Courtesy Photo | Bryan Garcia
Alan, a member of the Miami archdiocesan delegation, proudly holds up a Cuban flag while aboard a ferry in the Sydney Harbor.
Courtesy Photo | Bryan Garcia
Bryan Garcia filed regular blog posts for the Archdiocese of Miami’s Web site during his World Youth Day pilgrimage.
Courtesy Photo | Stephanie Raynor
Some of the 39 World Youth Day pilgrims from St. Stephen Parish in Miramar pose for a photograph in downtown Melbourne.
Nearly 200 youths and young adults from south Florida took part in World Youth Day 2008.
Posted: 07.26.08
MIAMI | They saw kangaroos, learned “Aussi slang,” tasted vegemite sandwiches, taught “salsa” dancing to the natives and hung out with the pope — sort of.
Most of all, the Archdiocese of Miami’s 200–strong contingent of young people (and their older chaperones) experienced God’s love in the universal embrace of thousands of young Catholics who brought their faith, hope and enthusiasm to Sydney for World Youth Day 2008.
“I can honestly say that I have had an amazing experience which was an excellent time of spiritual growth,” wrote Bryan Garcia, 19, in his last blog for the archdiocesan Web site, posted July 21, the day after the final Mass with Pope Benedict XVI.
“In terms of the group as a whole, we have formed friendships and memories which will last a lifetime. I feel as though I can say that each one of us has received something invaluable which will stay with us for the remainder of our lives,” concluded Garcia, a sophomore at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami.
Garcia spent two weeks in Australia with the archdiocesan group, led by Claretian Sister Ondina Cortés, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. Members of the group spent their first week in Forster–Tuncurry, New South Wales, a town in southeastern Australia about four hours north of Sydney.
The group stayed with host families from the local parish while taking part in “days in the diocese” of Maitland, Newcastle.
“Besides sharing with the families and learning about the area, its culture, and natural treasures, young people do a service day,” explained Sister Cortés in an e–mail July 11. “Today we spent time planting ‘pig’s ears’ on the beach to stop the erosion.”
The archdiocese’s two other bloggers traveled to Australia as part of a group of 39 from St. Stephen Parish in Miramar. Stephanie Raynor, 19, is a sophomore nursing student at Barry University; Oblate Father Jonathan Closner–Benavides, 32, is associate pastor at St. Stephen.
If you do a quick search for blogs about World Youth Day you’ll find page after page of blog listings. It makes sense considering the ease of communications today.
Dominic Buckley, Cara Catalfumo, Janelle Garcia, Susy Gomez and Dario Mobini provided regular posts for the Florida Catholic’s Pilgrim Journalists’ Blog.
Bryan Garcia, Stephanie Raynor and Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Father Jonathan Closner–Benavidez posted regular entries from World Youth Day for the Archdiocese of Miami’s WYD Blog.
Another of our favorite WYD blogs was hosted by Catholic News Service.
– Ed Foster Jr. | 07.26.08Since St. Stephen is staffed by the Oblates, the group spent the first week in Melbourne, where they took part in the International Oblate Youth Encounter. The week began with a Peace by Piece ceremony in downtown Melbourne, followed by a festival of cultures where Oblate youths from around the world performed something expressive of their culture.
“Our young people from St. Stephen performed the dance routine they had been practicing for more than two months back in Florida. It was awesome; they rocked the house!” wrote Father Closner–Benavides in his July 10 blog.
A few days later, he described the scene in Sydney: “There is singing and dancing in the streets and on the trains and buses. Moreover, the array and mixture of national flags flying high as pilgrims walk the city or gather as one is a beautiful sight to see — a reminder to me of how unique and colorful God made his children, and at the same time how we stand as one body in Christ as children of God.”
The most prolific blogger by far was Raynor, who wrote almost every day. Her entry July 17 conveyed the impact of World Youth Day on those who experienced it:
“Today, the pope arrived fully to all the pilgrims. We got there like two hours early and it was already packed, but in our section we got front row in seeing him leave. I never thought I would be so full of life to see him. I always just thought of him as some high priest who is like the boss, but I got to thinking and it hit me big time that he was appointed by GOD.”
Raynor also used her blog to communicate with her mom, Mary, back in Miramar. Witness this “side message to my mom” at the end of her July 19 blog: “The phone card does not work, I am fine. ... Stop calling the hotel.”
