Kevin Bonko \u201917 has sat with 40,000 fans at Cleveland\u2019s Progressive Field to watch his hometown Indians play the New York Yankees. But he has never been in a crowd like the one that awaits him in Krakow, Poland, this coming week.<\/p>\n
Two million people. From 200 nations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be crazy,\u201d Bonko says. \u201cIt will be unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The occasion is World Youth Day, which runs from July 25-31. Pope Francis chose Krakow as the site three years ago and is expected to arrive there on July 28, where he will deliver his welcome address at a prayer service.<\/p>\n
Bonko is a mechanical engineering major and director of student communications for Rochester\u2019s Catholic Newman Community. He\u2019ll be traveling to Poland with Father Brian Cool, the Newman director, and students Gibran Mangui \u201916, and John Rossiter \u201919.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll be joined in Poland by David Morse \u201906 and his wife, Kat Abejuela Morse \u201906. Cool and his group will stay at the home of Karol Grzymianin, who studied briefly at Rochester, and Grzymianin\u2019s wife, Anna.<\/p>\n
World Youth Day is an event for young people organized every few years by the Catholic Church. It was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985 and emphasizes the unity and presence of diverse cultures sharing the same faith. Cool has taken groups of students to Rome, Toronto, and Cologne, Germany, for World Youth Day events, but this is his first trip to World Youth Day in 11 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great event, and a chance to see the Pope,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s lots of excitement and enthusiasm about the trip,\u201d Bonko says. \u201cSeeing everyone from all of those nations united in one faith will be pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cool and his students will stay in Europe an extra week after World Youth Day, exploring Poland, including the Auschwitz concentration camp, as well as Hungary and Slovakia.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Student members and alumni of the Newman Community will join a crowd of two million people from 200 nations, where Pope Francis will deliver a welcome address at a prayer service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":672,"featured_media":172652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18612,9506],"class_list":["post-172602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-announcements","tag-interfaith-chapel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n