Posted: 07.13.08
This is Georgette reporting by BlackBerry from Los Angeles International Airport July 9. Our group, nine youths and three adults, just completed the Divine Mercy chaplet in the boarding area and are about to get on a plane for our 15-hour flight crossing the International Dateline into tomorrow.
We are a group of 12 pilgrims: seven high school seniors, two college students and three chaperones from St. George Parish at Patrick Air Force Base. We were commissioned and dispatched from our community at the 8:30 a.m. Mass Sunday, July 6. We departed Melbourne in the United States July 9 to arrive in Melbourne, Australia, July 11 and will be on pilgrimage to attend World Youth Day until we return home July 24.
One of the teens, Philip Decker, a senior at Viera High School, told me, “Preparing myself for World Youth Day has been one of the hardest and most fulfilling experiences of my life so far. In raising funds and preparing my mind and soul for this faith-filled endeavor by attending adoration, Mass, a religious mission trip and constant prayer, I have not only grown in my faith, but also my relationship with Our Lord and Savior.”
On July 14, we’ll be traveling on a 12-hour bus ride to Sydney and staying at Holy Cross College for the World Youth Day ’08 events. Each morning for three days, we’ll begin with catechesis, followed by Mass and the youth festivals. Truly pilgrims, we will be walking the city, participating in Stations of the Cross, adoration and reconciliation.
We’ll join the more than 200,000 welcoming Pope Benedict XVI at the papal boat-a-cade in Sydney Harbour July 17. On July 19, the “Pilgrim Walk,” a six-mile trek through Sydney, will begin at 6 a.m. and includes crossing a bridge to get to Randwick Racecourse and Centennial Park where there will be many youth festival activities culminating in an all night vigil. The pilgrims will sleep on the ground huddled in masses in what is the Australian winter – temperatures between 45 degrees and 65 degrees. Warmed by faith, we look forward to celebrating the final Mass with Pope Benedict XVI July 20 – World Youth Day!
Hoppenbrouwer is the youth minister at St. George Parish, Patrick Air Force Base.
