Global Catholicism, Urban Heritage, National Politics: The 2016 World Youth Day in Kraków (original) (raw)
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The organization of numerous religious mass events of international, or even global, reach is a phenomenon of the early 21st century. It is sometimes termed "eventization of faith". This article presents a multifaceted analysis of the initial stage of the World Youth Day in 2016, which took place in the Archdiocese of Łódź (Poland). While multiple scholarly publications have been written about World Youth Day (WYD) itself, its first part of preparatory nature, the so-called "Days in Dioceses", has not been studied yet. The authors of this paper used a wide array of research methods, such as participant observation, questionnaire (official statistics concerning 10,000 pilgrims), pilot survey (258 respondents), and analysis of media reports (over 100 films and 30 articles). The analysis of the organizational method of such a major religious event leads to a conclusion that it is a complex logistic undertaking, which requires professional preparation and implementation by a team of specialists in different fields as well as an army of deeply involved volunteers and public services employees. Over 10.2 thousand young pilgrims (mostly at the age of 15-29) participated in the youth meeting in the Archdiocese of Łódź; apart from spiritual motives (strengthening faith, meeting Pope Francis, following in the footsteps of St. John Paul II) they exhibited strong social (willingness to be in the community of believers, making new friends), recreational and tourist (visiting Poland) needs as well. In view of the hermetic and low-budget character of World Youth Day, its impact on the economy of the region was deemed negligible. Above all, the event played a promotional and image-building part, which perhaps in the years to come will result in an increase in visits of foreign tourists to Łódź.
Journal of Intercultural Management
Objective: The World Youth Day (the WYD) with about 3 million Catholics from all over the world participating directly in a single place and time is one of the biggest and most spectacular projects organized on regular basis by the Catholic Church since more than 30 years ago. From the perspective of management sciences, we presented the WYD as an example of a very large organisational event which requires the people who execute it to display managerial skills adequate for managing megaevents. The research problem that we pondered concerns what made the WYD, as a particular type of project – a large-scale religious event - successful. Methodology: We conducted an in-depth analysis of the literature and the study of the organ-isation and execution of the World Youth Day held in Cracow in between 25 and 31 July 2016. The combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods was selected: desk research analysis, in-depth individual interviews and partly categorised quantitative ...
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The purpose of this article is to recognize the assessment of Cracow from the perspective of the residents and tourists a year after a religious event, the 2016 World Youth Day (2016WYD). Bearing in mind that the image of a city is created by an individual and their socio-demographic features, ones that differentiate the assessment of the city were identified and their direction and strength were highlighted. It was also checked whether the assessment of the city declared by tourists (the experimental group) was different from the assessment of the residents (the control group). Analogically, significant differences were recognized between the tourists and residents who took part in 2016WYD; tourists who participated and did not participate in 2016WYD, and also the residents who participated and did not participate in 2016WYD. Theoretical considerations relating to the city, its recipients and mega-events were conducted on the basis of subject literature review. In the statistical p...
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Mass religious events are often an unprecedented tourist opportunity. A clear example was the meeting of Pope Francis with more than three million young people in July 2016 in Krakow, on the occasion of the 31st World Youth Day. Although it was a mainly religious event, the experience of past editions (for example, Madrid 2011 and Rio de Janeiro 2013) shows the strong impact of WYD on the local tourism and hospitality industry. The official website of such event becomes an informative point of reference and a crossroads where the needs of the users and the offer of the promoters meet. This study analyzes the official website of the WYD Krakow 2016 as a source to promote religious touristic sites.
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Experts are very divided about whether religions have helped or hindered the latest step towards globalization. While archive-based studies tracking the relationships between religions and globalization remain scarce, this article aims to contribute to this conversation through a historical inquiry into Word Youth Days (WYDs), global religious festivals organized by the Catholic Church every two or three years since 1984. Reviewing the documentation spread in seven of the eight countries where WYDs were held during John Paul II's pontificate, the author argues that these mega-events, embedded in the globalization process, were an attempt to make globalization more inclusive. According to Mercier, Catholicism remain a globalizing force in the contemporary era.
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In this paper I will present two empirical examples of the relationship between religious and national narrative in local contexts. These cases come from a research project devoted to local memory milieu from central Poland . Of the several local communities surveyed, two were selected to be described here: Radzymin and Kałków-Godów. Both places have become known throughout the country - the first as a place of annual state celebrations, and the second as a nationwide place of pilgrimage, which is visited by about 800,000 pilgrims a year. Although religious and national elements closely intertwine in memory narratives of both places, vernacular memory is placed differently in them. In the first case, it is a central element of the national narrative and the local memory community presents itself as the guardians of the nation's memory and guardians of the Catholic faith. In the second case, vernacular memory was absorbed by the narrative of the suffering of the entire nation and is recognized only by the local community.
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Polish People in the Eyes of the World Youth Day Krakow 2016 Participants
The World Youth Day is a phenomenal meeting. It has a diverse, sometimes extraordinary and surprising course. In this section, we would like to show how the meeting of many cultures was organised during the World Youth Day in Cracow. Namely, it resulted in certain perceptions or changes in perceptions on both hosts and pilgrims, as well as perceptions and opinions on Poland as the venue of the event. In our opinion, the surveys enabled us to capture the phenomenon of the meeting, particularly the essence of perceptions that it evoked. What do participants of these events think about us? How did foreign pilgrims perceive Poland as the venue of the World Youth Day? Finally, how pilgrims and the World Youth Day event were perceived by Polish people, the participants of meetings and the inhabitants of Cracow?