The Final Mass with Pope BXVI

After a chilly Saturday night vigil, we were awoken Sunday morning by our Riverview St. Ignatius neighbors packing up their sleeping bags & gear around 7am. Slowly we arose to a breakfast of fresh rolls & jam. Quickly we discovered that the flush toilets & sinks set up by WYD were broken which made morning interesting with no water flow. At 8am, the prayer service commenced with much song and prayer which we joined. Everyone was excited for the MAJOR event of the morning--the final mass with BXVI, as he was referenced by rapping priest, Father Stan, with lyrics of "BXVI we love you! JPII we miss you!" The Pope circled overhead in a helicopter and then made his way to the sacristy to prepare for the 10:30am mass. Finally, mass began and all listened intently to the Pope's German-accented English and began with the Sign of the Cross. As Mass continued with readings and song in many languages, everyone quickly realized that we were in the midst of something very special. As the Pope began his homily, he again stressed the overarching them of WYD2008--the role of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. From the words of Father Edwards at the Mass before leaving Jesuit, to Cardinal Pell explaining the Gospel of the sower & the seed, and finally hearing the Pope calling upon the Catholic youth of the world, we again heard a calling to take leadership roles in our faith. The Pope acknowledged the challenges we face as Catholic youth and he hoped that enormous events like WYD would help strengthen our faith and give us an opportunity to answer questions about the faith that we hold in our hearts. Music during the Final mass was definitely a highlight. With a week's worth of practice, we proudly joined in singing the theme song of WYD "Receive the Power". With Mass finally concluded, we all waited for the last major announcement of WYD2008--the location of the next WYD. MADRID 2011!!

2 hours later--still at our campsite, we read, socialized, joked, and waited until the masses had dissipated to depart the racetrack. We hiked back to Darling Harbor to enjoy a group dinner and relax for the rest of the evening.

Land of Hobbits

Howdy all back in the States! Writing here from Rotorua, New Zealand. From Friday to Sunday, the final days of WYD were very intense and we are still slowly unwinding from the incredible experience of the Stations of the Cross, Pilgrimage Walk, camp-out, and Final Mass with Pope Benedict. We had incredible seats for the Stations, sitting mere feet from the site of the crucifixion as the sun slowly set in the background over the harbor. Again, on Saturday we found ourselves in section F1 for the Final Mass (1 being the closest number to the altar). None of the guys at previous WYD's had been even slightly as close. As the night slowly chilled, we had a Prayer Service with the Pope and then Adoration with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. Words can't describe the silent beauty of the night. Looking around in the candlelight at thousands of kneeling pilgrims, we were humbled by the immensity of our journey from Texas. Mr. Hough's high school friend, now also a priest, visited our site later for Reconciliation which many Jesuit guys took advantage. The evening was also marked by music and socializing with our camp neighbors, St. Ignatius Riverview, with singing contests and school cheers.

The Final Mass with Pope Benedict XVI was amazing. We are collecting our thoughts from this great event and will write more in detail later. We have found a nearby internet place here in NZ and will be able to utilize it easier than our living quarters in Sydney. Just about to enjoy a Maori feast after a day of rafting and sheep shearing. Our thoughts go out to our families back in the States--We miss you!!

Opening Mass

It's Wednesday morning and we have just began our first day of catechesis. Our first few days with EF Tours were great (especially the food) and now we embark on the heart of our pilgrimage. We began yesterday with a gathering at the Jesuit school in Sydney, St. Aloysius. St. Aloysius has been very kind to our group and hosted a welcome for all the visiting Jesuit schools in the morning. Showing off our boisterous American voices to the crowd, we sand "The Heart of Texas" and also joined St. Joseph's Prep (Phila) for a rendition of the National Anthem. Other Jesuit schools equally wowed us with their musical talents. Lots of socializing in the school's courtyard during tea time and lunch. We soon realized that we needed more USA flags and spirit to match all other guest countries. St. Aloysius College is located across the harbor from the Sydney Opera House and it offers an amazing view of the entire harbor, especially at night. After the Jesuit gathering, all the groups left to walk across the harbor bridge into downtown Sydney.

Each day since we have arrived we have seen more and more pilgrims with flags and pilgrim passports walking the streets of Sydney. Now the streets are flooded with young people waving and cheering to each other, all eagerly excited to begin WYD2008. Walking across the harbor bridge gave us a chance to talk in small groups about what we hoped to experience during this first day of WYD. Although the Opening Mass began at 4:30, we anticipated the enormous crowd and arrived around 2pm to save a spot. As we walked along the long path to the central Mass entrance behind a Lebanese and Iraqi pilgrim group, we slowly began to see glimpses of the enormity of this WYD. Mr. Hough (2-time WYD veteran) was determined to finagle a spot close to the altar to see Cardinal Pell up close. Luckily, we got there early enough to find small openings in a close area and slowly expand our territory over the next 2 hours. Surrounded by German and French pilgrims, we used the next 2 hours before Mass began to read our Catholic Cathecism handbooks and Pilgrim guides. After sitting down for so long, we hardly realized how many people had filtered into the harbor Mass area. As we finally came to our feet, a sea of waving flags and cheering pilgrims surrounded our Jesuit Dallas group. To our right, were seated priests from many countries and behind the altar, bishops and cardinals accompanied by a church choir. With the entrance of Cardinal Pell to the WYD2008 theme song, "Receive the Power" thousand of pilgrims rose to their feet and joined in song. If anyone had any doubts about the magnitude of our pilgrimage, this uncertainty seemed to wash away with the joined voices praising God. With readings in Italian, Spanish, French, Tagalog, Japanese, Korean, German, and English (and more that I am forgetting), the Mass appealed to all pilgrims. The Gospel reading of the sower and the seeds was used by Cardinal Pell in his homily to call upon eac pilgrim to question his or her personal motivation for WYD2008. To see a strongly planted seed encountering adversity in maturity and adoloscence and being open to find the spiritual norishment to break free of those barriers and continue to flourish. Mass concluded in the dark as the temperature dropped but spirits remained high as the music continued with the first concert of WYD.

The remainder of the evening was spent gathered together talking and singing while we waited in the loooooong line for "pilgrim food". All around us pilgrim groups gathered with clergy hearing confessions, exploring Catholic catechism, praying the rosary together. In our own group, our young men used the opportunity to talk about specific parts of the day they had enjoyed and questions that had arisen during the day. A certain freedom was found to ask Mr. Hough, Mr. Doherty, or Mr. Kolker spiritual questions that had always plagued us but never before experienced the right setting to pose our thoughts to a clergyman. The long walk to the Sydney central train station was marked by cheering crowds, waving flags from across the globe, and slapping high-fives from pilgrims clamoring at the gates. Our our chants of the Jesuit Yell, USA, Star Spangled Banner were matched by "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" and "New Zealand" yells of our neighboring pilgrims. Catching the train and concluding the night at St. Aloysius before returning to respective home-stay families, we ended the evening with the WYD theme song "Receive the Power" and a personal reflection from Mr. Travers. If you had any doubt that your son would feel moved by WYD, let's just say that everyone sang the song with joy and are determined to master it by the Final Mass with the Pope.

Thanks for all your support and words of encouragement! We are having a few techincal difficulties posting all the pictures but will clear that up by the end of the day. Stay posted for more to come on this second day of our spiritual pigrimage.

Monday July 14--1 Day to Go!

Hello Everyone back in the States!! There is much to write about and TONS of pictures to post. We have been enjoying a great time here thus far and have been on the go constantly! 2 hours ago, the boys finally met their host families and have gone to settle into a Sydney family's home. The families are excited and thrilled to be hosting our Jesuit Dallas young men. We are finalizing some plans for tomorrow's opening for WYD and will write more later...Don't worry, there wil be enough photos and details so that you will feel like you are seeing koalas and platypi right from your computer.

Day One--LAX waiting for Midnight

Here we are sitting in the Chili's at the LAX airport waiting until our Qantas plane departs at midnight. We arrived without any missing passports or forgotten baggage and still have enough energy to be excited for the last LONG leg of our journey to Sydney. The day began with a very moving Mass celebrated with Father John Edwards in the Jesuit chapel surrounded by our families. Praying and singing together, Father Edwards challenged us to open our hearts to the mission Pope Benedict has asked of the Catholic youth of the world. As the future leaders of the Church, every Jesuit pilgrim was inspired to find personal meaning for the trip.
After an easy trip to DFW, we successfully checked-in and said our farewells to parents and family. With turbulence rocking some of us to sleep, the plane trip to Denver was bumpy but we arrived safely. Quickly Topher Boehm's instincts took over and guided us to the nearest Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlor where we sidled up to the counter to pore over the menu. After filling our stomachs with ice cream in various forms (milkshakes, waffle cones, etc), we settled down at our gate to play cards or read (O'Brien scholars...). The next leg of the journey was again on Frontier on a half empty plane and a less bumpier ride over the Rockies to Los Angeles. Now, here we are in the airport and 'Dwight' from the TV show "The Office" just walked by our gate. Our Qantas flight leaves at midnight and after we finish this dinner, we can expect food comas to wash over our anxious bodies at 48B as we wait out the next 90 minutes. Mr. Hough reports that dinner will be served 2 hours into the flight and one can only wonder who will actually be awake for that meal. Today was a great start to the trip and was only accomplished with the support of all our families and the Jesuit community. We can't believe that after all our fundraising efforts during the past year that WYD 2008 is almost upon us! We will post more after we land in Sydney--Good night!

A.M.D.G.