The 1993

World Youth Day World Youth Day (WYD) is an event for young people organized by the Catholic Church that was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985, sometimes nicknamed in later years as the "Catholic Woodstock". Its concept has been influenced by the Light-L ...

was held on August 10–15, 1993 in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. It was the first World Youth Day held in either

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

or an English-speaking nation. The World Youth Day is an event for young people organized by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. It is celebrated every two to three years at different locations.

Theme

The theme chosen by Pope John Paul II for these days is taken from the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John ( Jn 10:10): ''I came that they might have life, and have it to the full''.

Events

The event took place in the context of the pope's sixtieth apostolic journey, on which, before reaching Denver, he had stopped in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. The journey lasted from August 9–16, 1993. The program included a

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...

among the host city's skyscrapers; the vigil and final

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

took place inside

Cherry Creek State Park Cherry Creek State Park is a state park in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The park consists of a natural prairie and wetland environment with an reservoir at its center which is shared by powerboats, sailboats, and paddle craft. T ...

, near the city of

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

, about fifteen miles from downtown Denver. Between half a million and one million young people from one hundred nations participated in the various events that took place during the five calendar days of the event.

Polemics

The event was criticized on the Catholic Television station

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

. In a 1993 episode of ''Mother Angelica Live'',

Mother Angelica Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation (born Rita Antoinette Rizzo; April 20, 1923 – March 27, 2016), also known as Mother Angelica, was an American Roman Catholic nun of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration. She was best known for the ...

harshly criticized a mimed re-enactment of the

which was not attended by Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. Mother Angelica was particularly upset that a woman was playing Jesus. Archbishop

Rembert Weakland Rembert George Samuel Weakland (April 2, 1927 – August 22, 2022) was an American Benedictine monk who served as Archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002. Shortly before his mandatory retirement at the age of 75, it was revealed in the pre ...

of the

Archdiocese of Milwaukee The Archdiocese of Milwaukee ( la, Archidiœcesis Milvauchiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. It encompasses the City of Milwaukee, a ...

called Mother Angelica's comments "one of the most disgraceful, un-Christian, offensive, and divisive diatribes I have ever heard." Mother Angelica responded by saying, "He didn't think a woman playing Jesus was offensive? He can go put his head in the back toilet as far as I am concerned!"Raymond Arroyo, ''Mother Angelica: the Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve and a Network of Miracles''. (pp. 243-244)

References

External links

* https://www.vatican.va/gmg/years/gmg_1993_fr.html * http://www.gmg2005.it/pls/gmg2005/consultazione.mostra_paginat?id_pagina=379 {{World Youth Day

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

1993 in Colorado 1990s in Denver 1993 in Christianity 1993 in the United States August 1993 events Pope John Paul II Christianity in Denver Catholic Church in the United States August 1993 events in the United States