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Salt of the Earth,
Light of the World

Toronto, Canada
Day 50-57 - July 22-28, 2002

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Father Williams leads us
in the Lord's Prayer
before the pilgrims take
the ferry to Mackinac City
The Road to Toronto
Day 50 - July 22, 2002
A band of twenty-eight pilgrims from Mackinac Island and Cheboygan, Michigan get on the Air Bear and drive to Toronto. We play icebreakers on the bus. Val Porter is our fearless leader and Br. Jim Boyne is our banjo-playing bard. Many people often wonder how cool our leader is. To give you an idea I will cite Brother Jim. He says that Val is so cool that she is one of the few "religious people" he gets along with.


Pilgrims from Mackinac Island
Toronto
July 51 - July 23, 2002
When we arrived in Toronto our group is split into smaller groups of four to live with a host family for a week. Ed and Vicki Hamel take care of Allen, Richard, Paul and me. Ed used to be a Canadian history teacher and is now the vice-principal of a high school. Vicki teaches English. I see that they have a passion for Japanese culture. Their home is decorated with samurai helmets, armor, swords and art. I see a copy of Clavell's Shogun in the basement library. I find out that "Toronto" is Huron for "meeting of places."


Our host family: Ed and
Vicky Hamel and their children
Rumor has it that a clan of Quebec gypsies has arrived in Toronto to "welcome" us. They work in pairs of threes: the distracter, snatcher, and get away. Br. Jim, a veteran of third world travel, advises everybody to keep their wallets in their front pockets.

World Youth Days
Days 52-55 - July 24-26, 2002
I have no idea what to expect and nothing could have prepared me for what awaited us in Toronto. People came from all around the world. The Pope summoned us to come here and worship God. Pilgrims from Lebanon, Madagascar, Brazil, France, British Columbia, South Korea, Australia, and all the United States may give you an idea at the variety of nations represented in Toronto for World Youth Day.

Brother Jim Boyne,
banjo-playing bard of
Mackinac Island, leads us
with music to Catechesis
We gather in the Exhibition Place in the mornings where we had Catechesis and Mass, listened to speakers, and sang praises to Christ and God. In the afternoons, we explored Toronto. We would come back to our host families around 10:30 PM. We shared meals with Catholics from other nations. After dinner Br. Jim would break out his banjo and we would square dance, and invite everyone to join in. WYD is like an ethnic music and food festival, county fair, and church all rolled into one with people from all nationalities joining together for worship.


Matt Muller and Cerebus in the
Exhibition Place's Greek Garden


The Final Journey to Downsview Park

The Pilgrimage and Evening Vigil
Day 56 - July 27, 2002
We say goodbye to our host families. We hike six miles to Downsview Park, which is a former military airbase. Along the way, we pass heat causalities being escorted to water fountains and shady areas. It is so hot that even one of our own, Lily, the youngest pilgrim in our group needs to be carried last few steps to our camp. In the evening, Pope John Paul II welcomes us and bids us to sleep well after a candle light vigil.


Eight hundred thousand pilgrims gather, sing, feast, and sleep beneath the stars on a summer night in Toronto. The next morning they awake to a "natural baptism" and prepare for the Papal Mass
Salt of the Earth, Light of the World
Day 57 - July 28, 2002
Around 5:45 AM 800,000 Catholics awake to a frigid downpour. The night before Josh, Richard and I acquired some tarp, which I had found earlier. It had been stacked just beyond the fence line where the Cardinals and Bishops had their morning coffee and evening champagne. Though the tarp keeps our group somewhat dry, the rain is loud enough to wake us up.

 


The Papal Mass
The rain and wind picks up but after a half-hour, only the high winds remain. Light fixtures that once hung from speaker systems and had kept the field lighted during the night are blown away. The dark cloud rage from horizon to horizon, but before our Holy Father gives the homily everybody is dry and it had cleared up. The sky becomes still once again.


The Main Stage
Where Mass is Held

Despite the gloom and rain, the crowded park cheers as the Pope arrives in his helicopter and comes through in his Pope-mobile. When he comes to the altar he tells us that we have just had a "natural baptism." Br. Jim says this will probably be a "quick twenty-minute mass" and then we will get out of here. Right. Rumor has it that it will take five hours just to leave the mass. Since we are in the "front row" section of the Downsview ceilingless church, the first shall literally be last, and last shall be first--to leave.

Pope John Paul II says, "The Pope is old, and you are young," that we are the salt of earth, and the light of the world. He leads us in worshipping God. No Catholic mass would be complete without announcements at the end. He invites us to Germany for 2005 WYD.


Mackinac and Cheboygan Pilgrims

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