Father Thomas Rosica, National Director of Toronto Event
TORONTO, AUG. 7, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Days after the yearlong countdown to the next World Youth Day began, ZENIT interviewed Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, 42, national director and chief executive officer of the 2002 event.
ZENIT: What have you experienced in Canada as you go about preparing for the big event?
Father Rosica: From the very beginning when I was appointed by our bishops in June 1999 to lead the preparations for World Youth Day 2002, I desired that this project would be by young people and for young people.
We had numerous challenges to overcome: the immense distances in our country that lead to isolationism and loneliness, the languages of English and French, several distinctly different societies and cultures - French, Quebec, Native, English, etc. There has not been a national pastoral ministry for young people in our country. The challenges were very evident from the beginning of the project.
One of the first blessings was to see the complete unity and unanimity of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops for the World Youth Day. It has been a great experience to be associated with some excellent pastors from one end of the country to the other.
I have been particularly impressed by the creativity and dynamism of the bishops of Quebec, who see in the World Youth Day an extraordinary moment of blessing and promise.
Our first major challenge was to establish the National Office for World Youth Day in Toronto, an anglophone city. I had the wild dream in the first weeks after Tor Vergata to call for a National Forum of Youth leaders and young adults in Toronto this past February.
The initial proposal was met with some skepticism. They told me that people wouldn't come to English-speaking Toronto. We had representatives from 71 out of 72 dioceses attend the forum which many now consider to be an historic moment in the life of the Canadian Church.
Over 140 of us gathered together for three cold, winter days in a downtown hotel to dream and strategize, to celebrate and pray for the new Pentecost and the new springtime that has come to the Church in Canada. Many new friendships were born, and many leaders surfaced who have now joined the National Team. ...
Then, quickly moving from the dream, World Youth Day 2002 became a living reality for us on Palm Sunday 2001 in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. There ... before a crowd of over 150,000 people, 70 Canadians representing 32 dioceses received the World Youth Day Cross handed to us from the young people of Italy. ... We accepted that cross and carried it with us to Canada.
The cross is causing quite a stir in our land. In fact, the best part of my day is that first half-hour in the office each morning when I read the reports sent in to us from the various dioceses and communities that are hosting the World Youth Day Cross. They are deeply moving testimonies. A journalist asked me last year at a press conference if the World Youth Day Cross could be compared to the Olympic torch that precedes the Olympic games in a particular country. I assured him that the analogy was not off the mark.
A bishop called me the morning after the cross had left his diocese and said to me: "Father Tom, you told us at the plenary assembly of bishops this past fall that the cross would work its magic wherever it went ... and I couldn't imagine how such a basic simple cross would draw so many people. Now I know what you meant. Thank you for sending that cross to us. I am amazed at what it produced."
In early June we released our first major publication, "Prayers for World Youth Day" jointly published by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the World Youth Day Office."
One edition is in English and the French edition will be released in the next few weeks. It is a handsome volume that will help the entire Church in Canada and far beyond prepare for World Youth Day. This book of prayers for the World Youth Day serves as an invitation to the Church in Canada and far beyond to pray for the success of World Youth Day 2002.
What lies at the heart of this great event - that is already sweeping across our country - is the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, crucified and risen for us, who welcomes young people to fall in love with him and discover a Church that is forever young at the beginning of the third millennium. I hope that many young people and adults in Canada and throughout the whole world will use this book to bring them close to Christ as we continue the great journey toward World Youth Day 2002.
We were able to keep the price very modest. I encourage everyone to visit the CCCB Web site for more information and the order form. [See http://www.cccb.ca/english/fullpresse.asp?ID=303) ]
Q: What were the fruits of the international meeting in Rome in June?
Father Rosica: Twelve members of our national office attended the meeting in Rome along with Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, Bishop Anthony Meagher, chair of the episcopal committee for World Youth Day 2002, and Bishop François Lapierre, member of the committee. We had very productive meetings with the Pontifical Council for the Laity preceding the meeting. I must say that we have had a continuos excellent dialogue with Cardinal James Francis Stafford and Bishop Stanislas Rylko. We have had the privilege of hosting them in Toronto and our collaboration has been close. It was a privilege to be able to present the World Youth Day 2002 to leaders from over 60 countries and many international movements and communities.
We realized the tremendous interest there is in the World Youth Day in Canada. One thing that struck all of us from the National Team of Canada was how surprised people where in discovering the great distances in Canada. Since that meeting, we have launched the registration process and are in communication with over 100 countries of the world at present.
Our staff had a surprise during the June meeting and it was a tremendous blessing and moment of encouragement to each of us. One morning we were invited as a team to attend a private Mass with the Pope, during which he baptized the granddaughter of a childhood friend of his. It was a deeply touching moment.
After Mass the Pope spent a good bit of time with us individually and as a group. It is very obvious that the topic of World Youth Day is close to his heart. He even asked our communications person about the visitors to our Web site. Anyone who says that the Pope is not tuned in to things is not accurate.
As I was leaving his library, he thanked us again for a ski jacket with our World Youth Day logo on it that we had presented to him earlier in the year on Palm Sunday. I was surprised that he remembered that gift, but little did I know what we would see in the newspapers several weeks later.
Q: What did you see in the papers?
Father Rosica: While the Holy Father was vacationing in Val d'Aosta, we began receiving calls and messages from as far away as Australia, telling us that the Pope was wearing the ski jacket and vest with our logo in all the pictures.
When a photo finally appeared in our papers, I couldn't believe my eyes. There in a mountain field was Pope John Paul II proudly wearing our logo. There seated in the ski lift chair was the Pope wearing our jacket with the WYD 2002 logo!
I was told last week by his secretary that this was no coincidence. The Pope wanted us to know how much he is following this project. Bishop Dziwisz told me that the World Youth Day in Canada is very close to his heart and in his daily prayers. This has touched each of us personally and encouraged us in our work.
Q: What happened in Toronto on Saturday night, July 28, at the countdown ceremony?
Father Rosica: To mark the one year countdown to the conclusion of the World Youth Day in Toronto next summer [July 28, 2002] we had a huge celebration in Nathan Phillips Square, in the heart of Toronto.
We were told by city officials that nearly 7,000 people were present. They came from all over Canada - a large delegation from Quebec - from many dioceses in the United States, and from at least eight other countries.
The weather was beautiful. During the afternoon many musical groups and singers performed Christian music. It was an opportunity for young Catholic performers and artists from all over the U.S.A. and Canada to shine.
Earlier that morning we were given permission by the Vatican to release the Pope's Message for the 17th World Youth Day during the evening festivities.
The formal part of the evening began at 8:30 as the sun was beginning to set. A very famous Canadian musical family, the Leahys performed music and dancing. Representatives of the three levels of government delivered words of encouragement to the crowd.
Cardinal Ambrozic addressed the crowd and led us all in a prayer. The host of the evening was a noted national television personality in our country, Hana Gartner, of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The surprise speaker was the 29 year-old-son of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. He began his presentation "Je suis Canadien français. Je suis Catholique" to the thunderous applause of the crowds.
He then gave a moving talk on how the accidental death of his younger brother three years ago and the death of his father last year brought him back to the Church. He spoke to the experience of hundreds of the young people present in the square, who had gone through their own struggles with and indifference toward the Church.
Justin is a teacher in Vancouver, and he described the teaching profession: "A real teacher guides me toward my own answers, gives me support and information to help me figure out the biggest question of all: How do I do justice to the wonderful gift of life that God has given me."
Trudeau ended his presentation by referring to the Church as a great teacher and he challenged the young people to be salt and light, to make a difference in the world, and to start tonight."
Q: What do you think of the Pope's message to the youth of the world for the 17th World Youth Day?
Father Rosica: I am delighted with the message. As one who has taught Scripture at the university and in seminaries, I am very happy to see how much the letter makes references to the Bible, especially the texts of being 'salt of the earth' and 'light of the world.' ... The letter is a wonderful invitation to all of us to taste and see what the Lord has done and is doing for us.
Salt is about giving flavor to life. Light is about faith - how to fan the flame into a roaring blaze wherever we are. Our societies, our cultures, and many parts of our lives lack the taste, the flavor, the presence of salt and light. We often grow accustomed to tasteless living and life in the shadows ... we are afraid of the light because it reveals us.
Pope John Paul II invites young people to give the world taste and zest, light and joy. He invites us to move from the contemplation of the Word made flesh to action in a secular world. He invites them to bring the taste, the desire, the light of holiness out in public. ...
What struck me most about the letter is the Pope's deep understanding of the reality of Toronto as a multicultural and multiconfessional city. Having lived here now for 10 years, I have experienced how so many languages, nations, cultures, religions can live together in peace and harmony.
The Church is only enriched by such an experience. In the midst of so much diversity, the radiant, ever youthful figure of Christ shines brightly as the unique Savior who brings us salvation, meaning and peace.
What the Pope's letter does is extend to the young people of the world a strong call to become missionaries in the complex yet beautiful cities in which we live ... in the very places that are longing to know the unity for which Jesus prayed, and the joyful news of his abiding presence among us, often times in spite of our frailty, but more often than not, because he has placed us here to be salt and light for the world that God so loved.
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7. august 2001