When the first Western explorers approached Australia, they were struck by the way in which their newly-discovered land seemed to radiate a warm red glow and they called the land the ‘Great South Land of the Holy Spirit’. Two or three hundred years later, it was wonderful for our little group of pilgrims to experience the truth of this name, to travel to the other side of the planet, to meet fellow pilgrims from across the world, to receive the Holy Spirit with power, and to be issued with the summons to be witnesses of that power to the ends of the earth.

One year ago, Bishop Patrick issued an invitation to 12 young people to join him on a pilgrimage to attend the World Youth Day event in Australia. Over the past nine months, that group came together every month to raise funds, to get to know each other and to prepare spiritually for the event. There were points when it seemed that it was all too much, but gradually the group came together and learnt how to trust that the Lord would provide. We left from St Maria Goretti’s church in Preston where the parish organized a lavish farewell to send us on our way. Two and a half days later we arrived in Melbourne where we spent a week, graciously hosted by families in Geelong. These ‘days in the diocese’ gave the group a view into life in Australia from inside out. Without exception the families we stayed with shared everything with us – their homes, their food, their hospitality, and organized an amazing array of events, all culminating with a Commissioning Mass in the Telstra Dome Stadium in Melbourne. From Melbourne we headed to Sydney to join the Pope and pilgrims from around the world. Almost half a million young people from every country of the earth gathered for a great celebration of the faith: catechesis in the morning with different bishops from around the world and a whole host of events in the city centre throughout the afternoons. In the evenings, there were prayer festivals, concerts, live stations of the Cross, and all leading up to an all-night vigil under the stars at Randwick Racecourse. It is impossible to put into words this whole experience, but for our little band of pilgrims from Lancaster Diocese led by Bishop Patrick, it was nothing short of life-changing.

Reflecting upon the experience, Jonah Kennedy, who has just finished at Newman College (Preston) and is about to begin a gap year at Castlerigg, says that ‘the one aspect of World Youth Day that I really couldn't of been ready for was the size of it all. I thought that 30 000 in a stadium in Melbourne was a lot, but 100 000 people at the papal arrival and the 400 000 at Randwick Racecourse blew me away. However’, he says, ‘it wasn't as if huge crowds were a scary unapproachable gang. Despite being from England or Chile or Ghana or Vietnam or Canada, nationality wasn't a problem because we were all there because of the same thing. Furthermore, besides forming relationships with our Catholic family on the other side of the world, one of the best parts of my pilgrimage was the relationships we formed as a group. As a comparatively small group, we were able to learn about each other, as friends but also on a spiritual level. While night prayer on the beach was the last thing on your mind after an exhausting day of events, it really brought all the threads of the day together. We did so much in a day that sharing sometimes reminded us of things that we had forgotten that we had done in the mass of energy and people. The joy I experienced during World Youth Day will be the most memorable thing. Seeing your peers sharing and engaging their faith is one of the most affirming things for any young Catholic and I know it was for me’.

But World Youth Day isn’t just a two-week wonder. Emma Kirby from St Edmund’s Fleetwood was not alone in seeing the preparations for the great event as important as the event itself. She writes, 'WYD08 was such an amazing and event-packed experience and it’s almost impossible to know where to begin. However, what I am sure about is that the beginning was not the 7th July when we set off from Preston; it was just under a year ago when the application forms were handed in and the realisation dawned that each pilgrim would have to find £2000 to reach Australia. I certainly could not have achieved this without the extraordinary generosity of my parish, St Edmund of Canterbury, Fleetwood. The fundraising became an integral part of the World Youth Day experience. It not only brought St Edmund’s closer together as a parish by talking through the preparatory events and working together to organise fundraisers, but it also increased links with neighbouring parishes. At one event, a very successful Cheese and Wine Evening, there were people present from 7 different parishes throughout the diocese, including people from all three Fleetwood parishes. For me, WYD and traveling to the other side of the world has paradoxically meant growing closer to the people at home that I’ve ‘known’ for years. On the journey to WYD I encountered God through the love and support of the people that willed me to get there, and for me, the preparation was definitely as valuable as the event itself'.

Upon arriving in Australia, Gill Walsh from Cleveleys takes up the story of what we got up to in our first week: ‘Prior to World Youth Day in Sydney, we spent a week in Geelong, just outside of Melbourne, as part of 'Days in the Diocese'. This was an amazing experience where we were placed with extremely generous families who sacrificed their week to put up with a bunch of excitable young Lancastrians. The host families we stayed with really did make our stay such a fabulous experience, they were all so kind and caring, allowing us into their lives and homes, many of them gave us door keys which just shows the level of trust they had in us. Our 'families' shared their life stories and experiences with us, and introduced us into their families as if they had known us all their lives! They took us to various places of interest around Geelong and Melbourne and were just so happy to be able to share the beauty of their country with us. I have to say that the 'Days in the Diocese' week touched me greatly. We travelled to the other side of the world and met some of the most amazing people, the whole parish community pulled together to make food, put together concerts and organise barbeques in order to give us the warmest welcome to their country and to enable us to attend the World Youth Day week in Sydney with open hearts and minds. It has definitely strengthened my faith and is such an inspiration to know that while we may be feeling slightly discouraged back at home by everything we read and hear about in the press, there really are millions of us that share in the same faith around the world, and that we truly are all one with Christ’.

It was then off to Sydney to meet up with the Pope and hundreds of thousands of other young people from around the world. Maria Stopyra from St Anthony’s Preston explains that for her, ‘the most amazing thing about World Youth Day was definitely the atmosphere. At the World Youth Day events and main sites in Sydney everywhere you looked you saw groups of pilgrims, waving their flags, smiling, singing and playing music and people would smile and wave at you as you passed by. It’s something we’re not used to seeing; simple joy and happiness, and we wouldn’t usually connect these things with practising our faith. World Youth Day brought a refreshing change from the usual reverence and quiet of our faith, and reminded me that it is important to celebrate joyfully the gifts that we have been given by God. Quiet and silent prayer is always important however, and there was plenty of it at World Youth Day, and it was all the more special and powerful next to the party atmosphere of singing and dancing’.

The final word goes to Rosey Kennedy from Blessed Sacrament parish Preston who courageously took on responsibility to help to lead our little band of pilgrims. Her reflection ties everything up with the theme of the whole pilgrimage: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). ‘What a promise!’, she writes, ‘And yet how many of us have ever spent time considering the reality of what it means for our lives. I cannot express how fortunate I feel to have been able to travel to Sydney to really explore the gifts that we are given in the Spirit, and to experience the magnitude of that power. In the Church today it can be tempting for our focus to be inwards, to reflect upon ourselves, to lament over our failings and inadequacies. We seek security in what we know, in our parish, our deanery, our diocese. It is there that we keep some control, where we can have some impact. And rightly so, without reflection how are we to improve, and we cannot expect to change the world without first looking at what stands directly before us. But what I learnt in Sydney however is that we must not let ourselves get carried away with ‘me’ but allow our focus to be turned outwards. What we see in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the image of what we are called to: not a solitary life, but a unity! And God is willing to welcome us into that unity: He opened up His arms in order to embrace us, and He sent His Spirit as a continual calling for us to live our lives through Him and with Him. Throughout our time in Sydney we were reminded of the first disciples in the upper room, unsure of what they were waiting for, but waiting nonetheless. Perhaps anxious, divided, afraid, yet they had faith enough to wait upon the promise of Jesus. And what results! With the power of the Spirit they were transformed, they turned against their own self-centredness and witnessed to the ends of the earth. We too are called to wait with expectation, and those of us in Sydney were not disappointed. Amidst those of every nation we were able to see what a unifying Spirit is at work in the Church. We are not alone, and we have much to be joyful about. The real meaning of World Youth Day for me was in becoming part of that unity and in experiencing first-hand the way in which through simply being open to the power of the Spirit those first disciples were able to reach every corner of the earth. Each person alive with love in Sydney Australia 2008 was only there because 2000 years ago those first disciples had the courage to surrender to the power of the Spirit. How are things any different now? We have the same God and the same promise. We are part of the same Church. We must not be afraid to surrender control; it is not by their own strength that the apostles achieved anything, but by the power of the Spirit working through them. We must be open and we must trust in the promise of a God who loves us. We WILL receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and we WILL be His witnesses!’

The group would like to thank from the bottom of their hearts all those who have supported the group through their prayers, their support and their generosity. May the blessings that have poured upon us be upon you! Thank you.