U.S. pilgrims cope with expenses, logistics to get to World Youth Day

Published: 2008-05-23

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The logistics of bringing tens of thousands of young people together for World Youth Day are complicated, but this year's July 15-20 event in Sydney, Australia, has the added hurdle of the major expense for pilgrims just to get there. This is especially true for U.S. pilgrims, who are about 9,000 miles away and face airline tickets ranging from $2,000 to $5,000. Tickets also have been hard to come by because of the limited number of carriers with flights from the United States to Australia -- namely, Qantas and United Airlines. Pat Pacer, a youth ministry coordinator with the Chicago Archdiocese, said the trip's expense, coupled with a lack of flexibility to purchase more tickets, brought attendance numbers down considerably for their group. The Chicago Archdiocese sent 2,000 pilgrims to World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002. Three years later it sent 500 youths to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany. This year it is sending 43 pilgrims.

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