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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.
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