The theme for World Youth Day 2005, which took place in Cologne, Germany with youth from all over the world, was "We have come to Worship Him". It was very exciting to be there not only for the visitors to Germany but also for the German people, because it was the first time Pope Benedict XVI returned to his homeland since he was elected Pope. The air was filled with excitement and enthusiasm. Six of us from Our Lady of the Visitation parish accompanied a group of about 150 from the Ottawa Archdiocese to WYD.

We left on August 10 around 4pm via bus to Montreal then flew to France. From there we drove by bus to Bremen, Germany, our first stop where we enjoyed a very warm welcome from our host families who accommodated us for about four days. These were called "Days of Encounter" where we met people from various parishes and participated in activities with them that were very meaningful by helping to build a just world.

We were then off to Osnabruk where we stayed in a school for about five days, visited many churches and saw many interesting places. There were daily activities, including Catechesis, Daily Prayers, Reconciliation and the Eucharist, and the Stations of the Cross. We attended the opening mass at Osnabruk in the immense stadium. There were about 40,000 people inside and many more outside. There were people parading around the inside of the stadium with flags from every country in the world. It was very impressive and the mass was very beautiful with lots of music and singing.

The Cathedral in Cologne was magnificent. We met Archbishop Marcel Gervais there and he toured the Cathedral with us. There were so many pilgrims that we were not allowed to stop to admire anything. We just had to keep on moving to allow the crowd waiting to go through.

It was about a 10 km walk from the bus to Marienfeld for the overnight vigil with the Pope. We arrived around noon and there were people as far as the eye could see. Apparently, there were 1 million people registered. Everyone was singing the theme song "Emmanuel" and shouting "Benedicto" in honour of Pope Benedict. Even though we were very close to the front of the field, we were still about 4 km away from the altar and viewed the mass on jumbo screens. It was a wonderful feeling, being there listening to the Pope speak to us all and being among youth from all over the world. We were all energized and thought that it was a great experience. It was very hectic from the first day on, but very fulfilling.

We also visited Paris, France for a day on our return trip. We visited the Notre Dame Basilica and the Sacré Coeur Cathedral. They are both very beautiful and impressive churches. There is so much to see in Notre Dame with its two towers and at Sacré Coeur the painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with outstretched arms on the inside dome, looking directly at you, is very powerful. There was also perpetual exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. We did a bit of shopping, some sightseeing and later went on a boat ride along the Seine River, which was amazing with so many interesting buildings and bridges along the way. It was breathtaking!

At one of our Catechesis sessions, we were fortunate enough to meet the Bishop from Sydney, Australia, Anthony Fisher, who will be hosting the next World Youth Day in 2008. He encouraged the youth of the world to join them in Sydney, Australia, because he feels that Sydney will be well prepared to host the event, as the infrastructure is still in place from the Olympic Games that were held there in 2000.

We arrived back in Ottawa on August 23 feeling spiritually energized having received the message from our Holy Father that we should share God's love with our parishioners. He also encouraged the youth not to lose their enthusiasm and to continue their youth ministries in their parishes.

- June Peter