Chris: "I'm working in the Operations Department. That involves all the logistical issues in the sites and the venue, everything from the glamorous things like toilets to the water, food, sound, lighting, video...those sorts of aspects. It's is the logistical insight things that we are working on."

Interviewer: "Can you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from? What is your background?"

Chris: "Both my parents are Polish. My Mom is from Northern Poland and my Dad is from Southern Poland. My Dad escaped after the war and I was born in Vancouver. I have lived there my whole life, until now. I currently reside in Toronto. I did my undergraduate at University of British Columbia in Microbiology and did my Masters here in Toronto in Civil Engineering and Fresh Water Treatment. That's how I met Fr. Rosica. I went to mass to the Newman Center, volunteered to the Newman center, and basically now I'm here at the WYD office, so I just progressed very nicely."

Interviewer: "How did you get drawn into the WYD?"

Chris: "Well it's in Fathers Rosica's magical kind of way. One day, I was at the Newman Center and he pulled me aside and said, 'Would you like to work WYD?' At that time I did not really know much about the WYD. I had a few friends who had gone before, but I have never participated myself. This was in June last year that he spoke to me and I agreed because I was just about to finish my thesis. So, I went with him to Rome with few other team members and we observed how they were putting together the WYD in Rome. It was amazing! It was a great and spectacular event. The town put on an amazing show, and I am fortunate to be able to work on the next WYD. It's the best job in the world. It really is incredible. It's a lot of hard work, but when we get up in the morning we can't wait to come to work because it's is just incredible. I don't know what I'm going do after this because what can you do after some thing like this?
It's hard too match something this amazing."

Chris: "At one point you are really excited but on the other hand you think about logistics and fear that it is impossible to do this. This event will be huge, but then you realize, there is much more involved here than just the logistical stuff. That knowledge keeps us going."

Interview: "Okay. We understand last year that you were at Castel Gandolfo, living with the Pope. Tell us about that experience. How did you end up doing that?"

Chris: "I owe that privilege to Fr. Rosica's magical abilities again. I was there in Rome during the summer working with Fr. Tom, and we were in the press office. Father Rosica said to me, 'The Vatican has asked me to send 3 Canadians over, would you like to go?' How do you respond to something like that? It floored me because earlier in the week we had gone to Castel Gandolfo to have mass with the Pope and we met him afterwards which was a dream, but then going back again and this time staying in his place? Wow, what a dream! It was incredible!"

Interviewer: "And do you have any reminiscence about the Holy Father? Did you have any interaction with him? What about that?"

Chris: "We did. One day we had lunch with him for over 2 hours. It was an incredible thing. There were 15 of us guests, 3 from 5 continents. There were also 2 Polish priests, Bishop Stanislaw of course, and the Pope. At the beginning, the photographer was there, but then he went away and we were just alone with the Pope for 2 hours. It was an incredible, incredible experience! Everybody would be singing different songs. We had a very relaxed slow meal and very Italian with the Prosciuto and the melon and all that. We all spoke to the Holy Father and what was amazing was how the Pope could eat just as much as all of us, would speak to everybody in their own language, and not just like 'Hi, how are you?', but he would be having full conversations. He would be speaking English and French and Portuguese and Polish, Italian and went on and on. We were just seating there, amazed by this. He was so mentally sharp. One of the funnies things, you can still see the actor in him still too. At the beginning we all met him individually and went up to him. Later, we had the meal, and at the end of our time with him, he motioned for all of us to come and give him a hug. But, just before he left, he had a little impish grim that came across his face. He took his cane and twirled it around and it was hilarious! He knew exactly the reaction he was going receive from that, and he just kind of exited the room with that. It was amazing. The man is an amazing, amazing person. You are talking about the successor of Peter here, and yet, at the same time he is so human and so normal. There is an air about him when you are in his presence. I don't know how to describe it, but it is an amazing thing."

Interviewer: "So you are looking forward to seeing him again in Toronto next year, right?"

Chris: "And he is really looking forward to being here as well. When we were there on Palm Sunday, he met us all individually after the Palm Sunday mass. When Kevin McDonald and I went up to him, he said to us in English, 'Next year, next year', so he really wants to be here in Toronto and I would love to see him here too."

Interviewer: "Chris could you tell us how the young people have tried to help in coordinating the WYD event? Do you meet many young people from the Toronto area and suburbs, or maybe across Canada, who are eager as you are to be part of this event?"

Chris: "Oh yeah, it is truly a Canadian event. For example, I'm from Vancouver and there are people on staff who are from Toronto, but we got the whole country really represented in the office itself. There is a whole ton of young people that work in the office. I am 25 and I think we have people who are 20 years old and older. We have got retired people working here as well. To get representation and input from Canadians outside of Toronto, we held a national forum in February and got responses from youth dioceses across the country. I think we had all but 2 of the dioceses represented. The forum included 3-4 days of discussions concerning the WYD and there is more of that sort of thing planned for the future. So, it truly is a national event. Of course, all of my friends from Vancouver, they all know that I'm working here so I keep getting e-mails and phone calls from them. Everything from 'Can I stay in your place?' to 'Oh, what about doing this or how about this?' It is very contagious and I think that as we are going along it is escalating even more. More phone calls are coming in now as we get closer to the big event and more information is being spread. We do work in Toronto as well and all of us do different jobs. Some of us volunteer in different locations too; for example, through the Newman Center they have the tutoring program at the Missionaries of Charity in Parkdale."

Interviewer: "Do you see also Catholic Schools involved in the preparation for WYD or did you have a chance to maybe visit students and the catholic schools?"

Chris: "The schools are going to play a large role in terms of accommodations. Billeting is going to be a huge thing and then there are going to be people staying in the schools as well. There is already a group of people interacting with the Catholic and the Public High Schools in the office. I'm not one of the people that's on that team, but that's one of the important components. They are already well into working with that task."

Interviewer: "Do you see any spiritual benefit that you get working for the WYD?"

Chris: "Oh, absolutely that's what makes this job what it is. It is more than just a job. There is something that happens to the people that work there. It is something that happens to the Bishops that come and I think that the Vatican is very aware of that. I think that it was Cardinal Stafford himself that said that it is so important for the Bishops and the Cardinals to come because at the Catechesis sessions, when they are interacting with people, there is an amazing thing that happens. When I was there in Rome, I saw Cardinal Law on one of the days during the Catechesis sessions. There was another Bishop from England and there were some very pointed questions that the young people were asking, not trying to trick the Bishops or anything like that, but just realistically applied questions that people struggle with regarding choices in life, and some very deep questions. It was a really interesting exchange. First the Bishop would be talking about the certain theme. Both the Bishops that I listened to in Rome were incredible speakers, the questions were amazing. You know when you are going to a rock concert, you are there, you have a lot of fun, the next morning you wake up, your ears hurt a little bit and life is normal, then you are a little more tired but after the WYD there is something that all of us felt, something changed a little bit and we are still feeling that months, months after so it is not the rock concert temporary high thing, there is something that happened spiritually. That is certainly why people here are working on WYD 2002 because it is not about how many video screens, how many toilets or anything like that. It is just that everybody wants to change the world somehow and this is the amazing starting point. Something happens to us and we want to share it with other people because there is an incredible mindset that goes on throughout the WYD. The Holy Spirit, that's what we call in the Catholic history. It is an amazing thing."

Interviewer: "Could you tell us if anything happened to you personally, like have you experienced a deeper sense of God's presence in your life? Or maybe the WYD somehow affected your spiritual life? Can you also describe a bit your spiritual journey?"

Chris: "That's a bit harder I guess. Personally, yes. I know there are some changes that have happened in my life. You said it best, there is a much bigger awareness of God's presence in my life; this is from my personal point of view. And that percolates into everything you do so it is really hard to say you notice this big change. One part is changed and another, but it changes everything really; so I find it quite difficult to answer this question. It didn't just happen naturally. It was the result of the WYD experience".

Interviewer: "Were you always a faithful practicing Catholic or maybe this event somehow triggered something in your spiritual life?"

Chris: "That's another hard question. That depends how your define it. If you mean like going to Church, yes, I went to Church every Sunday. I have done volunteering throughout my university life and other activities similar to that. In terms of praying and things like that, I have noticed that I do it more often now. I lost prayer a little bit in high school and university. You know, you get busy and everything. But now, thanks to WYD things have changed."

Interviewer: "Thank you very much Chris for being with us today."