'd have a shorter trip to Longchamps. It was great to see all of the pilgrims prayerfully and joyfully participating in this particular Mass. That's because St. Severin's didn't have any pews and we had to sit on the floor. During the Eucharistic prayer I expected that most pilgrims would stay seated, but I was happily surprised to see them all kneeling on the uncomfortable stone floor, giving up a little comfort in order to show respect to our Eucharistic Lord. Following Mass we gathered in the courtyard for group pictures and then the moment of prayer where all the bells of Paris would toll while we prayed for intentions of the Holy Father for this World Youth Day We were getting set to head over to Longchamps when someone came by and said that the Holy Father would be driving down the adjacent street soon. Our leaders made the decision to wait for him to come by since this was probably going to be our best chance to see him. Well, ten minutes turned into twenty minutes and then an hour and then more, but nobody seemed to mind. We all had fun singing songs and goofing around while waited on the barricades. At one point we had a singing contest with a group of Spanish pilgrims on the other side of the street. Finally, the Holy Father came by in his popemobile and we all cheered wildly and tried to take pictures of the speeding vehicle. It was brief glimpse, but it was enough. Picking up our backups, we set off for the nearest metro stop that would take us close to our designated entrance to Longchamps. From the metro we had to hike about 5 miles through the beautiful parkland (taking time for a brief detour through a water sprinkler) while we prayed the Rosary and sang some more, thanks to song stylings of Joe Ford. When we finally entered Longchamps, I was again amazed, but this time at the sheer numbers of people gathered here. The seating area extended about a mile from the stage and over 1 million people were expected to finally gather here. Due to the great blessings of the Lord, our designated section was less than 300 yards from the altar. The Holy Father would still be a speck on the huge altar, but at least we could see the altar. More than 90% of the people would be behind us.

Our section looked like it could comfortably seat about 2000 people because we were going to be there all day, through the night and into the next day. Unfortunately, there were already about 2,500 people there. The volunteers just kept telling us to squeeze in and that we just wouldn't be able to lay down. Setting politeness aside, we had to just force our way into the area and claim a little spot for our own. It's amazing how much space we actually were ableto create with a little determination. After that we just had to sit down and wait for several hours until the Holy Father arrived and the vigil began. The highlight of the afternoon was dinner. As it worked out we were to gather meal tickets from four other pilgrims and go get a dinner basket from the distribution point. Inside we found pre-cooked, partially-defrosted chicken, potato chips, warm pudding, bread, and other delights. While the chicken wasn't much to look at, it tasted okay and was filling. It was cooked to the point that the bones and all were soft and chewable, but after being frozen much of the fat congealed all over it. Some people were put off by it, but I knew that we hadto eat to keep up our strength the next day in the head after a night of little sleep. That night the Holy Father baptized ten people from around the world in a candlelight vigil that included music, flying kites, a procession of banners, and a light show simulated a cathedral big enough to hold all 800,000 people present. Most of the ceremony was in French, but we could follow along in little booklets we were given as we came in. The whol thing was very moving and it was very cool to look over the crowd and see hundreds of thousands of little candles, not very bright individually, but together lighting up the whole area. After the Holy Father wished us a good night, we settled down to sleep. Some people went to sleep in the woods surrounding the racetrack with the hope of having more room. The next day we heard stories about people stumbling over them in the dark and the lack of bathroom facilities forcing people to use any old place making travel hazardous. I stayed in our seating area and spread out as best I could. In retrospect, it is funny to see how we all just settled down next to complete strangers from foreign countries and fell asleep with someone's feet or elbows or back in our face. When I say we fell asleep, I guess I should point out that many pilgrims decided to make an all-nighter of it. A group of Italian pilgrims nearby gathered in a huge group and spent the night jumping up and down and singing. They are a lively bunch. By 5 am, most people were asleep, but wake-up came at an early 6:30 am. Day Seven	Our group was all crunched together that night. Almost everyone's asleep, one on top of another, by 3 am. It looks like a big pile of puppies. The vigil included a procession of banners featuring various saints.