Welcoming the Pope at Bangaroo

Here we are hanging out outside the Vocations Expo with some of our new Aussie friends!


We spent a lot of our week at Bangaroo just outside Darling Harbour--here we are waiting for Pope Benedict XVI to arrive!!





Can you see him? That's the pope on the boat!

Meeting people from the States!

Our first night in Sydney we bumped into Kelly's home parish, Holy Trinity Catholic Church from Bridgewater, NJ. They taught us the funnest game we played all week, "Ride the Pony" and we taught them the Jesus Jive. We hear the Jesus Jive made it's debut in NJ a couple of weeks later at Stephanie's (their youth minister) wedding. Congratulations Stephanie!

Photos from around Sydney!

The first night we arrived in Sydney (actually Randwich at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart parish) we were dying to go to the beach! Coogee beach was only a 30 minute walk from OLSH and highly recommended by the local teens we met earlier in the day.


The next morning we were eager to see the city! The Sydney Opera House and harbour are pretty impressive!

Diocesan Youth Festival in Bathurst

At the youth festival in Bathurst we saw a lot of different musical talent--this group of university singers from the Phillipines was one of our favorites! Check them out for yourself!

Bonfire at the Farm!

One of the families in Cowra so generously opened their farm up for the entire parish of St. Raphael's and all us pilgrims. We hiked out to some rocks, enjoyed a BBQ and warmed up by the biggest bonfire we'd ever seen!

Gaby and her host family!

Touring Cowra

We got to visit the peace bell, an abiriginal ceremonial ground, see some kangaroos and much more!

Painting Boomerangs!

Here we are testing our artistic skill in painting the boomerangs used by the Abiriginals (native Australians).

The airport!

So, we've finally downloaded some photos and are adding them here for your enjoyment--we took over 5,000 photos between the who group--don't worry, we'll spare you and just pick our favorites!

These are of us hanging out in LAX airport where we had a 5 hour layover prior to our departure for Sydney. We entertained ourselves by playing games, singing and praying. We met a group from Georgia that joined us in prayer.

Feeding Kangaroos & cuddling with Koalas!

Today we begin with 7am Mass--our host parish of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Randwick is beautiful! The Church is built in the historic style with columns, high ceilings, beautiful stain glass windows, marble floors and altar. Msgr. Brennan (pastor of St. Martin's) led us in a beautiful way to start the day!

Then we were off to see the Koalas!! The Koala Park was about 30 minutes north of Sydney and an amazing little park with some really neat animals. We all got to hug a Koala (and get some really cute photos--which we will share with you as soon as we return home!), then our bus driver bought us all a small bag of cheerios to feed the kangaroos--Shaughn even tried to imitate their hopping. :-) We saw Dingos, birds of all kinds, wambats and all sorts of neat animals.

Then we stopped for lunch in a small town before heading onto the National Park of Kei-Rung-Trek (I am not sure I spelled this correctly, but as soon as I find out I will correct it). The park was AMAZING! We stopped at a look out point over the Pacific Ocean and our park ranger guide pointed out the direction of LA. (We considered swimming home, but thought the water might be a little cold) Then we saw trees, caves and rock carvings from over 200 years ago when the Aborigional peoples lived there before the government forced them out. We learned bird calls and a traditional Aboriginal dance--don't worry, we will definitely show you this upon our return. I think Max was the best at the dance.

One our return to Sydney the bus driver was avoiding the major highways and stopped by a beach for us--the Pacific Ocean is a real true blue color. The water is freezing, but it's really neat to see the ocean from a different direction.

Once we arrived in Sydney we finally made our pilgrimage to St. Mary's Cathedral! The lines had been so long during the week, that making the stop wasn't possible. Today we got in after just 15 minutes in line. The Cathedral is beautiful and we were able to consecrate our pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Southern Cross (a beautiful image) and pray before the body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati! This young man led such an inspiring life, one based on the Eucharist and living life to the fullest--we are definitely going to be taking a look at his life more deeply when we all return to YG.

Speaking of YG--we miss you all and think of you and our families very much! We are having a ton of fun, but also can't wait to come home! Speaking of home, we will be returning on Wednesday.

As a head's up to the pilgrims and their families, Mr. Gomez (one of our chaperones) is hosting a reunion party for all pilgrims and their families this Saturday at his family's home at 7pm. I really hope you all can make it, we will be sharing photos, stories and lots of good laughes.

Well, it's off to bed because tomorrow we are off to the zoo, Opera House and a Harbour dinner cruise!

See you soon! God bless.

Night out with Papa

World Youth Day has officially come to a close--it's hard to believe that we've spent the last five days learning more about the Holy Spirit, praying, meeting new friends, and spending time with our Holy Father!

Saturday morning we rose early to take the train into North Sydney where we begin our 9.3 km hike across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, through the city and into Randwick Racetrack for our all night vigil with Pope Benedict. The walk across the bridge began at 9am and we began to notice how tired we were and our other pilgrims. The past four days have been intense, filled with catechesis in the morning, a large event in the afternoon and concerts at night. So our trek across the Harbour Bridge was fairly, quiet, compared to other spirited events throughout the city we'd participated in earlier in the week. As we got closer to Randwick Racetrack the energy definitely increased.

We were really lucky that our host parish (where we've been staying for the past week) is across the street from the racetrack, so we left our baggage there and picked it up just before entering the racetrack.

Once we arrived we set up our sleeping area and took off to meet new people and check out the concerts on the main stage.

The Holy Father arrived at 7pm to pray with us for a candle light vigil. What a site to see 300,000 candles lit and voices singing the theme song! Afterwards, a couple of us visited the adoration "chapel" before going to bed for the night.

Thanks to Fr. Morrow's prayers, the weather was the warmest and best of the two weeks! We all slept fairly well, for sleeping outside in a large field. :-)

This morning we awoke to priests and seminarians singing morning prayer. We then prepared ourselves for Mass with the Holy Father. As he entered the racetrack in this Popemobile, he drove right next to our section--what a beautiful blessing! Mass was really beautiful! You really got to see the universality of our Church--Christ is present in so many different cultures & languages. Pope Benedict asked us to seriously consider how we are a witness in the world. We've got a lot of work to do when we return home. :-)

After Mass, we stayed in the park to eat lunch and wait for the crowds to lighten before walking "home." Tonight we are taking it easy, eating our first meal outside of the "pre-packaged protein" we've been eating for the week. (Warning: pilgrims will be fasting from tuna, sausage and curry for at least two weeks when we return :-) )

Now, it's off to bed for a good night's sleep before we had out for our Koala cuddling adventure tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sausage Sizzle

Just saw some comments asking what we've been eating...Breakfast, lunch and dinner it's sausage sizzlers with tomato sauce (ketchup)! Yummy! They really like their BBQ here.

Aussie FUN!!!

Wow! What an experience! Sydney is beautiful! We spent yesterday morning taking pictures under the Harbour bridge and the Opera House. (We don't have regular internet connection, sorry for little updates...and I might not get to finish b/c we are on a timed internet cafe...)

Sydney is a TON of fun! We had the WYD opening Mass yesterday right on the waterfront. There was beautiful music and tons of people to meet! Bishops and priests from all over the world celebrated the Mass. We have lifted all your prayer requests up during this.

Today, Wednesday (Christina S.'s birthday!!!!) we started morning Catechesis and the bishop from Perth gave us a talk on how the Holy Spirit fits into our lives. Now we are in downtown Sydney at the harbor and enjoying some free time exploring. This evening we hope to catch some Adoration.

We met Kelly's home parish of Holy Trinity last night walking through the city and enjoyed the fireworks under the southern sky with them. We taught them the Jesus Jive and they taught us how to "ride the pony!"

Tomorrow we welcome Pope Benedict to Sydney!! Our time is up! You are all in our prayers.

Day of Social Justice

Yesterday, Friday, July 11th we spent the day learning about the abiriginol people. It was heartbreaking to learn the difficulties and injustices that still must be overcome, but hopeful to see the local community of Cowra reaching out to strengthen the bonds. Our hosts showcased traditional dances, music and games which were a lot of fun! We had a sausage sizzle in the afternoon (hot dog lunch) and Mass in the evening.

We are very overwhelmed by the generousity and openess of the people of Cowra! We explored their main street during the afternoon and were excited to see a Target. Some people are excited to find Ugg boots here. Some of the girls are definately going to town.

This morning the boys awoke early and went for a sunrise jog through the town. We think they probably woke most of the town up with their chanting. There were big horse races yesterday and most people were out late last night. So they probably didn't enjoy the early morning wake up.

Today we will spend time with our host families where some are making french toast, others are attending a Rugby game, some have gone to see the kangaroos and the Peace Bell. There is also a prisoner of war camp that many will visit as it is a major part of the community. This afternoon we will gather for a BBQ and bonfire with the whole parish about 20 minutes outside of town on a farm. Some of the kids can't wait for the bonfire.

Life downunder!

We've arrived, slept & all is well! We arrived at Sydney airport early Thursday morning after a long and fairly eventful trip from Dulles & LA. Unfortunately, some of us ate some things that didn't agree with us, but we are all feeling much better after some much needed sleep.

Our "coach" picked us up at the airport and Keith, our bus driver, took us to the city of Bathurst where we met some locals, had a small lunch and then continued on our way to Cowra a small farming town, population 10,000. The were so excited to meet us. We were quickly wisked away to our host families for hot showers, a home cooked meal and some local sightseeing. We all probably fell asleep by 9pm last night!

Today they have planned a whole day of activities to learn about the local aboriginal culture--we can't wait!

Please pray for WARMER weather. Today we'll reach a high of 8C. (We think it's in the 40's) We saw ice this morning. :-)

Off to a packed day!

Receive the Power

The theme song for WYD is "Receive the Power"--check out the music video with Guy Sebastian in the YouTube clips to the right.

Parish Send-off Mass

This morning our pilgrims gathered with their families and supporters at the 9am Mass for a special blessing and received a medal of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American born saint. Fr. Morrow reminded us of the great gift of a pilgrimage--the ability to make sacrifices and receive grace for ourselves and souls most need of God's grace. Fr. Morrow also offered a very personal plea to St. Anthony for warm weather while in the southern hemisphere which is in the middle of winter right now.

We are so thankful to all of our supporters, the Sodality, Holy Name Society, Dorothy Pasquel who worked so hard to cooridnate bake sales for our pilgrimage and our parents. We will be thinking of you throughout our trip.

Now...to the task of packing!

Prayer Petitions

As we begin the packing process, we also want to pack your prayer petitions. So, please, send us your petitions...comment below and we will make sure we offer the struggles of the day along with our prayers. We want to save many souls during this pilgrimage!

Send-off Dinner

Last night we had an awesome dinner cooked by Mr. Salvador and complimented by all families! It was great to catch up with everyone and for many to meet Christina S. for the first time--welcome back from college Christina!

We discussed how many socks to pack and if we should bring two shirts for everyday or just one. The debate is still out, but we all are getting very excited. We depart next Tuesday and so it was nice to talk about the exciting things we'll see.

We've recently connected with our host parishes in Australia. The first week we will be staying in the city of Cowra (in the Diocese of Bathurst) at St. Raphael's. They were voted friendliest and tidiest town a couple of years ago--we can't wait to meet them! Then we are staying in a parish close to the Randwick Racetrack where we will camp out the last night--Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is hosting us!

Here's photo of the whole group, minus Mary Flagg.

Send-off Mass with the Archbishop

On Sunday, June 29th we gathered at the Pastoral Center for a Send-off Mass with Archbishop Wuerl and pilgrims from across the Archdiocese of Washington! It was a beautiful Mass and we were so blessed to have our youth (& adults) lead the music for Mass--thank you Sarah, Bill, Camille, Ashley, Chris & Mary!!! You guys were awesome!

The countdown gets closer--we are only 9 days away now!