Young Catholics literally can expect a mountaintop experience at the massive World Youth Day scheduled to take place Wednesday through Aug. 15 in Denver.

The biennial gathering will draw hundreds of thousands of youths, plus their bishops, to the Mile-High City in the Rockies to learn more about their faith and meet Pope John Paul II — as well as each other.

“This will give them a taste of what it means to be ‘catholic,’ in the sense of a universal church,” says the Rev. Jose Espino, delegation organizer for the Archdiocese of Miami. “They’ll experience something that most people never get in their lives.”

Indeed: About 70 nations will be represented, with some events conducted in French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese and Portuguese as well as in English. Formally, 185,000 Catholics from 13 to 39 are registered to attend, including 317 from South Florida’s two dioceses. But given American mobility and youths’ willingness to “rough it” — as well as the fact that this will John Paul’s first U.S. visit since 1987 — some organizers expect many more to show up unregistered.

With the theme of the Bible verse John 10:10 — in which Jesus says, “I am come that they might have life, and have it abundantly” — the ritual- intensive event will include prayer and teaching groups, two vigils and a Way of the Cross ceremony at the Civic Center Park. That last will be a series of meditations based on Jesus’ sufferings on the day of the crucifixion.

Twice the pope will celebrate the Mass with the youths: once at the 210- foot-tall Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and then at Cherry Creek State Park. Conference organizers anticipate a quarter-million worshipers at the cathedral alone.

John Paul’s intensive three days in Denver also will include a music festival, a meeting with President Clinton, an audience with Vietnamese Catholics and a pastoral visit to a children’s home.

South Florida’s two prelates, Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy of the Miami Archdiocese and Bishop J. Keith Symons of the Palm Beach Diocese, will join some 350 fellow bishops accompanying their own diocesan delegations.

McCarthy says he hopes the gathering will give the youths “strength and recommitment to lives of faith. They’ll have not just entertainment, but opportunities to discuss the meaning of the faith.”

The conferees will be asked to make “some sacrifices” for the events, the archbishop says. They will be expected to walk to any event less than two miles from their hotel rooms. And on Aug. 14, they’ll be asked to make a walking pilgrimage to the papal vigil at Cherry Creek State Park, which is 12 miles from downtown Denver.

Then there are the sleeping accommodations. With hotels expected to be filled, conference organizers are creating impromptu dorms for the overflow, including a livestock show arena and a four-level parking garage.

Symons laughingly notes that his young charges already have dubbed the World Youth Day events as “On the Slope with the Pope” and “Mass on the Grass.” Still, he says, he wants them to understand the events’ importance.

“We’ve tried to put it into the context of a pilgrimage, a trip with a purpose,” he says. “This ought to be a special time to meet with (the pope). I hope they will get a sense of the universality of the church.”

The World Youth Day rallies — which despite the name, were planned to be several days long — began almost by happenstance. In 1984 John Paul invited young Catholics to the Vatican for Palm Sunday. To his amazement, tens of thousands of young people showed up over four days — 300,000 from 40 countries, by one estimate, including 26 Japanese Buddhists.

The pope extended the same invitation for two years after that. Then he began biennial celebrations in various countries, drawing even more youths: nearly a million in 1987 in Argentina, 600,000 in Spain in 1989, 1.5 million in his birth nation of Poland in 1991.

As with other big conventions, the hawkers will be out in force in Denver. The World Youth Day committee has franchised more than 100 souvenirs with renderings of the pope on pencils, T-shirts, fanny packs, coffee cups and other items. The conferees did turn down some items, like the John Paul lawn sprinkler last seen during his 1987 U.S. tour.

Meanwhile, 250 somewhat more timeless items — including mosaics, paintings by the likes of Rubens and a replica of Michelangelo’s Pieta sculpture — will be on display through Aug. 31 in the “Vatican Treasures” traveling exhibition at Denver’s Colorado History Museum.

The youths will be doers as well as learners: For three days preceding the formal conference, there will be an International Forum of some 250 young Catholic leaders. The gathering, held at nearby Regis University, will be a United Nations-style meeting on world problems as they relate to the church.

The serious side meshes with current Catholic notions of youth ministry. Two decades ago, it meant luring kids in with a dance or basketball game or a “social.” While parishes haven’t given up those tried-and-true tactics, today they are just as apt to recruit the young as lectors, Eucharistic ministers, even catechism teachers.

“We want to educate them as adult leaders, show them how to take part in the life of the broader church,” says Sister Jude Ruggeri, who is in charge of World Youth Day preparations for the Palm Beach Diocese. “Obviously, (the young) are capable of doing many things.”

— Religion Writer Ken Swart contributed to this report.

FEATURED ACTS

Music — ethnic, rich and varied — will be a big South Florida contribution to the World Youth Day events in Denver next week. Of the dozens of music groups to perform in Denver, four will be from this area. They include:

— Sounds of the Son, a young adult band from Miami, specializing in Christian contemporary music.

— Rejoice, a Miami Hispanic group that plays rock and salsa.

— 1Way, a Christian hip hop band from West Palm Beach.

— A handbell choir of 18 Vietnamese children from Sacred Heart parish in Lake Worth.

The handbell choir will perform at a special gathering of Vietnamese Catholics, according to the Rev. Peter Van Nguyen of Sacred Heart. The priest will accompany on a synthesizer as the 10,000 Vietnamese sing the patriotic song Vietnam, Vietnam for Pope John Paul II.

— South Florida youths unable to travel to Denver won’t be neglected either. Anywhere from 500 to 1,000 are expected at an overnight rally and vigil at Saint John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. That gathering will include three local music groups and discussions of the conference theme, “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly,” from John 10:10 in the Bible.

— Also available will be a large-screen television, allowing the local youths to see live coverage of the Denver events by the Catholic-owned Eternal Word Television Network.

— JAMES D. DAVIS