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.