NEW YORK — First there was Pope Day. Now there is Birth Day. The Holy Father's fans cannot be sated.

Both “days” are organized by New York young adults responding to Pope John Paul II's call at World Youth Day in Toronto last summer for Catholics to be “the light of the world and the salt of the earth.” Pope Day was held Oct. 18 to celebrate the 24th anniversary of John Paul's election. Birth Day is scheduled for May 18, the Holy Father's 83rd birthday.

The event, scheduled for the Sunday after Mother's Day, will have a decidedly pro-life theme, celebrating not only the Holy Father's birthday but birth in general. It is scheduled to take place in Bryant Park along Manhattan's 42nd Street, a few blocks from Times Square. The schedule opens with an outdoor Mass and closes with an attempt to break the world record for the most lighted candles on a cake.

In between, short talks will be given on natural family planning, the work of crisis-pregnancy centers and the beauty of giving birth. Literature on these topics and John Paul's writings will be offered to passers-by. For children, there will be storytelling, clowns and face painting. A “holy happy hour” is planned for young adults at the park's outdoor café. Jazz and rock groups and a church choir will provide live music.

“There's something for all ages,” said Peter McFadden, the chief organizer of both Pope Day and Birth Day. “We're engaged in soft-sell, positive evangelization in the heart of the city.”

He plans to hold Birth Day annually on the Sunday after Mother's Day whether or not it falls on the Holy Father's birthday.

Dorothy Dugandzic, who promotes natural family planning through her St. Augustine Foundation in Yonkers, N.Y., is another organizer of the event. Her foundation is providing natural family planning literature and arranged for a pregnant woman to speak about the joys of bringing new life into the world.

“I really like this event's energy and appeal,” Dugandzic said. “I think the birthday cake will attract a lot of young people. This is the way to promote the faith through positive involvement.”

McFadden said the logistics of making and baking a 2-by-5-foot cake has been the most difficult part of planning the event. “We haven’t been able to find a baker to make it for us, so we're going to do it ourselves,” he said.

McFadden is co-founder of a Manhattan young adult group that three years ago began studying John Paul's book Love and Responsibility on male and female relationships, marriage and procreation. First published in 1960, the book is based on the Pope's pastoral experience with couples when he was a priest in Poland. It identifies self-surrender in imitation of Jesus as the basis of all true love and warns against using other people as a means to an end.

Inspired by the book, the Love and Responsibility group has gone on to other writings by the Holy Father and seeks ways to spread the message among their peers.

October's Pope Day was observed in 22 cities in six countries, McFadden said. After he and other New Yorkers came up with the idea at World Youth Day in Toronto, word of the event spread via the Internet. An international network of Catholic young adults was formed.

Birth Day was conceived even as plans for Pope Day were finalized. Thus far, McFadden said, the New York event is the only observance planned, though he hopes the concept also will spread to other cities.

“We have Earth Day in which we celebrate the earth,” he said. “Now we have Birth Day in which we celebrate birth. Birth is the ultimate creative act and the greatest gift that anyone can receive.”

Sister Mary Grace, a member of the Sisters of Life and director of pro-life activities for the Archdiocese of New York, called Birth Day “a neat idea, truly inspired.”

“We are giving this our complete support,” she said. “It is a great vehicle to promote the Gospel of Life by celebrating birth.”

McFadden's group also conducts pre-Cana engagement and marriage programs at Our Saviour Church and sponsors a rosary pilgrimage from the midtown church on the first Saturday of each month.

Father George Rutler, pastor of Our Saviour who also appears on the Eternal Word Television Network, said the group is a model for lay people seeking to serve the Church and have an impact on society.

“As a pastor, I have to say that it's refreshing to have so many young people coming up with ideas and putting them into effect,” Father Rutler said. “They are active and they have the mind of the Church. I think it's significant that these are young people supporting the Church, while so many graying hippies from dissident movements are just making a lot of noise and stirring up trouble.”

Working in the heart of New York, the abortion and secular media capital, can be discouraging, McFadden said. Yet he thinks ranting in the public square would turn people off and be self-defeating.

“We realize the overall culture in New York is sick in many ways, but what's the best response?" he asked. “I think the program the Holy Father lays out is to engage the culture in a positive way. Our message is beautiful, our faith is beautiful, our Church is beautiful. The beauty of Christ is stronger than any darkness of the culture. We hope to present these truths in a way that will inspire people to take a deeper look.”

Stephen Vincent writes from Wallingford, Connecticut.