23rd World Youth Day, Sydney, 15-20 2008
The fact that World Youth Day (WYD) was being held in Sydney in 2008 offered a realistic opportunity for many young New Zealand Catholics to fully participate in the incredible experience that is World Youth Day – for most a once-in-a-lifetime experience that could leave a lifelong impression in their hearts. One parishioner, Lucy Ellis, had been to WYD 2005 in Cologne, Germany, and her enthusiasm in encouraging more of our young parishioners to get to the Sydney event was infectious.
And so the planning began – with Helen Ellis (Lucy’s Mum) and Eva Fernandes at the helm. They worked so hard through 2007 and 2008 to get a wonderful group of 26 to Sydney – 22 pilgrims (16 from St Thomas More parish and 8 from East Coast Bays parish), accompanied by two group leaders (Greg Innes and Louise Raynes), ably supported by two chaperones (Mary Manalo and Juanita de Smit). The logistics were challenging but Helen and Eva and their team of helpers were more than up to the task (and they managed this alongside organising the hugely successful pre-WYD “Days in the Diocese” that took place in the parish in the week leading up to the main event in Sydney). A number of family groups also made the pilgrimage to Sydney independently and some of these joined the group for preparation activities. And of course our resident parish priests, Father John Bland and Father Ernie Milne, were in full support of the whole mission.
The theme for WYD08 was: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8 – hence the NZ preparation logo Activ8(NZ)). A lot of effort went into the pilgrim preparation/formation sessions held fortnightly for the year preceding the event. As well as the main co-ordinators, there was valuable and much-appreciated input from priests, seminarians and helpful parishioners, including East Coast Bays parishioners. Pilgrimshaper sessions covered all sorts of topics, from the highly spiritual (reflecting the Spirit and Mission themes of WYD08) to the hugely practical (eg, what to pack and how to pack it) and were held sometimes at St Thomas More and sometimes at St John’s School in Mairangi Bay.
Things really ramped up in the week before departure for Sydney as pilgrims from Canada, USA and Sweden arrived to spend a few days in the parish as part of their pilgrimage to Sydney. The “Days in the Diocese” turned our parish into one big welcoming community and it made us all feel good to be part of something much bigger. It was fun for our pilgrims to meet these people travelling from much farther afield but it was especially good for those people in our parish not going to Sydney as it gave them the opportunity to feel part of the whole Spirit of the event.
The day of departure finally dawned for our own pilgrim group and an excited group was farewelled at Auckland airport on Mon 14 July. In Sydney we were bussed to St Declan’s parish in Pennshurst, where, despite the late hour, we were welcomed and collected by our various hosts who were generously putting us up in their homes, mostly in twos – although one brave family took a whole bunch of guys!
Next morning we all found our way back to St Declan’s and then the local train station and took our first train ride into the central city to find our way to the Barangaroo site on Darling Harbour where the opening Mass and concert would take place later in the day and evening. It was a beautiful, sunny winter’s day and Sydney was alive with WYD activity. The atmosphere on the streets was unforgettable with people from all corners of the world mixing, mingling, singing, carrying flags and banners and generally full of the Spirit – and language was absolutely no barrier. It must have been a big impact on the lives of the people of Sydney to be inundated by up to an extra 400,000 people for the week but they seemed to be genuinely welcoming of the WYD pilgrims. The numbers were sometimes daunting and overwhelming but at the same time impressive and invigorating. It took us a long time to wend our way through the streets to Barangaroo – keeping the group together all the way among the thousands of people being a challenge in itself – but we finally made it and claimed our space at the sprawling Barangaroo site and proudly put up our banner and watched and waitied as the venue kept filing and filling and filling. The opening Mass eventually got underway followed by the concert – yes, WYD08 was truly underway and we were part of it. And then another challenge of leaving the venue as a group and finding our way back, now in the dark of course, through the streets to where we could get a train back to Pennshurst.
The following three days were taken up with catechesis sessions in the mornings at St Declan’s – taken by different bishops from different countries on different topics and offering all in attendance (not just us but all pilgrims being accommodated in this area) the chance to question, enquire and discuss. At St Declan’s the pilgrims had the pleasure of hearing and interacting with a bishop from New Zealand, a bishop from Tipperary Ireland and a bishop from South Dakota USA. These sessions were really well received by all. The sessions concluded with Mass and then lunch was provided at St Declan’s after which the afternoons and evenings offered a myriad of options for participation in Youth Festival events all over the city. Our pilgrims found their way in smaller and larger groups to a variety of these. On the Wed afternoon we first found our way to Horden Pavilion where all pilgrims from New Zealand gathered – a lively event. Apparently there were about 4000 NZ pilgrims taking part in WYD08. On the Thursday afternoon we returned to Barangaroo for the Papal arrival and to hear the Pope’s arrival address. On the Friday afternoon we also took up our assigned position at Barangaroo for witnessing the citywide re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross. Stations 1-7 were taking place at various sites around central Sydney and stations 8-13 at Barangaroo but the whole re-enactment was also being shown on huge screens at all the venues. Very moving.
On Saturday morning we all gathered again at St Declan’s with our sleeping bags and overnight gear before catching the train to North Sydney from where the 9km pilgrimage walk started to Randwick Racecourse where we would spend the night under the stars after a Vigil Mass and Adoration and where the Pope would say the final Mass on Sunday morning. Our nominated start time from North Sydney was 11am and the first part of the walk took us over the Sydney Harbour Bridge – an experience in itself but surrounded by thousands of other WYD pilgrims was really something. It was a long hot day but we all made it and managed to find our allocated camp spot at Randwick Racecourse (which was quite tricky in itself in such a huge venue) – just enough room for us to fit like sardines and no more! There were people as far as the eye could see and Youth Festival events continued on site through to the start of the Evening Vigil at 7pm which got underway with music and song. Pope Benedict gave a homily and there was a beautiful candlelight ceremony and Adoration that was incredibly moving. The sense of anticipation for the next day was palpable.
As generally expected at huge events, the facilities were under huge pressure and sleeping under the stars in the middle of winter was always going to be challenging but all crises were survived. Temperatures were dropping fast but we stayed dry overnight and it was a chilly grey-sky Sunday morning that dawned for the final WYD08 Mass attended by over 400,000 pilgrims. The warm sun of the previous days had gone but the warm spirit of the gathered crowd was not diminished and the beautiful Final Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict got underway mid-morning – the culmination of a week of spirituality, exhilaration, inspiration spent being part of a worldwide family of pilgrims. The Pope gave his final blessing: “Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage, hold fast to that which is good, render to no-one evil for evil, strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted, honour all people, love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.” And he announced that the next World Youth Day would be held in Madrid in 2011. And then there was one last singing of “Receive the Power”, the official theme song of WYD08.
Youth Festival events started up again after the end of the Mass so there was still plenty going on as people farewelled people from other groups and started packing up their overnight gear and prepared to exit the venue, the start of a long walk back towards town to connect up with trains. A very tired but happy group made it back to Pennshurst for the last night and breakfast with their hosts.
The next morning we packed up our gear and said our goodbyes and thanks to our wonderfully generous homestay hosts before gathering at St Declan’s (for the last time) by lunchtime to say our goodbyes and thanks to our parish hosts and presenting them with the gift of an icon from St Thomas More parish. While they were waiting, the pilgrims also created a fabric poster, spontaneously covering it with brief impressions of their week, before being bussed to the airport for our 6:30pm flight. So we arrived back in Auckland about midnight – to be warmly met by families no doubt very happy to see their pilgrims back safe and sound.
A couple of weeks later we all gathered on a Sunday for a debrief retreat, having had the benefit of some time away from the fully-hyped atmosphere of Sydney to reflect and let it all sink in. The retreat then gave the pilgrims and leaders a chance to share their impressions and experiences and reflect more deeply on what they’d gained from the WYD experience. There was also an emphasis on how their experience could be shared with the wider parish community and how they felt they might be able to give back to the community in the light of all the support they’d received from the parish community to actually get them to Sydney. Their enthusiastic suggestions were recorded – and there’s a photo included in the accompanying photo gallery of the final list. (At this stage too there is naturally a lot of enthusiasm for a trip to Madrid in three years’ time!)
A week after the debrief retreat there was a Parish and Pilgrim WYD social gathering in the church hall – a great evening where pilgrims and parishioners could get together and share hospitality and stories from Days in the Diocese and Sydney. It was also great chance for all to recognise and appreciate all that had gone into making the WYD08 journey happen as well as to look forward to seeing the ensuing benefits and blessings for the parish community as a whole.
Some pilgrims spoke at Masses over the next couple of weeks, giving witness to their WYD Sydney experience. Many pilgrims became valuable contributors to parish life (both at Glenfield and East Coast Bays), taking up (or in some cases continuing) roles such as youth group leaders, musicians, altar server leaders/trainers, among others. Their commitment has brought many benefits over time. Just as the WYD08 theme had promised, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses”.
A few weeks later a space was made in the garden to the right of the main entrance to St Thomas More church and a fern was planted surrounded by river stones, each of which carried the name of one of the pilgrims. A blessing ceremony completed the process. The symbolism of planting and growth in a garden seemed to represent beautifully what we’d witnessed in the growth of the parish community spirit through the wider WYD experience.
Louise Raynes, October 2017
And so the planning began – with Helen Ellis (Lucy’s Mum) and Eva Fernandes at the helm. They worked so hard through 2007 and 2008 to get a wonderful group of 26 to Sydney – 22 pilgrims (16 from St Thomas More parish and 8 from East Coast Bays parish), accompanied by two group leaders (Greg Innes and Louise Raynes), ably supported by two chaperones (Mary Manalo and Juanita de Smit). The logistics were challenging but Helen and Eva and their team of helpers were more than up to the task (and they managed this alongside organising the hugely successful pre-WYD “Days in the Diocese” that took place in the parish in the week leading up to the main event in Sydney). A number of family groups also made the pilgrimage to Sydney independently and some of these joined the group for preparation activities. And of course our resident parish priests, Father John Bland and Father Ernie Milne, were in full support of the whole mission.
The theme for WYD08 was: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8 – hence the NZ preparation logo Activ8(NZ)). A lot of effort went into the pilgrim preparation/formation sessions held fortnightly for the year preceding the event. As well as the main co-ordinators, there was valuable and much-appreciated input from priests, seminarians and helpful parishioners, including East Coast Bays parishioners. Pilgrimshaper sessions covered all sorts of topics, from the highly spiritual (reflecting the Spirit and Mission themes of WYD08) to the hugely practical (eg, what to pack and how to pack it) and were held sometimes at St Thomas More and sometimes at St John’s School in Mairangi Bay.
Things really ramped up in the week before departure for Sydney as pilgrims from Canada, USA and Sweden arrived to spend a few days in the parish as part of their pilgrimage to Sydney. The “Days in the Diocese” turned our parish into one big welcoming community and it made us all feel good to be part of something much bigger. It was fun for our pilgrims to meet these people travelling from much farther afield but it was especially good for those people in our parish not going to Sydney as it gave them the opportunity to feel part of the whole Spirit of the event.
The day of departure finally dawned for our own pilgrim group and an excited group was farewelled at Auckland airport on Mon 14 July. In Sydney we were bussed to St Declan’s parish in Pennshurst, where, despite the late hour, we were welcomed and collected by our various hosts who were generously putting us up in their homes, mostly in twos – although one brave family took a whole bunch of guys!
Next morning we all found our way back to St Declan’s and then the local train station and took our first train ride into the central city to find our way to the Barangaroo site on Darling Harbour where the opening Mass and concert would take place later in the day and evening. It was a beautiful, sunny winter’s day and Sydney was alive with WYD activity. The atmosphere on the streets was unforgettable with people from all corners of the world mixing, mingling, singing, carrying flags and banners and generally full of the Spirit – and language was absolutely no barrier. It must have been a big impact on the lives of the people of Sydney to be inundated by up to an extra 400,000 people for the week but they seemed to be genuinely welcoming of the WYD pilgrims. The numbers were sometimes daunting and overwhelming but at the same time impressive and invigorating. It took us a long time to wend our way through the streets to Barangaroo – keeping the group together all the way among the thousands of people being a challenge in itself – but we finally made it and claimed our space at the sprawling Barangaroo site and proudly put up our banner and watched and waitied as the venue kept filing and filling and filling. The opening Mass eventually got underway followed by the concert – yes, WYD08 was truly underway and we were part of it. And then another challenge of leaving the venue as a group and finding our way back, now in the dark of course, through the streets to where we could get a train back to Pennshurst.
The following three days were taken up with catechesis sessions in the mornings at St Declan’s – taken by different bishops from different countries on different topics and offering all in attendance (not just us but all pilgrims being accommodated in this area) the chance to question, enquire and discuss. At St Declan’s the pilgrims had the pleasure of hearing and interacting with a bishop from New Zealand, a bishop from Tipperary Ireland and a bishop from South Dakota USA. These sessions were really well received by all. The sessions concluded with Mass and then lunch was provided at St Declan’s after which the afternoons and evenings offered a myriad of options for participation in Youth Festival events all over the city. Our pilgrims found their way in smaller and larger groups to a variety of these. On the Wed afternoon we first found our way to Horden Pavilion where all pilgrims from New Zealand gathered – a lively event. Apparently there were about 4000 NZ pilgrims taking part in WYD08. On the Thursday afternoon we returned to Barangaroo for the Papal arrival and to hear the Pope’s arrival address. On the Friday afternoon we also took up our assigned position at Barangaroo for witnessing the citywide re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross. Stations 1-7 were taking place at various sites around central Sydney and stations 8-13 at Barangaroo but the whole re-enactment was also being shown on huge screens at all the venues. Very moving.
On Saturday morning we all gathered again at St Declan’s with our sleeping bags and overnight gear before catching the train to North Sydney from where the 9km pilgrimage walk started to Randwick Racecourse where we would spend the night under the stars after a Vigil Mass and Adoration and where the Pope would say the final Mass on Sunday morning. Our nominated start time from North Sydney was 11am and the first part of the walk took us over the Sydney Harbour Bridge – an experience in itself but surrounded by thousands of other WYD pilgrims was really something. It was a long hot day but we all made it and managed to find our allocated camp spot at Randwick Racecourse (which was quite tricky in itself in such a huge venue) – just enough room for us to fit like sardines and no more! There were people as far as the eye could see and Youth Festival events continued on site through to the start of the Evening Vigil at 7pm which got underway with music and song. Pope Benedict gave a homily and there was a beautiful candlelight ceremony and Adoration that was incredibly moving. The sense of anticipation for the next day was palpable.
As generally expected at huge events, the facilities were under huge pressure and sleeping under the stars in the middle of winter was always going to be challenging but all crises were survived. Temperatures were dropping fast but we stayed dry overnight and it was a chilly grey-sky Sunday morning that dawned for the final WYD08 Mass attended by over 400,000 pilgrims. The warm sun of the previous days had gone but the warm spirit of the gathered crowd was not diminished and the beautiful Final Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict got underway mid-morning – the culmination of a week of spirituality, exhilaration, inspiration spent being part of a worldwide family of pilgrims. The Pope gave his final blessing: “Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage, hold fast to that which is good, render to no-one evil for evil, strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted, honour all people, love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.” And he announced that the next World Youth Day would be held in Madrid in 2011. And then there was one last singing of “Receive the Power”, the official theme song of WYD08.
Youth Festival events started up again after the end of the Mass so there was still plenty going on as people farewelled people from other groups and started packing up their overnight gear and prepared to exit the venue, the start of a long walk back towards town to connect up with trains. A very tired but happy group made it back to Pennshurst for the last night and breakfast with their hosts.
The next morning we packed up our gear and said our goodbyes and thanks to our wonderfully generous homestay hosts before gathering at St Declan’s (for the last time) by lunchtime to say our goodbyes and thanks to our parish hosts and presenting them with the gift of an icon from St Thomas More parish. While they were waiting, the pilgrims also created a fabric poster, spontaneously covering it with brief impressions of their week, before being bussed to the airport for our 6:30pm flight. So we arrived back in Auckland about midnight – to be warmly met by families no doubt very happy to see their pilgrims back safe and sound.
A couple of weeks later we all gathered on a Sunday for a debrief retreat, having had the benefit of some time away from the fully-hyped atmosphere of Sydney to reflect and let it all sink in. The retreat then gave the pilgrims and leaders a chance to share their impressions and experiences and reflect more deeply on what they’d gained from the WYD experience. There was also an emphasis on how their experience could be shared with the wider parish community and how they felt they might be able to give back to the community in the light of all the support they’d received from the parish community to actually get them to Sydney. Their enthusiastic suggestions were recorded – and there’s a photo included in the accompanying photo gallery of the final list. (At this stage too there is naturally a lot of enthusiasm for a trip to Madrid in three years’ time!)
A week after the debrief retreat there was a Parish and Pilgrim WYD social gathering in the church hall – a great evening where pilgrims and parishioners could get together and share hospitality and stories from Days in the Diocese and Sydney. It was also great chance for all to recognise and appreciate all that had gone into making the WYD08 journey happen as well as to look forward to seeing the ensuing benefits and blessings for the parish community as a whole.
Some pilgrims spoke at Masses over the next couple of weeks, giving witness to their WYD Sydney experience. Many pilgrims became valuable contributors to parish life (both at Glenfield and East Coast Bays), taking up (or in some cases continuing) roles such as youth group leaders, musicians, altar server leaders/trainers, among others. Their commitment has brought many benefits over time. Just as the WYD08 theme had promised, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses”.
A few weeks later a space was made in the garden to the right of the main entrance to St Thomas More church and a fern was planted surrounded by river stones, each of which carried the name of one of the pilgrims. A blessing ceremony completed the process. The symbolism of planting and growth in a garden seemed to represent beautifully what we’d witnessed in the growth of the parish community spirit through the wider WYD experience.
Louise Raynes, October 2017