The largest indoor entertainment and sports venue in Poland was the place where young people from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and Australia listened to catecheses by their bishops, testimonies and talks by evangelists, and concerts of contemporary Christian music, and on some days also took part in Holy Mass and the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. At the end there was a solemn Mass with many bishops of the USA taking part.

Our Center was entrusted with responsibility for the liturgical preparation of the Mercy Centre during the Kraków week of WYD. The centre was located in the Tauron Arena in Czyżyny. The preparations included setting up the sacristy – that is, the paraments, vestments and space; the decoration of the liturgical space; and the altar service during Masses and services, including the evening Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the Eucharistic procession during the Night of Mercy.

On behalf of our Center, Fr. Tomasz Grabowski OP and Michał Wsiołkowski were responsible for the event, with the help of Fr. Grzegorz Doniec OP and a group of volunteers. Every day they prepared twenty chalices, dozens of patens with hosts and a solemn altar service. The task they set themselves was to create, in the austere surroundings of a sports hall, a space of prayer that would give participants a sense of the sacred.

Thanks to attention to detail – from the proper construction and decoration of the altar, through the choice of the altar cross, to high-quality incense from the holy mountain of Athos – the goal was achieved, as confirmed by numerous testimonies of young people and of the American bishops who presided over the celebrations. The liturgical schola was led by Fr. Łukasz Miśko OP – our representative in the USA – together with Chris Muller and singers from the United States. The repertoire was based on pieces from the Niepojęta Trójco songbooks.

Our heartfelt thanks for the successful cooperation go to the Knights of Columbus and their European representative, Szymon Czyszek, as well as to Fathers Patrick Mary Briscoe OP and Joseph-Anthony Kress OP.

The shop of the Dominican Liturgical Center also opened a stand at the venue. The CD “Jesus, I Trust in You”, released specially for the occasion, and figurines of Dominican saints were very popular with the pilgrims.