Youth event too big a cross for racing industry to bear
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald says that the simple wooden cross marking the 12-month countdown to World Youth Day, Catholicism’s biggest youth gathering, has arrived in Sydney to an enthusiastic fanfare and tensions over the site of next year’s Papal Mass.
For six days in July 2008 the heart of Catholicism would briefly switch from the Vatican to Sydney, the Premier, Morris Iemma, told politicians, clergy and laity at the Qantas jet base yesterday.
But the Catholic Church was last night showing no signs of buckling to calls to compensate the racing industry for the right to transform Randwick Racecourse into Australia’s biggest outdoor cathedral.
An alternative financial benefactor may have to be found if key interested parties, including the Australian Jockey Club, Racing NSW, course trainers and Tabcorp, insist on compensation for disruptions during preparations for the spring carnival and Melbourne Cup.
World Youth Day 2008 will run from July 15, culminating in a Saturday night vigil and Sunday Mass at the racecourse that will be presided over by the Pope.
The Herald understands the church has offered to trade permanent improvements to the racetrack, including the laying of optic cables and improvements to power, water and sewage facilities, for its right to use the racecourse for 10 weeks.
But it has made clear it has not the capacity to make “substantial” payments for compensation beyond funds originally set aside to cover the cost of protecting the track.
The church is budgeting to spend at least $100 million on the event. It says no formal compensation claim has been made.
Jockey Club officials and racecourse trainers are to meet again today to discuss the impact of disruptions – assessed at $40 million – which include rescheduling three race meetings.
The co-ordinator of World Youth Day, Bishop Anthony Fisher, ruled out shifting the Papal Mass at which 500,000 pilgrims will gather, to the Olympic site, which was originally the Government’s preferred venue.
“Everybody agrees it’s the best site in Sydney,” he said.
Yesterday, the Pope assured Australian Catholics of his eager anticipation of World Youth Day 2008 in a message from his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
“His holiness is confident that, drawn ever more deeply into the life of Jesus, the young people of Australia will grow in the love of his Church, strengthening their commitment to parish life and embracing the ecclesiastical mission of spreading Christ’s Good News through their actions, words and convincing testimony.”
The Mole wonders what $100m would do for starving kids in the world – just a thought!
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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