Kevin Bonko ’17 has sat with 40,000 fans at Cleveland’s 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.
Two million people. From 200 nations.
“It will be crazy,” Bonko says. “It will be unreal.”
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.
Bonko is a mechanical engineering major and director of student communications for Rochester’s Catholic Newman Community. He’ll be traveling to Poland with Father Brian Cool, the Newman director, and students Gibran Mangui ’16, and John Rossiter ’19.
They’ll be joined in Poland by David Morse ’06 and his wife, Kat Abejuela Morse ’06. Cool and his group will stay at the home of Karol Grzymianin, who studied briefly at Rochester, and Grzymianin’s wife, Anna.
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.
“It’s a great event, and a chance to see the Pope,” he says.
“There’s lots of excitement and enthusiasm about the trip,” Bonko says. “Seeing everyone from all of those nations united in one faith will be pretty awesome.”
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.
