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.

Christchurch, New Zealand Day 1 - "Days in the Dioceses"

We arrived in Christchurch and were picked up at the airport by our host families. We went to their houses for a quick "fresh up" and then to one of the local parishes, St. Bernadette, for mass and on to another parish for lunch with our host families and WYD pilgrims from Christchurch as well as visiting pilgrims from Sydney. At the mass we were given candy leis.



After our potluck lunch, we went to meet a sheep. More like meeting a lamb. There were two lambs for us to hold and feed. Very sweet. In the photo is Robert Vallarino, Daniela Riva and Penelope Riva (not related). After the lamb holding, we had afternoon tea at another parish, Templeton Church. We met Edmund le Grelle, the WYD coordinator for Christchurch Diocese and we practice a couple of songs to be sung tomorrow after mass.

Then, we visited the Antarctic Centre where government expeditions from the United States fly from. We experienced a wild ride in the vehicle used in the Antarctic, a wind storm and ice slide and met some blue penguins.

This has been a very full day and I'm ready for bed. Oh, dinner with our host families. Fantastic hospitality.

SFO Mass

Bishop Wang, auxiliary bishop for San Francisco, presided at a mass at SFO International terminal meditation room. The mass included pilgrims from our group as well as pilgrims traveling from Ottawa, Canada and Mexico. Thank you to Chris Lyford for helping with the music as some of the Ottawa pilgrims with musical talent were delayed on their flight.

Dinner with the Archbishop - SF & Oakland pilgrims

On Thursday, June 19, Archbishop Niederauer invited the San Francisco and Oakland pilgrims for dinner and prayer at his residence. We had a lovely evening and were able to spend quality time with the Archbishop who will be joining us in Sydney on Wednesday, July 16 with Msgr. Harry Schlitt.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

So I receive a phone call last night. One of our pilgrims is ill and unable to attend World Youth Day. Please keep him in your prayers. This morning, Reno pilgrims called from the airport and their flight to SFO was canceled. United is rerouting them through Los Angeles back up to San Francisco for a much later flight, but they will still make our 9pm flight tonight.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

We had our retreat day in Sacramento with all the dioceses: Oakland, Reno, Sacramento and San Francisco. We had three workshops: packing, culture and covenant. We learn hand gestures to the World Youth Day theme song "Receive the Power." Enjoy the photos from the day. Bishop Jaime Soto presided at mass with Fr. Avram.