WYD 2005

I recently returned home from a trip to Germany where I performed music with my band at the XX World Youth Day in Cologne.  This event was started by John Paul II in the mid eighties to bring young people together from all over the world to celebrate their faith.
 
We began our pilgrimage the same day that British Airways' food service went on strike, so we knew we were in for a few surprises on this trip!  My friend Henryk and I were on the same flight and upon arriving in Cologne airport picked up our luggage, except Henryk's $1,200.00 guitar was noticeably missing from the baggage claim.  The good folks at British Airways assured us the guitar would show up the next day so we headed toward the information booth to pick up our 'pilgrim passes' which would allow us entry onto public transport, all of our meals and lodging in tent's in some field in Dusseldorf. The weather was a bit uncooperative and rain was in the forecast, so needless to say I was not too thrilled with the prospect of sleeping in a tent for six days!   Providentially, we met a gentleman at the booth who was also experiencing some sort of dilemma.  We discovered immediately that he was Polish, as is Henryk, so they started speaking to each other in their native tongue while I sat there trying to figure out if there was something good or something not so good in our immediate future!  Well, it turned out to be very good, in fact we found a great and reasonably priced hotel close to the airport that had only a couple of rooms left and an excellent buffet breakfast.
 
The next day we went back to the airport and to our astonishment they had the guitar so, off to the city we went.  We met up with John, Mike, Joe and Eryn (let me introduce the band, John Severino-drums, Mike Perry-bass, vocals, Henryk Chrostek-guitar, vocals, Joe Severino-Audio/Video Production and Eryn Severino-Merchandise) and enjoyed a fabulous German Schnitzel lunch!   Our concert was to take place at Leverkusen Landesgartenschau, roughly translated means: "Garden Landscape."  It reminded me somewhat of our own Descanso Gardens inasmuch as it was well maintained and absolutely beautiful!  Our concert there was a lot of fun and had much meaning to us as there were several American G I's in the audience who happened to be stationed in Munich and were down to take part in the festivities.  It was truly an emotional experience to be singing our songs in a foreign country while members in the audience waved American flags.   And this was only the beginning...On the way back to Cologne after our concert, John said :  "why don't we have another concert on this train!"  So, to my amazement, soon we were singing and playing music while riding fifty miles an hour through the warm and picturesque country side of Germany.  I think the people on the train were a little surprised at first but soon they were singing along and snapping photographs of these "crazy" but "fun" Americans!    Two days later we were singing in Dusseldorf to open up a special presentation of "The Passion of The Christ" before which, Jim Caviezel, the actor who portrayed Jesus, gave an amazing and heartfelt talk about his life and experiences playing this incredible role of a lifetime.   Later that evening we would find ourselves back at the 13th century cathedral in Cologne performing on the steps of the plaza with around fifty thousand youth gathered to celebrate their faith with singing and dancing and having a good time!
 
Our pilgrimage came to a joyful conclusion with the celebration of the Catholic Mass at Marienfeld, where an estimated 1.2 million people gathered to celebrate and meet our new pope.  This was the highlight of my trip seeing so many young people gathered together in peace, solidarity and mutual respect for one another.   There were flags from literally every nation on earth waving in the cool cloudy breeze.  Out of the many people from every corner of the world was a unifying force for good that could be felt by all who were blessed to be there.
 
 
The next World Youth Day pilgrimage will be in Sydney, Australia in 2008.  Hope to see you there!