CATHOLIC World Youth Day pilgrims are one of the most well-behaved groups of young people police have seen.

"I've
never seen a crowd like this, it's even better than an Olympic crowd,"
New South Wales police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said today.

"Hundreds of thousands of young people moving through the city not
affected by drugs and alcohol has been such a wonderful experience.

"It just shows what can happen when you have people who aren't affected by alcohol."

You're not picking up the bodies and hosing down the streets in the morning for a start. 

And it's not just the police who are happy - Sydneysiders have caught the enthusiasm and joy of our visitors, and our visitors too, have enjoyed Sydney's hospitality.  From one blog, an American pilgrim writes:

Really, the city of Sydney has been amazing!  Everywhere you turn in
the city there is a band performing or people gathered.  It is so
exciting and beautiful to witness the faith of all these people
gathered in this city.  The city is bursting with energy and I can’t
say enough about the great Aussie people we have met.  They are willing
to answer any questions, point us in the right direction or get us back
on the right path.  The overall impression I get from our group is one
of excitement.  Yesterday, I kept overhearing talk of being amazed at
the size of the crowd and how much they loved being around all the
groups from different parts of the world.  It’s hard to describe unless
you can truly experience it.

Another:

Everyone
was in such good spirits, continuing to sing, to cheer with each other,
and to learn more about our brothers and sisters from other nations.
We've been blessed with beautiful weather this whole time. The people
of Sydney continue to be gracious and generous as they host us in their
city.

But there's one consistently bad note: the negative Australian press. 

Not all of it mind, but you can guess the usual suspects.  And it's also been noted by our visitors on their blogs, and those of the religious press.

From the NCR blog :

Well, it appears that not all of the negativity has died down. At
this morning's press conference,  one reporter asked a series of
questions regarding the background checks done on those religious
working in the vocation expo. Danny Casey, the chief operating officer
of WYD, assured the reporter that the proper checks had taken place.

The reporter wanted to know if WYD would take immediate action if
someone were shown to have impropriety in their past. Casey assured him
that they would.

Everyone here is expecting an investigative story to try to tarnish WYD by finding some "dirt" on a vocation expo participant.

So, just when there was hope we had rounded the corner, it looks like it might be otherwise.

Now our media has made the international mainstream press in its own right.  From The Times of London:

You would have to be hard hearted not to be moved by so many young people
singing their hearts out affirming their acceptance of the Pope’s demanding
invitation to follow Christ. Yet hard hearted is exactly the quality that
has characterised the Australian media coverage leading up to the event. The
city’s leading daily, the Sydney Morning Herald, has for weeks
been pursuing an agenda highlighting the civic disruption, the cost to the
taxpayer and a whole host of local concerns summed up in the headline ‘The
Stations of the Very Cross.’ In parallel, the national TV channel, ABC, led
a concerted attack on Cardinal Pell, with ‘Lateline’ (think Newsnight)
running negative stories about his alleged mishandling of cases of clerical
abuse. All the perpetrators had gone to jail but the Cardinal was still in
the firing line from the victims or their families. Insensitive remarks by
church spokesmen prolonged the agony. This coverage had become so negative
by the weekend before the Pope’s arrival, that The Australian ran a leading
article saying that the Sydney Morning Herald and the ABC were guilty
of ‘squalid myopia’, urging Australians to be proud of hosting WYD in
Sydney. Surprisingly, the BBC correspondent in Australia appears to be
following the ABC agenda, so BBC reports are heavily weighted towards the
clerical abuse agenda. Stunning images of joyful young people lining Sydney
harbour were accompanied by a commentary on clerical abuse.

The Sydneysiders themselves have greeted the young with warmth and delight, so
eventually the Sydney Morning Herald has run feel good headlines. But
the experience of those of us simultaneously watching the events and the
media is not just how different the reports are to the event. Rather, I am
left with a feeling that while the young are full of energetic hope,
bringing soul to one of the world’s great cities, the Australian hierarchy
is struggling to cope with its detractors. The Pope will sail through this
but how will the local church be when the Pope and the pilgrims have left?
The youth will have been deeply affirmed in their faith, for sure, and I
pray that the same will be true for the Australian Catholic Church.

P.S. A tidbit about the Stations of the Cross:

The unpopular figure of Judas was played by 18-year old Chehade Richa,
chosen specifically because he is handsome and the church wanted to
remind young people that evil can present an attractive face.

WYD08 official site
WYD08 video
Sydney based eBenedict