By Gretchen Keiser

Plans for a pilgrimage to Denver to meet with Pope John Paul II are reaching fever pitch for youth, young adults and others traveling cross-country with them in early August.

Four archdiocesan busloads of people, numbering about 195, will be leaving from four locations early Aug. 10 for Denver. In addition, several separate groups, including a contingent from St. John the Evangelist in Hapeville, St. Pius X in Conyers and Our Lady of Vietnam Mission if Forest Park are also making the pilgrimage that week.

A "youth rally" for all those making the trip and any others who would like to join them will be held Saturday, July 31 from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. at All Saints Catholic Church in Dunwoody. Final details will be announced, a talk on the pilgrimage will be given by Kathy Wolf, consultant on youth ministry for the archdiocese, and the group will join in prayer and song. The night concludes with pizza and a dance.

Ms. Wolf said that he emphasis of the World Youth Day celebration is on the pilgrimage, from the moment the group leaves until they return from Denver. Cramped living quarters and an overnight camp-out will be part of the experience as tens of thousands of young people and adults meet with the pope in the Mile High City from Aug. 12 to 15.

The four buses organized by the archdiocese will be stopping overnight in Topeka, Kan., and upon arrival in Colorado will be housed either in a Denver school or a Colorado Springs hotel, Ms. Wolf said.

The group is "a neat mixture representing Atlanta," Ms. Wolf said. Not only will rural and metro parishes and missions be represented, but Hispanic and Anglo teens, and even a diversity of priests. Father Selvaraj Balappa, parochial vicar in Alpharetta, who is Indian, and Father Alvaro Avendaño, parochial vicar in Atlanta, who is Colombian, are accompanying the group.

Other priests leading groups are Father Frank Forts with the Hapeville group, and Father Francis Phan Van Phuong, with the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement group from Forest Park.

The theme of the meeting is "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." The pope will greet the gathering of tens of thousands of young people from across the country and other nations in Mile High Stadium the evening of Aug. 12. He will celebrate Mass for youth delegates in the Denver cathedral Aug. 14 and hold his main meeting with young people the evening of Aug. 14 in Cherry Creek State Park. Then the pope will celebrate a closing Mass for World Youth Day the morning of Aug. 15.

Ms. Wolf said the night of Aug. 14 will be spent outdoors in the state park in an all-night vigil "under the start." Earlier your groups will walk to the park from distances ranging from 1.5 miles to 14 miles away.

In her preparation she is emphasizing "the pilgrimage as a journey. Anytime you want to grow, there is always pain and discomfort that goes with that. There's a little pain but with that there's a joy of learning and growing."

On a trip like this "what's really awesome is the coming together, the bonding," she said.

In addition to the meetings and Masses in which the pope takes part, young people will gather to pray and study together and do community service projects while in Colorado.

The pope has also agreed to meet with some 10,000 American Vietnamese Catholics on Aug. 15 in Denver's McNichols Arena, following the closing Mass of World Youth Day.

Father Peter Van Nguyen of Sacred Heart parish in Lake Worth, Fla., said the meeting came about because one of the pope's secretaries, a Vietnamese priest, "recommended that the Holy Father meet with the American Vietnamese community, since it is the largest such community outside of Vietnam."

"We are a special group that lost our country and we need special help from the Holy Father to keep our faith and keep the Catholic tradition. The Vietnamese are very devoted to the Holy Father," Father Van Nguyen said. He is one of seven Vietnamese priests chosen to prepare the agenda for the papal meeting.

In the Atlanta archdiocese, Father Francis Pham Van Phuong will accompany some 40 young people from 16 to 25 years old who are active in the youth movement at Our Lady of Vietnam Mission. The group will take part in World Youth Day activities and the special meeting with the pope, according to parishioner Bui Van Tam.