3 Million Communion Hosts and 4,000 Eucharistic Ministers

TORONTO, JULY 18, 2002 (Zenit.org).- World Youth Day 2002 is a logistical feat by any measure, and the numbers show it.

The following figures were made available by the organizers of the July 23-28 event.

Catecheses

--129 Catholic churches and 7 halls at Exhibition Place.
--more than 500 bishops, archbishops and cardinals involved.
--3,000 helpers (music, liturgy, organization).
--24 languages.

Sacrament of reconciliation, in Duc in Altum Park (Coronation Park)

--200 priests available at any given time; 1,000 priests in all.
--3 main languages (English, French and Spanish) with many others at specific times.

Youth festival

--3,000 participating from 35 countries.
--173 groups performing at 320 performances.
--10 stages (along with Downsview and 5 Toronto parks).
--30 seminars, 10 prayer experiences, 300 vocational or service group exhibits, 10 cultural gatherings (for example, Polish and Asian)
--event size to range from 100 to 15,000.

Liturgical needs (for the whole week in Toronto)

--hosts: 3 million.
--liters of Mass wine: 752.
--priests participating: 2,000.
--bishops, archbishops and cardinals participating: 500.
--ciboria used to distribute Communion: 4,000.
--eucharistic ministers: 4,000.
--choir members and performers: 700.
--lectors and other ministers: 500.

The WYD cross in Canada

--has visited all 72 Catholic dioceses.
--traveled 42,000 kilometers (26,040 miles) by air (prop and jet), road, boat, snowmobile, foot and even dog sled.
--has gone as far west as Whitehorse, Yukon, and as far east as Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland, and as far north as Inuvik, Northwest Territories, at the 67th parallel.
--visited more than 350 cities, towns and villages.
--visited the World Trade Center site in New York on Feb. 24-25.
--carried 545 kilometers (337 miles) on foot from Montreal to Toronto by 20 Portageurs from April 28 to June 9. Thousands joined them along the route.

Social service

--60 participating agencies.
--100,000 pilgrims will participate. Each will spend three hours on a project for a total of 300,000 hours of service.
--750 projects varying in participation size from 10 to 5,000.

Toronto accommodation

--260 schools will house 83,000 pilgrims.
--15,000 homes will take in 35,000 pilgrims.
--200 other centers (armories, retreat centers, community centers)
--12,000 rooms in 150 hotels.

Operations

--100 kilometers (62 miles) of crowd-management materials (fencing, rope and post, etc.).
--21 video screens.
--papal Mass stage is 40,000 square feet and has space for 1,300 people.
--papal Mass crowd area equivalent to 180 football fields (250-plus acres).
--papal Mass site will have 30 acres of portable toilet compounds.
--10,000 radios.
--5,000 walkie-talkies.
--2,000 cell phones.
--150 kilometers of cable.
--1,000 speakers.
--60 tractor-trailer loads of scaffolding, for stages and towers.
--7,500 portable toilets; 110 physically challenged units and 1,500 urinals.
--750,000 rolls of toilet paper.

Volunteers

--25,000 providing 8 million hours of service, with representatives from all Canadian Catholic dioceses and all continents.
--350 volunteers will help with catechesis involving L'Arche (for the developmentally disabled).
--34,000 days of training.
--200 job descriptions.
--500 groups taking part.

Transportation

--175 wheelchair vehicles will be used.
--3,300 motor coaches in Canada -- WYD will be using half of them.
--15,000 school bus vehicles in Ontario -- all available capacity to be used
--500 buses coming from London, Ontario, and 500 from Montreal.
--5,000-7,000 buses from the United States.
--TTC -- rush hour service 18 hours/day for the entire system; subway to be run 20.5 hours a day at full capacity.
--GO Trains -- Lakeshore line (Oshawa to Burlington) -- enhanced service.
--Toronto Pearson International Airport -- use available capacity.
--Hamilton International Airport -- use as required.

Days in the diocese (July 18-21)

--35 of Canada's 72 dioceses (Church territorial areas) participating.
--40,000 visitors registered to attend. Largest receiving dioceses are Montreal and London with 11,000 each.

Food and water (provided by Compass Group)

--3.5 million meals served.
--90 minutes per meal period to feed participants.
--15,000 meals served at each meal period at each tent.
--160,000 square feet of service tents.
--9,392 feet of service tables.
--320 garbage bins at food-service pavilions.
--2.6 million 500-milliliter bottles of water served.
--2 million individual-sized packets of salt.
--1.5 million apples served.
--1 million panini buns.
--200,000 cans of tuna.
--200,000 packets of dry fruit mix.
--200,000 turkey and Swiss cheese sandwiches.
--134,000 pounds of ham and sausage jambalaya.
--30 forklifts.
--100 percent of daily nutritional requirements.
--5,000 WYD food-service volunteers.
--700 Compass Group food-service managers.

Pilgrim bags

--350,000 manufactured.
--100 tractor-trailers for delivery. They weigh 337,500 pounds (15,340 kilograms).
--35,000 hours to pack the bags.
--15,000 boxes to hold all the bags.
--1,500 skids to hold the boxes.

Health services

--5 field hospitals and 12 first-aid units at Downsview Lands.
--1 field hospital and 4 first-aid units at Exhibition Place.
--More than 1,000 medical volunteers, EMS crews, and first-aid personnel.
--1,970,400 square centimeters of dressing and 7,800 bandages.

Media

--3,700 members of the media from 38 countries.
--800 media outlets represented.