The Detroit Archdiocese alone sent at least 640 people to Sydney Australia for the 2008 World Youth Day. A group from Monroe and others from across the state also traveled the 9500 miles to attend the liturgy with Pope Benedict and accompanying festivities. Most spent the week before the festival camping out in tents in a "global village" with young people from countries around the world. Temperatures dipped below freezing, which may have been harder on attendees from more temperate climates.

See full article in The Michigan Catholic

Meanwhile, a crowd of young people from Catholic churches in Detroit, Gaylord, Lansing, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids attended a stand-in local conference organized in Sidney, Ohio, as detailed in the Toledo Blade.