Social Agenda Is High on Celebrants’ List : Leisure: Shopping and looking for new faces to greet are among the top activities in Denver for youths far from home.

They have flocked here to celebrate the spirit of Catholicism, but piety and reverence only go so far when you’re young and away from home.

More than 2,000 young people from the Orange County Diocese are among the tens of thousands gathered here from around the world to celebrate World Youth Day and to glimpse Pope John Paul II. But many admit--some more boldly than others--that the much-heralded religious event is also sort of a big party.

“It’s being sponsored by the Pope, and we’re here with our church leaders,” a 17-year-old from Buena Park said as he boogied on a chair to an M. C. Hammer tune. “Of course I don’t want to give my name; I don’t want the leaders to know that it’s party time! Yes! Yes! Yes!”

As he screamed the last few words, the dancing teen-ager waved his arms in the air and fell off the chair in a swoosh.

True, the delegates are here to practice religion. But around their set schedules, many have carefully carved out time to do Denver.

“Hello, I’m from Irvine, Calif.,” 21-year-old Peter Phan said, shaking hands with a group of strangers who, like him, were walking around Celebration Plaza looking for new faces to greet.

“I don’t know when there will be another time in my life when I’ll be in the same place with so many people my age,” he said.

The Orange County contingent includes more than 800 Vietnamese-Americans. World Youth Day, which ends with the Pope celebrating a Mass Sunday, was created by the Vatican to recognize and nurture the religious enthusiasm of young people worldwide.

For the last five days downtown Denver has wavered between being a place of near holiness and a social stage. Here, around their tight schedule of Mass, pilgrimage and sermons, the Catholic youth have swapped addresses and phone numbers, traipsed beneath the city lights and started some romances under watchful eyes.

“Even though we’re here for religious reasons, teen-agers are going to be teen-agers and we’re going to meet a lot of people--and sooner or later some of us are going to meet that one interesting person,” said Jesse Griffith, 16, of Huntington Beach.

Most World Youth Day participants did not stray from their group activities. They did not need to break their chaperons’ rules, they said, to have fun.

With the approval of adult supervisors, the young people--many of them away from home for the first time--explored the city.

The favorite site seemed to be the 16th Street Mall, a mile-long pedestrian plaza in the heart of Denver. They shopped to their hearts’ content in the more than 65 stores, including stalls featuring international goods and crafts.

“I’ve bought so much, I have $1 left,” said Marina Hamm, 14, of Huntington Beach, pulling out her pocket lining to prove it.

Given the limited free time, many young people used theirs not to explore the city or shop, but to seek out new friends.

At all times, on the streets or in the courtyard of Celebration Plaza, young people of all ethnicities approached, shook hands and hugged one another.

“I came to Denver to see the Pope, to learn more about my religion and to meet people,” said Ryan Kelly, 16, of Dana Point. “I’ve done all that, plus unexpectedly more. I’ve visited a great city, have met so many people--more than I’ll ever in my whole lifetime.”

He then looked at the thousands of different faces around him and said: “I’m attending one giant nonstop party.”