It’s amongst the gnarled grey arms of Morton Bay Figs, their waxy green light speckling bearded faces, that Judas will lay one coercive kiss on Jesus. He’ll be judged on the sandstone steps by a gang of robed elders intent on his persecution; and, replete with thorny crown, he’ll be nailed upon the cross – at the Imax. Or Star City; details remain unclear.

In fact, many details regarding World Youth Day (WYD) remain unclear. It is clear that the event launches, as the prodigious digital alarm clock at the doors of St Mary’s Cathedral has reminded Sydney for over a year, July 15. Also, Pope Benedict XVI is sure to arrive from Watsons Bay to Darling Harbour via an enormous flotilla; an entry significantly more expensive than the more pedestrian Popemobile preferred traditionally. And, a major performance of the Stations of the Cross, Catholicism’s central symbolic motif, is to be performed across a number of iconic Sydney sites.

Little else about the extraordinarily ambitious event could be considered quite as clear. The cost, for example, and just who’s expected to foot the bill. Councillor Chris Harris says that the City of Sydney Council was briefed by organisers over what they’d need some weeks ago. “We had a briefing from the people from World Youth Day, and the attitude that came across to me was, ‘We’re going to put on this event, and here’s a list of what we require. Now, you guys hop to it.’ Nobody else operates like that,” says Councillor Harris.

And what, exactly, was it that the organisers of the exclusively Catholic religious festival did require? “They wouldn’t give us a print out,” said Councillor Harris, “But the figure that was bandied around there was $3.5 million. Well, we spent $1.3 million on APEC.” Sydney Council was handed responsibility for cleaning, providing venues like Customs House and the City Recital Hall, and in an unorthodox move, the printing and installation of banners advertising the event.

Exact costing of WYD, and in particular the cost to the State Government, has been withheld under freedom of information legislation up to this point. The most recent estimates place the cost of the event at around $150 million for the taxpayers, with State Government expected to provide strapped and jackbooted officers to line the streets, stretch and overstretch ambulance services waiting on inevitable misadventure, hector residents to take rural vacations, and redirect sleep-deprived commuters by their thousands.

“We’ve really dug deep for this, and in the context of other things we’ve done, we’ve really got to question whether this is the right thing to do." Councillor Harris intones. “I don’t deny them the right to do it, I don’t deny them the city of Sydney’s support, but in the same way we offer support to any other festival.”

Originally, in a similar arrangement to any other festival, World Youth Day was to be held at Sydney’s dedicated concrete and Astroturf playground, Homebush Bay, where a number of facilities are already in place. Organisers decided that Randwick and Darling Harbour provided more temperate climes in the harsh Sydney winter, and relocated – despite the extra $40 million it would cost.

There’s been little fuss about the rearrangements, however. Councillor Harris, in perhaps an isolated voice of dissent, asks “I’m just posing the question: would we be as generous, and it’s the taxpayers' money we’re talking about here, and we’ve got individual ministers who are members of that religion who are gung-ho in support of it, would they be so supportive of another religion?”

Despite the cost, supporters of WYD point out that it is an event of extraordinary cultural significance. 125,000 pilgrims from across the globe are expected to bring their Christian selves (and dollars) into the Harbour city. At this stage, however, this too remains uncertain. Less than one tenth have actually applied for visas, and only 83 volunteers from a necessary 2000 have actually stepped up. And will there be any money coming back in to the community from the festival? “I did ask some questions about their projected surplus, but they answered very quickly that there won’t be a surplus,” says Councillor Harris.

President of the Atheist Foundation of Australia, David Nichols, suggests why the turnout has been, thus far, less than miraculous; “This is an attempt to bolster the ranks. They really don’t know what they’re doing, it’s so silly.” Promotional material for the event depicts glowing, tumbling and mussed red-headed children completely ecstatic, and describes the event as a ‘reflection of the vibrancy the youth are bringing to the Church from every corner of the earth.’

Nichols, unsurprisingly, holds a different opinion. “If there was really a concern for youth, the Catholic Church, and all other religions, would stop indoctrinating children, as it is a well known fact that indoctrination works. Children who are not indoctrinated and are presented a world view that is very broad tend not to end up being religious.” Obviously frustrated with the uncritical acceptance of religious festivity, he continues, “Its really ludicrous that the governments keep supporting these organisations when all they want to do is brainwash children and control society for what they think should be going on.”

Regardless, it remains certain that Sydney will grind to a standstill for six days this July, and the Blackhawk helicopters will return while Jesus, or a bearded Sydneysider at least, lumbers his cross to Darling Harbour. So what does the President of the Atheist Foundation suggest that young people disillusioned with the tone of World Youth Day do in order to take their stand? “Go down the beach.”

Image courtesy of  fotografX.org

Licensed under Creative Commons