At Bondi, an enormous crowd gathered for the announcement of the Christian Youth Climate Declaration, which supported a call from the Pope for Catholics to do more to help save the environment.Catholic pilgrims braved the chilly waters and Franciscan friars clad in simple brown robes became rock concert “roadies” as throngs of worshippers congregated on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach. With up to 215,000 mostly young Catholics joining Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney this week for World Youth Day, the city is getting used to the unexpected. That was certainly true at Bondi where dozens of pilgrim groups planted their national flags in the golden sand of the beach more famous for summer hedonism and topless sunbathing than winter Christian festivals. A group of pilgrims from the Gulf emirate of Qatar spent much of their time explaining what country their flag represents. The mostly Filipino foreign workers from the Muslim state said they are proud to represent their adopted country…

[Slideshow View]

“We have the same coloured sand in Qatar, that’s why we were attracted to go down to the beach,’ Patrick C. Manahat said. The Bondi surf patrol sign warning swimmers to avoid the beach’s notorious rips by swimming between the flags left swimmers wondering which flags they should aim for. Hundreds of the youthful visitors took to the chilly water, joining the regular crowd of local wetsuit-clad surfers. Kerri Hickey, an 18-year-old from the eastern US state of New Jersey, said she wanted to be able to say she had swum at one of the world’s most famous beaches. “We come from the Atlantic coast, so we wanted to be able to say we had swum in the Pacific Ocean,” she added. “The water is clean, but it is very cold.” Locals in their jackets and hats gazed in wonder at the swimmers. “They don’t feel the cold obviously, I’m freezing,’ said 85-year-old Bondi resident Lilian Selby while strolling the beach front. But she welcomed the influx of life to the beach, which is usually left to the surfers, joggers and seagulls in winter. “I think it’s wonderful. It’s great to have people coming down here and they are all very well behaved,” she said.

At a park next to the beach, Franciscan monks wearing their simple brown habits with ropes tied around the waist scurried to set up a rock concert to be held late in the day. ‘I’ve never done anything like this before,” admitted Sydney friar Mario Debattista, pointing out that the friars’ main line of work is helping the poor. “But we have Stan performing later.” Stan Fortuna is a Franciscan friar from New York, who spreads the Christian message through rap and jazz music. The relatively unworldly Franciscans aren’t totally ignorant of the powers of merchandising. T-shirts are on sale with “I attended an Aussie WYD event…” on the front. On the back is written: “and had a Franciscan good time”.

The Franciscan Community – led concert is coined “Come into the Waters” as a vocation drive for the youth were hundreds of Friars from the Franciscan Order showed up —Capuchins, Conventuals, Regulars, Franciscan Friars of the Renewel–you name it, they were all there in the name of St. Francis… When it comes to music and joy, Franciscans does it better!