On the Road to World Youth Day: Price-Gouging and Martyrdom

The November 2 issue of our local Colorado Catholic Herald had quite a story on the front page: All about how airlines and Sydney hotels have finally grasped the potential motherlode that is World Youth Day and have suddenly doubled their prices.

Which left pilgrims from my diocese stranded. Because United airlines (who with Qantas has an effective cartel on travel between the US and Australia) canceled the diocese's existing reservations and then offered a new rate - at nearly double the price.

Has your diocese been wrestling with something similar?

One fascinating result:

The diocese found a way to keep the overall price the same by scheduling a two night stay in Seoul, Korea on the way to Australia! The Archbishop of Seoul has been very welcoming and pilgrims will have a chance to learn something about the extraordinary history of Catholicism in Korea.

Catholicism was brought to Korea by lay scholars who first encountered the faith in China and has endured many decades of fierce persecution and priestlessness in the past. Today, the Church is growing faster in South Korea than almost anywhere else while Christians in North Korea live under the most terrible persecution in the world.

For more on the Catholic Church in Korea, go here, here, here, and here.