Gallery
Randwick Racecourse - Final Mass
The Holy Father meets a koala
View of the bridge
Papal Arrival
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross through the streets of Sydney
Catholic Today Blog
Amazed, Inspired and Renewed.
After around thirty hours of travel, we are finally home! We left our hostel at 4am, flew out from Sydney at breakfast time, arrived in Hong Kong early afternoon (local time), were delayed for a few extra hours and then finally landed in Heathrow at 7am this morning.
Despite the exhaustion of the BCYS group when we arrived in Coventry, there was the general feeling that in some way World Youth Day had changed the lives of each of the pilgrims. As was written on the WYD banner in the parish church in Melbourne, the whole World Youth Day experience successfully amazed, inspired and renewed each of the BCYS pilgrims.
Free days in Sydney
Tuesday
This morning the BCYS group had Mass in a local church, St Benedict’s, celebrated by our Birmingham Archdiocese priests. Father Tim preached about the joys of serving as a priest.
The rest of the day was free until dinner at 6pm which had been organised by our tour company. After we had eaten, gifts were presented to the priests and Peter Lucas to thank them for their wonderful work and organisation throughout the WYD pilgrimage.
We are leaving Sydney in the early hours of tomorrow morning and will be back in England at breakfast time on Thursday. Our time in Australia seems to have flown by but we have been able to fit so many things into such a short time. Many people in the group are saying how much they would like to return to Australia in the future.
Monday
Today was a free day with no commitments for the BCYS group.
I took the boat from Circular Quay to Manly beach, where we enjoyed the sun and the sea. On the way we saw dolphins in the harbour! We went swimming in the sea despite the fact that the locals were wrapped up warm in their winter clothes!
Some people went to the Zoo and Wildlife Sanctuary, some went on a trip to the Blue Mountains and others went shopping!
Tomorrow is our last day in Sydney but we have already said goodbye to Julia Goldsmith who left this morning to go home and James Haywood who is leaving early tomorrow morning to continue travelling round Australia.
Final Mass and overnight Vigil.
We’ve been back in the Youth Hostel for a couple of hours (and showered!) after our overnight Vigil and Closing Mass at the Randwick Racecourse. The walk there didn’t take as long as expected, partly because we had left quite early and had beaten the crowds. However, there was an injury amongst our group when Carmel fell over. She hurt her wrist and had to go to the hospital where they discovered she had broken it. But as a true and devoted pilgrim, she returned to the racecourse with her arm in a cast to continue celebrating World Youth Day and spent the night under the stars with the rest of us.
Brave Carmel!
When we arrived, we were given our bag of pilgrimage food which was basic but sufficient to get us through the twenty-four hour stay on the racecourse. On the stage area, which seemed rather far away but we had a big screen nearby, there were various bands and other entertainment including Father Stan, the rapping priest from the Bronx, who seemed to provoke mixed reactions!
Father Stan ‘the rapping priest’ Fortuna - ‘There ain’t no party like a Catholic party’
John Pridmore, the author of ‘From Gangland to the Promised Land’ also gave a speech, telling us not to become drug dealers or gangsters!
Brice and Yvonne keeping warm during the Vigil.
The Pope arrived at 7pm in his Popemobile to lead the Vigil. He drove around the racecourse and we all had the chance to see him which was amazing. At one point, he stopped the Popemobile, wound down his window and kissed a baby.
(Picture from the BBC News website)
During the Vigil we heard some testimonies from people from various different countries about their faith, lots of music and prayed with the Pope for the 24 confirmation candidates who were to be confirmed this morning at the Final Mass. Once the Pope had left the Southern Cross Precinct (as the Randwick Racecourse was renamed for the weekend), it was dark and cold and we were tired so most of us got comfortable in our sleeping bags and enjoyed the music and entertainment from the stage. It was a very cold night to be sleeping out like that but we all survived to tell the tale. It has been estimated that 235,000 pilgrims slept under the stars and although we couldn’t see all those people from where we were, the area did look a little like a refugee camp!
We woke up, rather uncomfortabe and cold, but ready for Morning Prayer. A while after that, we were told to look up into the sky, where we could see the Pope arriving in his helicopter! The Final Mass of World Youth Day commenced at 10am and at one point there were seven helicopters above the racecourse. It was an amazing Mass and Father Tim celebrated his thirteenth anniversary of ordination by concelebrating with the Pope and thousands of other priests and bishops.
Full Homily
(Picture from BBC website)
By Pope Benedict XVI
Dear Friends,
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you (Acts 1:8).
We have seen this promise fulfilled! On the day of Pentecost, as we heard in the first reading, the Risen Lord, seated at the right hand of the Father, sent the Spirit upon the disciples gathered in the Upper Room.
In the power of that Spirit, Peter and the Apostles went forth to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
In every age, and in every language, the Church throughout the world continues to proclaim the marvels of God and to call all nations and peoples to faith, hope and new life in Christ.
In these days I too have come, as the Successor of Saint Peter, to this magnificent land of Australia.
I have come to confirm you, my young brothers and sisters, in your faith and to encourage you to open your hearts to the power of Christs Spirit and the richness of his gifts.
I pray that this great assembly, which unites young people from every nation under heaven (cf. Acts 2:5), will be a new Upper Room.
May the fire of Gods love descend to fill your hearts, unite you ever more fully to the Lord and his Church, and send you forth, a new generation of apostles, to bring the world to Christ!
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. These words of the Risen Lord have a special meaning for those young people who will be confirmed, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, at todays Mass.
But they are also addressed to each of us to all those who have received the Spirits gift of reconciliation and new life at Baptism, who have welcomed him into their hearts as their helper and guide at Confirmation, and who daily grow in his gifts of grace through the Holy Eucharist.
At each Mass, in fact, the Holy Spirit descends anew, invoked by the solemn prayer of the Church, not only to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the Lords body and blood, but also to transform our lives, to make us, in his power, one body, one spirit in Christ.
But what is this power of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God’s life!
It is the power of the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation and who, in the fullness of time, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power which points us, and our world, towards the coming of the Kingdom of God.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that a new age has begun, in which the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all humanity (cf. Lk 4:21).
He himself came among us to bring us that Spirit.
As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God’s grace.
Here in Australia, this great south land of the Holy Spirit, all of us have had an unforgettable experience of the Spirits presence and power in the beauty of nature.
Our eyes have been opened to see the world around us as it truly is: charged, as the poet says, with the grandeur of God, filled with the glory of his creative love.
Here too, in this great assembly of young Christians from all over the world, we have had a vivid experience of the Spirit’s presence and power in the life of the Church.
We have seen the Church for what she truly is: the Body of Christ, a living community of love, embracing people of every race, nation and tongue, of every time and place, in the unity born of our faith in the Risen Lord.
The power of the Spirit never ceases to fill the Church with life!
Through the grace of the Church’s sacraments, that power also flows deep within us, like an underground river which nourishes our spirit and draws us ever nearer to the source of our true life, which is Christ.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who died a martyr in Rome at the beginning of the second century, has left us a splendid description of the Spirit’s power dwelling within us.
He spoke of the Spirit as a fountain of living water springing up within his heart and whispering: Come, come to the Father (cf. Ad Rom., 6:1-9).
Yet this power, the grace of the Spirit, is not something we can merit or achieve, but only receive as pure gift.
God’s love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age.
Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires.
That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church. Prayer is pure receptivity to God’s grace, love in action, communion with the Spirit who dwells within us, leading us, through Jesus, to our heavenly Father.
In the power of his Spirit, Jesus is always present in our hearts, quietly waiting for us to be still with him, to hear his voice, to abide in his love, and to receive power from on high, enabling us to be salt and light for our world.
At his Ascension, the Risen Lord told his disciples: You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Here, in Australia, let us thank the Lord for the gift of faith, which has come down to us like a treasure passed on from generation to generation in the communion of the Church.
Here, in Oceania, let us give thanks in a special way for all those heroic missionaries, dedicated priests and religious, Christian parents and grandparents, teachers and catechists who built up the Church in these lands witnesses like Blessed Mary MacKillop, Saint Peter Chanel, Blessed Peter To Rot, and so many others!
The power of the Spirit, revealed in their lives, is still at work in the good they left behind, in the society which they shaped and which is being handed on to you.
Dear young people, let me now ask you a question.
What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure? Are you living your lives in a way that opens up space for the Spirit in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, or even rejects him in the name of a falsely-conceived freedom?
How are you using the gifts you have been given, the power which the Holy Spirit is even now prepared to release within you? What legacy will you leave to young people yet to come? What difference will you make?
The power of the Holy Spirit does not only enlighten and console us. It also points us to the future, to the coming of Gods Kingdom.
What a magnificent vision of a humanity redeemed and renewed we see in the new age promised by today’s Gospel!
Saint Luke tells us that Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of all God’s promises, the Messiah who fully possesses the Holy Spirit in order to bestow that gift upon all mankind.
The outpouring of Christ’s Spirit upon humanity is a pledge of hope and deliverance from everything that impoverishes us.
It gives the blind new sight; it sets the downtrodden free, and it creates unity in and through diversity (cf. Lk 4:18-19; Is 61:1-2). This power can create a new world: it can renew the face of the earth (cf. Ps 104:30)!
Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faiths rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which Gods gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed.
A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty.
A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships.
Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.
The world needs this renewal!
In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair.
How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning the ultimate meaning that only love can give?
This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God.
It reveals humanity’s sublime calling, which is to find fulfilment in love.
It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life.
The Church also needs this renewal!
She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4)!
In today’s second reading, the Apostle Paul reminds us that each and every Christian has received a gift meant for building up the Body of Christ.
The Church especially needs the gifts of young people, all young people.
She needs to grow in the power of the Spirit who even now gives joy to your youth and inspires you to serve the Lord with gladness.
Open your hearts to that power!
I address this plea in a special way to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life.
Do not be afraid to say yes to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!
In a few moments, we will celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation.
The Holy Spirit will descend upon the confirmands; they will be sealed with the gift of the Spirit and sent forth to be Christ’s witnesses. What does it mean to receive the seal of the Holy Spirit?
It means being indelibly marked, inalterably changed, a new creation.
For those who have received this gift, nothing can ever be the same!
Being baptized in the one Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12:13) means being set on fire with the love of God.
Being given to drink of the Spirit means being refreshed by the beauty of the Lords plan for us and for the world, and becoming in turn a source of spiritual refreshment for others.
Being sealed with the Spirit means not being afraid to stand up for Christ, letting the truth of the Gospel permeate the way we see, think and act, as we work for the triumph of the civilization of love.
As we pray for the confirmands, let us ask that the power of the Holy Spirit will revive the grace of our own Confirmation.
May he pour out his gifts in abundance on all present, on this city of Sydney, on this land of Australia and on all its people!
May each of us be renewed in the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgement and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of wonder and awe in God’s presence!
Through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, may this Twenty-third World Youth Day be experienced as a new Upper Room, from which all of us, burning with the fire and love of the Holy Spirit, go forth to proclaim the Risen Christ and to draw every heart to him! Amen.
Saluto di cuore i giovani di lingua italiana, ed estendo il mio affettuoso pensiero a quanti sono originari dellItalia e vivono in Australia. Al termine di questa straordinaria esperienza di Chiesa, che ci ha fatto vivere una rinnovata Pentecoste, tornate a casa rinvigoriti dalla forza dello Spirito Santo. Siate testimoni di Cristo risorto, speranza dei giovani e dellintera famiglia umana!
Chers jeunes francophones, l’Esprit Saint est la source du message de Jesus-Christ et de son action salvifique. Il parle au cur de chacun le langage quil comprend. La diversite des dons de lEsprit vous fait comprendre la richesse de graces qui est en Dieu. Puissiez-vous vous ouvrir a son souffle ! Puissiez-vous permettre son action en vous et autour de vous ! Vous vivrez ainsi en Dieu et vous temoignerez que le Christ est le Sauveur que le monde espere.
Auch euch, liebe junge Freunde deutscher Sprache, gilt mein herzlicher Gru .
Der Heilige Geist ist ein Geist der Gemeinschaft und wirkt Verstandigung und Kommunikation. Sprecht mit anderen uber eure Hoffnungen und Ideale, und sprecht von Gott und mit Gott! Glucklich ist der Mensch, der in der Liebe Gottes und in der Liebe zum Nachsten lebt. Gottes Geist fuhre euch auf Wegen des Friedens!
Queridos jovenes, en Cristo se cumplen todas las promesas de salvacion verdadera para la humanidad.
El tiene para cada uno de vosotros un proyecto de amor en el que se encuentra el sentido y la plenitud de la vida, y espera de todos vosotros que hagais fructificar los dones que os ha dado, siendo sus testigos de palabra y con el propio ejemplo. No lo defraudeis.
Amados jovens de lingua portuguesa, queridos amigos em Cristo! Sabeis que Jesus nao vos quer sozinhos; disse Ele: Eu rogarei ao Pai e Ele vos dara outro Consolador para estar convosco para sempre, o Espirito da verdade () que vos conheceis, porque habita convosco e esta em vos (Jo 14, 16-17). E verdade! Sobre vos desceu uma lingua de fogo do Pentecostes: e a vossa marca de cristaos. Mas nao foi para a guardardes so para vos, porque a manifestacao do Espirito e dada a cada um para proveito comum (1 Cor 12, 7).
Levai este Fogo santo a todos os cantos da terra. Nada e ninguem O podera apagar, porque desceu do ceu.
Tal e a vossa forca, caros jovens amigos! Por isso, vivei do Espirito e para o Espirito!
This evening the whole group went out for dinner and relaxed!
Next World Youth Day - 2011 in Madrid!
Saturday 10am
I am sitting in the Youth Hostel and we are just about to set off for our pilgrimage walk to the Randwick Racecourse which is estimated to take five hours because of the vast numbers expected to make their way there today. When we arrive we will set up camp in our allocated area. The Pope will be arriving at some point in the evening for the Midnight Vigil and then in the morning the final Papal Mass, to which thousands more people are expected to come, will take place.
Catechesis with our Archbishop & Stations of the Cross
This morning the BCYS group took the train down to a church near Bondi Junction - very close to the world famous beach! We had an extremely interesting, relevant and inspiring speech and discussion from Archbishop Vincent. A recurring theme, not only with the Archbishop but also with the Pope yesterday and Cardinal Rodriguez, was that our faith should form a more integral part of our lifes and in society as a whole.
After another picnic lunch outside the church, we went back to Barangaroo for the Stations of the Cross service which started by the cathedral and worked its way round the harbour, past the Opera House and ended up close to us at the disused container yard -Barangaroo. It was a very moving ceremony, with thousands of young people witnessing an enactment of Jesus’ death on the cross with music, dance and prayer.
Second Message from the Archbishop.
Today was also Father Tim’s birthday and we went out to dinner to celebrate this evening at the Bavarian Bier House.
The Papal Arrival
This morning we attended another session of Catechesis. Today it was lead by Bishop Christopher Saunders of Broome in Northern Australia and our very own music group Witness. The theme of today’s Catechesis comes from 1 Corinthians 12: 4-5 ‘There is a variety of gifts but always the same spirit; there are sorts of service to be, but always the same Lord’. He urged us to feel the Holy Spirit and told us that ‘you young people are our next generation of prophets’.
This afternoon, the BCYS group gathered with thousands of other pilgrims to greet the Pope as he arrived into Sydney. He arrived through the harbour by boat, alighted at Barangaroo to lead a short Liturgy there and then drove in the Popemobile past the excited crowds. We saw him as he drove past us and we were truly inspired by the fact that so many people and nations had turned up to greet his arrival in Sydney for World Youth Day.
Excitement from Laura and Josh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hbecry4gvI
Message from the priests just before the Papal Arrival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RuMYudz7Qw
This evening I went to the Vocations Exhibition and then to the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with a small group of other BCYS pilgrims.
For more coverage and a transcript of the Pope’s speech - http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,24034645-5001021,00.html
First day of WYD08 Catechesis
Today we had our first session of Catechesis in a small church in a suburb of Sydney - St. Charles in Ryde lead by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor. As we arrived to the church the Cardinal was waiting outside for our group to arrive. We were very excited to meet him and surprised at how tall he is! Our priests introduced themselves and we were shown inside where an American music group was preparing the congregation with songs like ‘Awesome God’ and the ‘Jesus Jive’. The Cardinal spoke to us about the Holy Spirit and explained to us that; ‘God is beyond all our understanding and that we know him through the incarnation of God through Jesus’.
A small group of us hurried back from the Catechesis after lunch to go to ‘Conversations with the Cardinal’ with Oscar Rodriguez who was speaking on behalf of the organisation Caritas. He made a fascinating speech about Social Justice but also covered a diverse range of subjects from illegal migration to the environment. He also responded to the allegation present in the Australian media that the World Youth Day is just a ‘jamboree for the rich’ by saying that it is indeed a jamboree but for the rich in spirit!
After a few questions we were very surprised to see him pick up a Jazz Saxophone and lead a ‘Jam for Justice’!
After this we hurried back to the area near the Cathedral and met with Archbishop Vincent (see below for the video of the Archbishop’s initial thoughts on WYD08).
Tomorrow there is more Catechesis and the Papal Arrival.
First message from Archbishop Vincent in Sydney WYD08
The first message from Archbishop Vincent from World Youth Day in Sydney. The BCYS group met him this afternoon. Please click on the link below to see his video on youtube.
And if you would like some more information about World Youth days - please click on this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/pope/worldyouthday_1.shtml
Message for Cardinal Newman School, Coventry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHw44tM7v2k&feature=user