CYM WYD 08

>> Monday, July 14, 2008

Well it seems like our mates in Ozzie Land are having a wonderful time representing our parish below the equator. For us who must resign ourselves to be armchair pilgrims, we can join them as they participate in WYD's major events.

The first big event is the opening Mass with His Eminence, George Cardinal Pell, Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Sydney. This Mass will take place on Tuesday at the Barangaroo (I love saying that name--it's like a cross between a boomerang and a kangaroo), a waterfront promenade built specifically for World Youth Day near the Sydney Harbor (or I should say "Harbour").

However, for us, this Mass will be from 11:30pm to 1:30am TONIGHT, MONDAY, JULY 14. You can view it live by going to the official WYD site or to EWTN. I'll hopefully post more ways that you can join in on the fun and in the prayers of our three pilgrims. It'll be just like we're there--sans the cold and the crowds.

WYD Pilgrimage: Catholic Girls High School Edition Pt. 1

So, I am typing this blog in a classroom at an All Girls Catholic High School. St. Ursula's in Kingsgrove. This is where we will be staying for the next five days. Basically they stripped all the classrooms of their tables, desks, chairs, materials and each room is barren except for the luggage of 8-15 pilgrims (Pictures to follow)

It's a cool place, the staff and volunteers are really Acers (that's more Australian Slang)! There are about 500 people staying here in total. From like 10+ countries... Singapore, to India, to Brazil. That's cuh-razy! Imagine 500 people spending the night at your school. 5 nights... complete with breakfast.

We are also staying right next to Our Lady of Fatima Parish. Pretty cool that it's that close. Only a gate separates the school and the parish. Now the Church. Interesting architecture. Interesting Tabernacle and Fonts. It's not a traditional setup... but that isn't a bad thing. St. Catherine's isn't a traditional setup either. I don't know how to describe the art style, but don't worry pictures will come later.

On an additional note, it does feel good to feel connected with back home... whether it be through reading e-mails about things going on, or reading the comments you all post, or even continuing to read and pray the intentions in the prayer binder. It is so beautiful just to see how we can be connected through prayer this many miles away.

I think the priest at Our Lady of Fatima said it best: "We hope that WYD makes you feel at home. At home in Sydney. But more importantly at home in our Church, the Catholic Church."

Here's to home... wherever you find yourself: Vallejo, Montana, Alturas, San Diego or at an All Girls Catholic High School in Kingsgrove, Australia.

Pax et Bonum.
Raj

p.s. I am going to post about all the interesting foods and products I find in Australia, but here's one to amuse you until then:

More from Ed

More recollections from the first day, and continued:

"We took our food to the nearby beach. The sand was a mellow, near-white hue. You know how grains of sand are pretty loosely packed, and coarse? Like, you take a step and you sink a little bit? The sand on this beach was almost powdery; the grains were like white sugar, but not as brightly colored.

The undulating waves were lined with dedicated surgers, and the wet sand dotted with occasional runners. We enjoyed our meal in peace until the seagulls began to surround us. They were grumpy opportunists, waiting for us to leave or toss them food, and making noises at other seagulls when one got too close to the other. Surfers must love this place. It's the middle of winter over here, and yeah, I could've gone without seeing a guy in a speedo. Gross. Other than that, the view was remarkable. Well, if you're into speedos, even better. Gross, again.

Monday, the 14th - about 0800h

As we perused the city streets, plenty of things came to mind. Baskin Robbins isn't much of a big thing around here. In fact, one branch by the beach actually closed to due to lack of business. McDonald's is popular, though; locals affectionately dub it 'Mack-uhs,' and many locations sport sliding doors. Actually, lots of places had sliding doors, even the restrooms (aka 'toilets' here. One could draw many, many similiarities between Sydney and San Francisco. They're both culturally diverse, they're right by the sea, full of tourists and tourist attractions, the shopping centres are chock full of avant-garde fashion, ads are everywhere, and so much more. Of course, there are inherent differences. The streets in Sydney are significantly wider, blah blah blah. One exciting thing, was that banners of WYD 08 were on lamp posts all over town, and even taxi cab advertisements cautioned people of extra pedestrians who are possible WYD participants. If you looked in the right places, you could see various venues preparing for events. St. Mary's Cathedral had this electronic sign counting down the days until the start. Our Big Papa was everywhere, too. T-shirts, newspapers, televised news... it's awesome.

Ask us about Sky Tower, if you get the chance. Nice little side story there. I want one of those jumpsuits, though. Filipino food = "Filo" food. After dinner, we checked out a local grocery store. BIG CULTURE SHOCK. See the pictures to believe. More cute little stories, etc.

We had Mass on Sunday morning with one of the many visiting bishops while at St. Mary's Cathedral (which is beautifully designed, rich with intricate details which left me awestruck at any given moment. The coffin of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was on display to the side of the altar. He's one of the patrons of WYD, and obviously led an exemplary life by virtue of his status. Read up on him, he was truly on fire."

Back to now:
All three of us are writing on the blog from St. Ursula's College in Kingsgrove, a slight way's off from Sydney, but we've been alotted bus passes. Sweet, eh? This is our first night here, and my cousin Julie was kind enough to drop us off after a temporary goodbye. We had heaps of fun over the weekend, ending with a visit to the Featherdale Wildlife Park, was it? and our first meal from Macker's featuring McAfrica, McAsia, and an Aussie Big Mac. McAmerica is only available for breakfast. We did a lot of walking around in the city, and eventually my cute little cousin, Julie's son, Ezekiel, joined us. From here, we'll let the pictures speak for themselves until we write about more of our experiences. I had some on my brother's camera, but I'll upload them ... somehow...

We've been going through the Magnificat, which is absolutely smashing. Today's Mass reading, and the Magnificat's overall theme of today talked about getting out of one's comfort zone. A complementary reading from St. Paul's letter to the Philippians speaks of how Paul considers "everything a loss because of Christ," in order to gain Christ. Even this Sunday's gospel struck a chord in my heart because of the familiar parable of the seeds trying to grow in different places. Almost tailor-made for all of us pilgrims, see? Understanding what Jesus commands through these passages and through our Tradition helps us to become true pilgrims.

Remember, all of you, that even though you haven't physically come here with us to Australia, that you, too, are pilgrims. I don't recall where, but I remember reading about how we're like pilgrims in this life, which is only temporary compared to the eternity of God's Kingdom. We're only "strangers and nomads on earth." There are plenty of pilgrimages throughout the history of our church and by the church itself if you think about it. So as we embark on the start of World Youth Day, recall that we appreciate your prayers as we have taken your prayers with us to the other side of the world to be lifted up with those of countless others with The Holy Father.

I'm getting really excited on the inside. Pray for me and for all of us, because of the battles we're fighting individually, but together. A lot of the prayer intentions from the binder and personal messages are for the sick and the suffering. Just seeing the innumerous amount of intentions kinda makes me feel responsible yet strengthened to offer them up to God. I've experienced a lot of magnanimous people in my life, but man, everyone's just so... great. I love Catholics. I love my family. I love you guys. I love God. I want one of those shirts that Guy Sebastian had that said, "I (heart)." Get it? Instead of I (heart) NY or something. My family's been really supportive, my Auntie Mila's family near spoiled us and fed us and sheltered us, and my Auntie Naty (who's a nun! I keep forgetting to ask what order, though) called from the Philippines.

Remember that rumor that WYD might be in Spain in 2011? A Cardinal passed by us on the Mass processions. We should've been like, "*COUGH*Spain*COUGH*España*COUGH."

Wow, this is long. We're chatting it up with two of the teachers overlooking the computer room. They're hella fun. Cheers, mates.

Godspeed!

MYSPACE?!?!

G'day mate!

so i woke up early this morning and i turned on the tv to watch Aussie Sunrise, like Goodmorning America, to catch the news. they had a few topics that they kept coming back to every 30 mins. one of course is the Pope's arrival for World Youth Day. the only other topic mentioned more is the birth of the Brangelina twins.

the anchorman asked, "what exactly is WYD??"
"it certainly has nothing to do with the world that's for sure!" the "Catholic" anchorwoman replied.
i though to myself, "uhm... only people from all over the world are coming together to be in one place, it's bigger than the olypics, and i only flew more than 13 hours from a different continent to get here... but i guess none of that has to do with the world... ?"

i continued to watch the show as i packed my bags, and i noticed that they paid way more attention to the brangelina twins. but as the show went on, they talked about it a little longer each time they brought it up. The anchorwoman was Catholic and confessed that she hadn't been going to Church for a while.
They talked about the attitude of the aussie youth, and they say that the Catholic Church is out of touch with the youth. (i don't think they knew about all the pilgrims that went to the last WYD)
PLUS, GET THIS, this poll comes from MYSPACE!!! THAT'S CRAZY!!
they said that:
77% of youth in australia, 14-24 feel that the Church is out of touch
89% disagree with the Churches teachings on sex
and more than half want to boycott WYD!

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!?!
how reliable is any internet poll, especially myspace?!?!

those numbers are shocking, and indeed one can't deny that the Church's youth is always at risk, but that's exactly why we are gathering here and that's why the Holy Father has blessed them (and us) with his presence.

The Homily from Mass yesterday was about the faith of the aussie youth, and he said that they were straying from the Church. and he said that faith must taught and nourished in the family as well in Church. On the morning show, the anchorman would joke about his partner and that she should go to all the events and bring her kids, and maybe it would be the opportune time for her to start going back to Church.

it makes me think of how blessed i was to have been brought up in practicing Catholic family, were i was brought up in strong faith. even though i have my lost moments, no matter how far i stray i have a home to return to.
then being out here, 7416 miles from home, but at the same time still be at home with all our brothers and sisters.
My highlight of the day was signing the WYD theme song and holding hands with everyone right after the welcome liturgy at St. Ursula's college. everyone held hands, high in the air and waving side to side we sing loud and proud and the energy and love in the room was amazing.

I can still feel all the anticipation building up for tomorrow when we meet the Pope on the Borangaroo. gradually my limbs get numb and there's butterflies in my stomach... it's all overwhelming, and i try to remind myself that this pilgrimage is different from the one before. so, i really don't know what to expect, except for the massive crowds, and the freezing cold...

I'm lovin it!!!

ok, well it's almost 4 in the morning, and i'm buggahd!
so i guess i'm off to my cold classroom and i'll sleep on the cold floor in my little space.
BTW, in aussie football, the saints won and the demons lost! HAHA

Another day from Edmund

>> Sunday, July 13, 2008

Taken from my journal, 2144h, 07.12

"I'm sitting next to a slumbering Raj, who is wearing his left sock inside out. Part of me would like to imagine that he has a valid reason for this. Who knows, maybe it's some act of defiance or a symbolic gesture. The other part of me is obviously laughing at the first part.

The flight was lengthy and gassy. I'm sorry, Angela... (actually, no I'm not). Blame the food. The rest of teh flight found me trying to figure out how to use my waking hours. Did some reading, adopted the term 'rubbish' into my Customs and immigrations went smoothly, especially because this one lady was specially designated to assist WYD pilgrims.

As we approached the exits, I told the others to look for a "Filipino lady" because my cousin Julie agreed to pick us up. Luckily, we found her RIGHT AWAY, no kidding, and we headed out. We were surprised to find two things (well, except Raj): the driver of automobiles is seated on the right side of the vehicle, and you are to drive on the left side of the road. Second, Raj was surprised by the third thing. Third, it was colder than we'd anticipated."

07.13.08, about 2100h

"It's Sunday the 13th over here, and the last two days have been Australia-licious. We arrived early in the morning, about half-six. One of the first things we did was stop by a local park, which had a spectacular view of the opera house and of several skyscrapers. Then, we kinda got lost, much to Julie's chagrin. She told us that she starts crying when she's truly lost. Luckily, it didn't come to that, and we decided to hit up the shore.

Our first meal on the mainland was from a small kebab joint. Meats (chicken, beef, lamb) are sliced thin, piled onto a rotating, upright rod, and roasted by some contraption."

Uhh... the rest is a little boring... I'll post some better stuff later. I have pictures too, but yeah. The rest so far is being around the Sydney streets and celebrating Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral. Lots of fascinating stuff nonetheless. Later, mates.

Godspeed!

And now introducing...

Hello there everyone...

You might not know me, but I am the fourth pilgrim on this WYD trip. I was supposed to be a stunt double in Passion Play, y'kno? Up until a few days ago I was enjoying the comfortable life chillin' in Lisa Emperador's room with all my homies like Smalls, and Stitch... my name is Biggie.

That's me chillaxin on Bondi Beach after having brekkie (that's Australian for Breakfast) the other day.

Raj, Angela, and Eddie took me along to remind them of all the amazing people they wish were here spending this pilgrimage with them. Everyone from Fangirl Lisa, to the master planner Seanzy, to Jokester Father Jess.

Well I'll keep this short for now, but look out for more of my adventures, and here's a few more pictures of me to keep you 'til I post again.

Me at the top of Sydney Tower: