Join S+L’s pilgrimage to World Youth Day Krakow…digitally!

Salt + Light Media

Thursday, July 7, 2016

World Youth Day Krakow is just three weeks away, and here at Salt and Light we’re kicking it into high gear. The World Youth Days are our bread and butter—S+L grew out of WYD Toronto in 2002—and we’ll be on the ground in Krakow and in the studio in Toronto to bring you wall-to-wall coverage of the week’s festivities.

The general rule for World Youth Day is: don’t try to control everything and expect the unexpected. Deadlines are always tight and no one is entirely sure what’s happening until it happens. As frustrating as that can be from a broadcasting point of view, it’s also part of the magic of the event, and when embraced, yields incredible and unforgettable experiences—kind of like life!

Still, there’s a certain template for the whole week and it’s worth noting so that you, our viewers and followers, know what we’re trying to accomplish through our coverage. Over the coming weeks we’ll be posting all kinds of fun and useful information about World Youth Day Krakow to help you get in the spirit and prepare for your pilgrimage with us.

First, a word about this digital pilgrimage. We understand that most of the participants at World Youth Day won’t be travelling to Krakow. Instead you’ll be following from home, with your friends and fellow parishioners, in youth groups and other community settings. This too can be a wonderful pilgrimage experience! It’s our job to bring World Youth Day to you, so rest assured that is our top priority.

Now, let’s look at the basic skeleton of the week and what you can expect from S+L’s coverage. Here’s what we know so far…

From Tuesday, July 26 to Sunday July 31 there are three things happening simultaneously, all of which factor into our coverage:

The official World Youth Day events with Pope Francis: Thursday’s welcome ceremony, Friday’s Way of the Cross, Saturday night’s prayer vigil, and Sunday’s final Mass

Apostolic journey of Pope Francis to Poland: This includes meetings with the President of Poland, a meeting with the Polish Bishops, visits to Czestochowa, Auschwitz and Birkenau, and a meeting with the WYD volunteers.

Extensive S+L coverage: Our team will be on the ground in Krakow to bring you the experience of WYD, stories of pilgrims from around the globe, as well as the Polish church. We’ll be working closely with the Tauron Arena, known during WYD as “the Mercy Center” which is the primary catechesis site for English-speaking pilgrims. Thanks to the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus for sponsoring the arena! All of this will be put together in a daily 30-minute show airing Monday to Saturday called “World Youth Day Central” in English and in French beginning at 7:00pm ET (English: 7:00-7:30pm, and French: 7:30-8:00pm).

All of the major public events with Pope Francis will be aired LIVE on our TV network (see below), and streamed online. We’ll also be telling stories and posting videos and pictures to our comprehensive WYD page: WYDcentral.org, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtags #WYD2016 and #Krakow2016. So be sure to follow us!

We will also air the catecheses from the Mercy Center; specific times are still to be determined, but we’ll let you know asap!

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