Photos from Sydney Days 11, 12, 13

Sunday morning, the Pope joined us again for the closing mass. The next World Youth Day will be in 2011 in Madrid, Spain. We walked back to our hotel on Sunday afternoon and relaxed a bit before dinner at the hotel. Monday morning, many of us were up early for a Blue Mountain Tour which included a visit to an animal reserve and boat ride. The rest of the group met us at Circular Quay for mass at a nearby grassy area and dinner. Tuesday, the majority of our pilgrimage group left for home. We celebrated mass outside on the patio of the hotel prior to departing for the airport.

Sydney Days 8, 9, 10

Sydney Day 8, 9, 10

Thursday, some of our group experienced adoration at the Sydney Opera House and met up with the rest of us at St. Benedict’s parish again. Archbishop Niederauer and Msgr. Harry have arrived and met us at St. Benedict’s parish for catechesis. After our lunch, we split into two groups: one group traveling with our guide, Ethel, to Barangaroo for our designated location to welcome Pope Benedict; the other group getting a spot on the traveling “pope mobile” route. After welcoming the Pope, the Sacramento, San Francisco and a few pilgrims from Reno went to dinner with Archbishop Niederauer and Bishop Soto (from Sacramento) in The Rocks in downtown Sydney. We taste kangaroo and crocodile skewers. Delicious!

Friday, we again attended St. Benedict Parish and then went to Barangaroo for Stations of the Cross. A few of us went for a tour of the Sydney Opera House. When our tour was over, the Stations were at the Opera House and we witnessed Jesus’ crowning of the thorns and moving on the water to Barangaroo. We followed in a ferry and viewed the three crossed set up at Barangaroo against the colored cliffs and full moon. The stations of the cross were a very moving sight to behold. The vocations expo was held for the final night and had a lot of information on all vocations (single, married, religious and ordained).

Saturday saw us awaking early for morning prayer at 6am and leaving for our 7:00am appointment to walk across the Sydney Bridge. From the bridge, we walked to The Domain by St. Mary’s Cathedral, for the mass with all the United States’ pilgrims. Both bishops met us afterward for photos and blessings. We walked to Randwick racecourse after the mass and found spots on the grass for our overnight sleep out. Donna celebrated her birthday today and we had some cake and candles for her. We danced, played cards, traded with pilgrims. Many of us traded our yellow California/Nevada sweatshirts for the New Zealand “all black” sweatshirts. Our evening vigil with the pope was beautiful, including adoration and benediction.

Sydney Day 5, 6, 7

Arriving in Sydney was a bit busy. Many pilgrims had already arrived and everyone was singing, dancing and soon trading pins, smiles and conversation. We took a chartered bus to our hotel at Formula One in Kings Cross. It is a great location even though it's near the "red light" district of the City. Our tour guide, Ethel, met us at the hotel and gave us a walking tour pass St. Mary's Cathedral and to change money. We split into several groups for the afternoon and met as one group at St. Canice Parish in Elizabeth Bay for an evening mass. Our choir sang beautifully and Fr. Brian gave the pilgrims an opportunity to add some reflection about our host family stay during the homily. We were quite tire for our pizza dinner back at the hotel.

Sydney Day 5, 6, 7

Tuesday, July 15, we met for morning prayer at 8:15am and then walked to St. Mary’s Cathedral for our 9:30am appointment to walk through. Blessed Pier, one of the World Youth Day patrons, had his body in a pine box in the cathedral. At this time, the cathedral was not too crowded which allowed time for prayer and reflection in front Blessed Pier’s body and the new icon (painting) of Our Lady of the Southern Cross. After our Cathedral pilgrimage, we gathered for a bathroom break and met pilgrims in Hyde Park. One of the pilgrims we met was the pastor of St. Bernadette’s in Christchurch. It was quite a treat to re-connect with him. We walked to Barangaroo to save a spot for the opening mass with Cardinal Pell. We ate the WYD pilgrims’ lunch and had a good space to the left of the altar. After mass, some of us stayed for the pilgrims’ dinner and a concert with Australian idol singing stars.

Wednesday was our first day of catechesis at St. Benedict Parish. The parish was swarming with secular media – television, radio and print. Our catechesis each day included praise and worship singing, a talk from a lay woman from Washington DC, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a talk from a bishop, mass and lunch. After catechesis, the group went our separate ways for the Youth Festival. Several attended a music concert with Matt Maher and Fr. Stan Fortuna at Bondi Beach. Others attended the Oorala workshop at Australian Catholic University for interaction with indigenous and new Australians and some pilgrims attended the vocations expo.

Last days of Christchurch

Sunday we had our closing mass at Our Lady of Victories Parish at 10am followed by tea, pot luck lunch and some entertainment. After 2:00pm, we had free time with our host families. Many of us visited downtown Christchurch. Monday morning, we got up bright and early for a 7:00am flight to Sydney.

Days in the Diocese Reflection – Christ Church

Days in the Diocese Reflection – Christ Church

As I start to write this, we are all on a plane headed to Sydney and all the excitement of World Youth Day is in the air. But there is also a bit of sadness in my heart having just left beautiful New Zealand. Our ‘Days in the Diocese’ were amazing. The parishes in Christ Church and all our host families were so incredibly kind. They invited us into their homes and treated us like family. The hospitality we received was wonderful.

We were able to get a lot done in our short four day s there. We fed baby lambs at a local sheep farm and saw penguins at the Antarctic Center. We visited a Maori Cultural Center where we learned traditional songs and chants. We ate (really, really good) fish and chips and got to spend some time giving back by visiting local retirement homes to visit some of the seniors of Christ Church. And yesterday, one of the hosting parishes gave us a wonderful send-off. They served us a delicious lunch and had some of their children perform for us. We really got to know the people and the true Spirit of New Zealand.

It was hard to say our goodbyes this morning, but I think all of us have special memories we shared with our Kiwi families that we will forever treasure.


~ Teresita Santiago

Community Service - Day 3

Saturday morning we met for mass at St. Bernadette's Parish. The Reno diocese pilgrims taugh us a song for the procession entrance. After mass we were dropped off to different senior communities for community service. Sergio, Mary, Michelle, Teresita and Carrie visited with one senior rest home and met a Mercy Sister, Sr. Veronica, who will be 100 years old in 10 months. We sang many songs for them, with them and they sang for us as well, the New Zealand national anthem.

In the afternoon, we had free time with our host families. In the evening was the National Team "The All Blacks" playing South Africa in rugby. New Zealand lost. We watched it at a local restaurant and bar.

Feast Day of St. Benedict - Day 2

On July 11, our host families drove us to visit Gethsemane Gardens in Sumner on the East coast of New Zealand, south of Christchurch. Gethsemane Gardens were beautiful and set up top a hill overlooking Christchurch and the ocean. We sat in a huge "ark" for a reflection on gardening and how this relates to our spiritual journey. We need all the seasons in our life to be fully formed - winter, spring, summer and fall. Sometimes we want to hold onto the "summer" parts of our lives but we need to move on to fall and winter which allow the fields to rest in order to have rebirth in spring.

After Gethsemane, we went to Sumner beach for a picnic lunch with our host families and then to Te Rangimarae cultural center to learn about Maori culture. Two of the dancers above with Sergio Canjura. Then, we walked to the Cathedral Centre and had fish and chips. Mass with the Bishop of Christchurch in their Cathedral at 7:30pm.