For many of the pilgrims from 193 nations, World Youth Day was an almost unparalleled opportunity to meet Catholics from different cultures and see how they live their faith.
Africans in particular noticed differences in liturgical celebrations celebrated in and around Cologne, Germany Aug. 18-21.
Fitzgerald Umah, president of the Catholic student association at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, said: "The Masses we attended here were fast, straight to the point. There was no time for celebration."
In one Mass, he and others from his group played music, resulting in a longer service.
"But," he said, "they were happy about that."
"Here they take Communion in the hand, while we always take it in the mouth, and our women always wear head coverings," he added.
Amaka Ogbuenu, also from Nigeria, said the Africans were able to bring a new spirit of faith to their German hosts.
"In Nigeria, Mass is much livelier than here," said Ogbuenu, 30, who together with some of her group spent her first days in Germany at St. Bartholomew Parish in Mainz.
"Young people in our host parishes have come up to us and said that we have brought them back to their faith by showing that Mass can be youthful. They sang and danced with us and they liked it, telling us that German Mass is traditionally more conservative and thus has less to offer for young people."
Asked what they learned from their hosts, the Nigerians said it was a spirit of generosity.
"They went out of their way to make us feel welcome," said Benedict Egeh, who works for the bishops' conference in Lagos.
"Although they don't know you, just for the reason that you're a Catholic they act as hosts to you. There's a whole lot of dedication in terms of the Catholic faith," Umah said.
Foreign guests were almost unanimous in their praise for the generosity of their German hosts.
Jude Bassett of Seychelles said his host family was fun.
"They welcomed me very well, and we had lots of activities together," he said.
In Seychelles, "there's more singing and the churches are more crowded," he said. "The churches here are so empty."
Diego Asencio of Jerez, Spain, was especially impressed that one of the host families for his group was Protestant.
"It's strange but nice," he said, "and it's ecumenism, which was so important to John Paul II."
He said the German attention to the Book of the Gospels at Mass impressed him.
"It was amazing to see how the church in Germany takes care of the holy word," he said. "They give it a lot of attention, they carry it above their head, and they put it in a special place. Sometimes in Spain we have lost that."
Shirley Fernandes of Pune, India, also enjoyed the German Masses, but for a different reason.
"Back home in India, when we pray, we are very spiritual," she said. "We always close our eyes, fold our hands and pray, but here I think the way of praying is very different. It's more through singing, more lively, and that's what I'd like to take back to India."
She said she also noticed German treatment of people with disabilities.
"There's a lot of respect, for example, in the way (Germans) take people around in wheelchairs. That's really nice, and it's another message we'll be taking back to India," she said.
Germans in general seemed to find the piety of many of their visitors unusual but challenging.
"Everything worked wonderfully, even though nothing went as planned, but in the midst of all the chaos, the pilgrims would insist on holding Mass, even if we were trying to make sure they all got on their way to some event at 6 in the morning," said Anja Becker of Cologne. "It meant they really were able to concentrate on the real issues."
Franziska Broich helped host Polish pilgrims in a village near Cologne.
"They have a such a strong faith," she said. "I think we can learn from it. We were so impressed when they came on the first evening, and they prayed for a half an hour before their dinner. We said, 'How can that be, they are praying and singing and that it is so much fun for them?' So we want to learn from them."
Many, like Natasha Robertson of Swindon, England, preferred to emphasize the unity of World Youth Day activities.
"It's meant that I'm not alone in the world in my Catholic faith. There are at least a million other people here who believe what I do, and it just gives me great hope," Robertson said. Contributing to this story was Tess Crebbin. |