World Youth Day 2011 Thread

alex73

Hi, Over here in Madrid with the Kids at the world youth Day. Great to see the faith to alive and vibrant.

Have not seen any protests at all,,,... Just hundreds of Thousands of people united in Faith.

Only down side are the hiked up prices for everything... Hope the million plus people give a boost to the economy.

Quest

Not much of a mention of it here at all, considering it's such a massive event.

News report last night only shows a few shots of five or six World Youth Day participants, and rest of report was on a crowd of protesters. And report today in Irish Times doesn't talk to and hardly refers to anyone actually attending the event! Why?

prinz

Quest wrote: »

Why?

Perhaps they are afraid to contradict the usual stereotype we seem to have of mass goers and the faithful being doddery old folk.

Have been debating the WYD with my wife recently. Tbh it's not going down well with me at all.

Manach

Perhaps images like the following might upset the IT's readership.

alex73

Quest wrote: »

Not much of a mention of it here at all, considering it's such a massive event.

News report last night only shows a few shots of five or six World Youth Day participants, and rest of report was on a crowd of protesters. And report today in Irish Times doesn't talk to and hardly refers to anyone actually attending the event! Why?

Well there are thousands of us here and i have met nobody who is protesting, if I do i will take a photo and post. its a great event. I saw one group from a city in Germany, Munich i think, 1000+ young people. And there are thousands of groups, its amazing to see the faith alive.



On an economic note.... ireland should look to host it. We need a million visitors like spain has gotten in these days. Estimates spend has been half a billion euros by the visitors. About right, we are a family of 6 and spent 3000 euros here so far.

alex73

One good thing, today it rained... My 6 year old daughter said she missed the irish rain... And it Rained!!!!!... It was very hot so we did not complain..

alex73

Just passed a protester saying he objects to spanish goverment having to pay for the Popes security... 1 man protesting... And as it happens BBC doing a voice pop.


Whats 20 or 30 million when he brings 1,000,000+ to Madrid!!!!, does this not cover the cost!!,


It was great to see the posters in supermarkets welcoming the Pope.

alex73

alex73 wrote: »

One good thing, today it rained... My 6 year old daughter said she missed the irish rain... And it Rained!!!!!... It was very hot so we did not complain..

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/world-news/storm-forces-pope-to-cut-speech-2853765.html

really, my six year old Daughter did want it to rain... It was so hot. Later it did come.

georgieporgy

Thanks for your on the scene comments Alex. Wish I was there.

alex73

We are off to Mass with the Pope, us and a million plus others. Bag packed with drinks for the kids and a umbrella for the sun..., Great atmosphere.

alex73

Great to see the GAA here, saw Joe Sheridan Seamus Hickey here, somebody said there are about a thousand Irish here.

georgieporgy

RTE , surprisingly enough, covered Sunday morning's Mass quite well.

Watched it from my armchair. Looking at the huge well behaved throng I am reminded of the biblical expression See how they love one another.

gimmebroadband

alex73 wrote: »

Just passed a protester saying he objects to spanish goverment having to pay for the Popes security... 1 man protesting... And as it happens BBC doing a voice pop.


Whats 20 or 30 million when he brings 1,000,000+ to Madrid!!!!, does this not cover the cost!!,


It was great to see the posters in supermarkets welcoming the Pope.

Michael Voris about protesters about the cost of the Pope coming to Madrid!

alex73

gimmebroadband wrote: »

alex73 wrote: »

Just passed a protester saying he objects to spanish goverment having to pay for the Popes security... 1 man protesting... And as it happens BBC doing a voice pop.


Whats 20 or 30 million when he brings 1,000,000+ to Madrid!!!!, does this not cover the cost!!,


It was great to see the posters in supermarkets welcoming the Pope.

Michael Voris about protesters about the cost of the Pope coming to Madrid!

Well there are no protestors here today. And the cost is more than covered by the million people here. Madrid is packed.

alex73

Well we are off to Brazil in 2013... It was a great event, well planned. Fantastic to see an event with one million plus young people who come to celebrate our Catholic Faith. Great help for economy, most of the visitors are taking some extra days to sight see, compostela, pilar, monserrat.

Ireland should seriously put forward proposals to host it, it would be a boom for tourism

Zombrex

Quest wrote: »

Not much of a mention of it here at all, considering it's such a massive event.

News report last night only shows a few shots of five or six World Youth Day participants, and rest of report was on a crowd of protesters. And report today in Irish Times doesn't talk to and hardly refers to anyone actually attending the event! Why?

Because the event was not a news item, the Pope's visit to it and the protests that followed are the news item.

Catholics do Catholic things is not "news"

alex73

Wicknight wrote: »

Because the event was not a news item, the Pope's visit to it and the protests that followed are the news item.

Catholics do Catholic things is not "news"

Correct... Million plus young people who are not drunk at 5 am. No drugs, It was a great event. My kids loved it. I saw in the irish and british media they covered some protests... I only saw one man.

Anyway it was a fantastic event. So proud to see the Irish support.

alex73

Interesting blog.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/patheos-on-faith/post/why-im-attending-world-youth-day/2011/08/17/gIQAJsgILJ_blog.html

alex73

Well we are heading back to Ireland tomorrow. It was a great event. Kids went to port avventura today. I hear that aprox 2 million young People came to see the Holy Father. Amazing that in todays modern world there are so many who will carry the faith.

alex73

Just got some interesting facts from one of the organisers of the WYD. 3 Million Dinner and lunch Tickets were sold for the event. 19.5 Million euros. 1.7 Million breakfast Tickets were sold. There was about 40 million extra revenue for Hostels in Madrid.

About 100,000 People brought their own food to the even and did not buy Meal tickets.

All hotels in Madrid had 30% increase over 3 days compared to last year.

One Catholic group alone,Neocatecumenal movement, brought 200,000 young people to the event.

Also local Authorities in Madrid said of an event of this size they were impressed about how little rubbish has been left behind.

gimmebroadband

Madrid, Spain, Aug 23, 2011 / 01:58 pm (CNA/Europa Press).- Arturo Fernandez, the president of Madrid’s House of Commerce said Aug. 22 that hotels, transportation services and businesses in the Spanish capital took in nearly $230 million during World Youth Day.

alex73

gimmebroadband wrote: »

Madrid, Spain, Aug 23, 2011 / 01:58 pm (CNA/Europa Press).- Arturo Fernandez, the president of Madrid’s House of Commerce said Aug. 22 that hotels, transportation services and businesses in the Spanish capital took in nearly $230 million during World Youth Day.

Well a lot of the Media focus was on the cost of the Popes security to the Spanish state.

Also some media outlets played down the actual numbers.

Anyway it was a fantastic event with de facto gave more to the econmy than it costed to host,

Onesimus

Take any good photos Alex?

alex73

Onesimus wrote: »

Take any good photos Alex?

Lots going to upload to flicker and post the link.

PDN

alex73 wrote: »

Well a lot of the Media focus was on the cost of the Popes security to the Spanish state.

Also some media outlets played down the actual numbers.

Anyway it was a fantastic event with de facto gave more to the econmy than it costed to host,

These kinds of high profile events bring a huge boost to the local economy. My own denomination holds a biennial event (about 20,000 people in attendance) and major US cities fall over themselves to offer us free use of their convention centres etc. because they know that number of delegates will contribute millions to local hotels, restaurants etc.

I can only imagine what an event such as yours, with the numbers involved, added to the local economy. Those who whine about the comparatively tiny security costs aren't just bitter - they are dumb also.

CiaranMT

PDN wrote: »

I can only imagine what an event such as yours, with the numbers involved, added to the local economy. Those who whine about the comparatively tiny security costs aren't just bitter - they are dumb also.

ca. €100 million is tiny?

Those who protested have every right to protest. Sure,the event will provide a huge boost to the local economy, but people are naturally going to feel aggrieved when they see their hours cut or lose their jobs due to the economic situation, and then see €100m spent on a visit (around €1m per hour he was there) for the head of a tiny pseudo-state by the Govt.

Calling them bitter and dumb (???) was rather mod-like, as well.

PDN

CiaranMT wrote: »

ca. €100 million is tiny?

Get yourself a dictionary and look up the word 'comparatively'.

strobe

Did you take any good photos Alex man? The 'google images' are pretty devoid of any meaning or interest.

Edit: Sorry, I guess I should read beyond the first page in future before posting. Apologies.

CiaranMT

PDN wrote: »

Get yourself a dictionary and look up the word 'comparatively'.

Did you miss the part where I said the boost to the economy would be huge?

This boost does not make the concerns of those who protested invalid.

PDN

CiaranMT wrote: »

Did you miss the part where I said the boost to the economy would be huge?

This boost does not make the concerns of those who protested invalid.

It does make them invalid if the boost to the economy exceeds the expense involved. Only a moron would protest at the expenses involved if there is an obvious nett gain.

Of course this doesn't apply if the protests are for reasons other than financial - eg if someone is just a bitter atheist who can't stand seeing large number of religious people exercising their basic human rights to assemble and express their opinions.

I myself take a live and let live approach. If my local atheists wish to invite Richard Dawkins and then all gather together for a day in the local phone booth then I wouldn't dream of protesting against them.

alex73

CiaranMT wrote: »

ca. €100 million is tiny?

Those who protested have every right to protest. Sure,the event will provide a huge boost to the local economy, but people are naturally going to feel aggrieved when they see their hours cut or lose their jobs due to the economic situation, and then see €100m spent on a visit (around €1m per hour he was there) for the head of a tiny pseudo-state by the Govt.

Calling them bitter and dumb (???) was rather mod-like, as well.

@CiaranMT if you like I will get the real figures and post them. No Country or City is going to host an event that they are going to have to pay for.. If there is no social dividend what would be the point.. The event was not held in Madrid because Madrid is Catholic, The Catholic Church proposed the location, Madrid saw that is made sense and it happened.

Lets not forget many of the young people who when to Madrid also went to other cities in Spain. Bacelona has an rise in Tourists before and after the Event.

If you were in Spain you would know the positive impact if gave Spain, you could not avoid seeing people with the WYD or JMJ (Spanish for World youth day Jornada Munidial Juventud)

The whole event for incredible. Authorities in Madrid had over planned for the event. (as from a policing point of view there was little to no Violence)

Actually the main issue was policing the protesters... Which the World Youth Day organisers could not control.

Its an enormous Pity that Ireland could not host this event. We have the Eucharistic Congress next year.

When Ireland hosted the Special Olympics in 2003 it brought about 200,000 people to Ireland. It was an Excellent event, Many Towns hosted the Visitors. (and I was involved at the time)

Well the World youth Day got 10 times more People to Spain. And they were not hosted, they paid for their stay and went on to visit.


So most of the protests in Spain (very small) were really about being against the Catholic Event.. Their Anti Catholicism colours they view of the Event.

My Kids loved it. We give out about teenage Drug abuse, Joy riders, Alcohol abuse, Teenage pregnancy. When over Million young people meet to should they Faith in God and to live the values of the Catholic Church we give out about the Cost. Reality is and People who live the Values of the Catholic Church (and Christian Values in general) Do not tend to be the people that end us costing Society Millions.

gimmebroadband

One and a half million young people kneel in the mud to adore the Blessed Sacrament at WYD.

"During Saturday’s all night prayer vigil at the Cuatro Vientos air base one and a half million young people knelt in the mud after a torrential storm in silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with Pope Benedict. CNA reports:
‘A sense of peace descended on the crowd as the Mass choir sang Mozart’s Eucharistic hymn “Ave Verum Corpus,” before Pope Benedict led all present in the service of Benediction. Movingly,most of the million-strong congregation chose to kneel in the mud before the Blessed Sacrament.’
‘I had never seen so many people together,with such devotion,’said one volunteer participating in organizing the papal visit."

http://protectthepope.com/?p=3565

Keaton

There was another important difference: this was the first fully self-funded International World Youth Day since they began in 1987. Some 70 per cent of the €50m (£44m) cost was covered by the pilgrims themselves; the rest came from donations by businesses and individuals. Even the 30,000 volunteers paid their own costs. It was important that, while Spain is going through one of deepest financial crises in Europe, with 40 per cent of people in their 20s jobless, this event should not be a burden on the public purse. And it wasn’t. Spain benefitted by at least £135m (takings in Madrid’s restaurants and bars were 15 per cent above the August average) yet the state, as a government spokesman eventually confirmed, contributed nothing.

This did not stop an alliance of secularist and gay rights groups from organising a protest march against the cost of the visit. Their slogan, “Not with my taxes”, might have been the only thing the different groups – small, fragmented, and ideologically diverse – could agree on, but this was a protest with a false pretext.

Alex makes a pertinent point: most of the policing cost was dealing with the protesters, protesting about the cost to the taxpayer for the cost of WYD.

CiaranMT

PDN wrote: »

It does make them invalid if the boost to the economy exceeds the expense involved. Only a moron would protest at the expenses involved if there is an obvious nett gain.

I disagree.

alex73 wrote: »

@CiaranMT if you like I will get the real figures and post them. No Country or City is going to host an event that they are going to have to pay for.. If there is no social dividend what would be the point.. The event was not held in Madrid because Madrid is Catholic, The Catholic Church proposed the location, Madrid saw that is made sense and it happened.

Oh I don't doubt that Alex, and have no problem with religious holding events and all the rest.

I've a problem with those who are protesting on legitimate grounds being called moronic.

alex73

CiaranMT wrote: »

I disagree.



Oh I don't doubt that Alex, and have no problem with religious holding events and all the rest.

I've a problem with those who are protesting on legitimate grounds being called moronic.

They are morons when they are protesting against a Cost that does not exist.

CiaranMT

I missed the Herald piece above. Seems the protestors were misinformed.

beerbuddy

CiaranMT wrote: »

I missed the Herald piece above. Seems the protestors were misinformed.

Sorry but the protestors were not misinformed.
All costs were covered by the sponsorship or money that the pilgrims paid to attend.
This was well known ,unfortunatly in Spain there is a very strong anti religious movement who would protest anything about the church.

The people who protested also attacked the pilgrims who attended.It was only a small nurmber of protestors but the police gave them a good seeing to

alex73

beerbuddy wrote: »

Sorry but the protestors were not misinformed.
All costs were covered by the sponsorship or money that the pilgrims paid to attend.
This was well known ,unfortunatly in Spain there is a very strong anti religious movement who would protest anything about the church.

The people who protested also attacked the pilgrims who attended.It was only a small nurmber of protestors but the police gave them a good seeing to

I was there and to be honest I only saw 1 protester.. I only heard about them on the Media and people calling me from Ireland saying they saw them on the news. As Usual the media had its agenda for the event.

Keylem

Here is link to the official sponsers of WYD, there is quite a lot!!

http://www.madrid11.com/en/sponsors

alex73

Some photos from the Event

http://madrid2011.zenit.org/

beerbuddy

Hi Alex

I actually live in Madrid i agree you probably saw nothing but the media
focused on SOL where the 15M movement has been occupying the plaza over
the last few weeks.Anyway it was a huge success but the media in Spain never fail to suprise.

Cybercelesta

alex73 wrote: »

We have the Eucharistic Congress next year.

When Ireland hosted the Special Olympics in 2003 it brought about 200,000 people to Ireland. It was an Excellent event, Many Towns hosted the Visitors. (and I was involved at the time)

So, is anyone here going to the 2012 International Eucharisitic Congress? I am thinking of going myself, it will be a great spiritual experience.

IEC2012 Promotional Vid.

Quest

Yes will definitely go - could do with a bit of a spiritual boost!

If anyone's planning to register - did you know it's cheaper if you do it before 30 November http://www.iec2012.ie/registration