Sydney
2 June 2002
Home
Archive
Subscribe
Links
Contact
Kids join archbishop in cathedral Mass
Respect for life under threat Bishops warn PM on embryo research
Call for prayer for Toronto pilgrims
Catholics, Jews find common ground
More ‘to unite than divide’
Where will schools find cash for paid maternity leave?
Mass, homilies draw record hits to site
Bishop praises ‘vibrant faith’ of grandparents
Check behind label to see if clothes are ‘ethically fit’
Sr Betty’s dream - filling the faith gap
Caritas lecture series
Editorial: Embryos - Nazi reminder
Letters: Prayer, not gimmicks bring people back to faith
Christ’s life at heart of Virginia’s decisions - Virginia Judge, mayor and champion of the oppressed
Reflections: ecumenical leader steps down
Opinion: Who did celebrate the first Mass in Australia?
Healing group sees ‘a lot of miracles’
Salesians are on hand to help
Pope can step down if he wants to - and he wouldn’t be the first
‘Irish’ phobia became luck of the Irish
Inspirations: Sweet music in a Saturday desert
Call for prayer for Toronto pilgrims
Marita Franklin ... call for prayers and support for Sydney’s pilgrims to World Youth Day
By Marilyn Kerjean
More than 300 young people from the Sydney archdiocese will be attending World Youth Day in Toronto, now only six weeks away; what they need now are the prayers and support of everyone who is staying behind.
That’s because the World Youth Days are for the benefit of the whole Church, not just the young Catholics who attend, says Marita Franklin, the pilgrimage contact for the Sydney archdiocese.
And prayer will increase the benefits for the whole Church.
“We will take them away and we will bring them back and they will be able to make valuable contributions to the Church here,” she says. “That will happen through prayer.
“So if all the parishioners in Sydney can pray for them that would be great.”
The World Youth Day celebrations will be held on July 22-28, but 95 of the Sydney pilgrims will leave Sydney for Mexico on July 12 as part of a 20-day pilgrimage.
They will be accompanied by the Archbishop of Sydney, Archbishop George Pell, Bishop David Cremin and diocesan priests.
Their journey starts in Guadalupe (the Pope will visit Guadalupe after World Youth Day to canonise Blessed Juan Diego).
Next on the itinerary are Montreal and Quebec to take in some beautiful pilgrimage sites before World Youth Day begins in Toronto.
A highlight of those first few days will be a visit to the shrine of Notre Dame du Cap (Our Lady of the Cape) in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, east of Montreal and near the university town of Trois Rivières.
It is Canada’s first Marian shrine.
They will also visit the shrines of Our Lady’s Martyrs and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, as well as a Jesuit mission on the outskirts of Montreal.
Bl Kateri Tekakwitha, along with St Thérèse of Lisieux, is a patron saint of World Youth Day.
She was the daughter of a Mohawk chief. She faced hostility for converting to Catholicism and died in 1680 at the age of 24.
The archbishop’s group will be joined by other pilgrims en route to the festival.
“We’ve been able to go to all the places that are shrines in their own right,” says Ms Franklin.
It’s definitely a pilgrimage and not a holiday, she says.
Archbishop Pell agrees.
“It won’t be a tourist jaunt,” he says. “The pilgrimage is a very ancient custom, almost as old as our religion.
“Traditionally it has been an opportunity to strengthen our growth in faith and repent our sins.”
The archbishop says he can’t guarantee the young pilgrims that it will be the most comfortable of trips - they will be sharing the city with thousands of their contemporaries from 150 countries - but it will be an enjoyable experience that he hopes will strengthen their faith.
“I’m looking forward to it very much,” he says.
“I attended the last World Youth Day in Rome, and went to the Holy Land beforehand.
“It was a marvellous experience and I made many very good friends.
“For me it was a bit like a retreat. It was very enjoyable and there were many opportunities for prayer.”
In all, 2000 young Australian Catholics will go to World Youth Day 2002.
The first day will involve their welcome and registration.
On the next few days participants will break up into language groups for catechism in the mornings. Afternoons will be reserved for enjoying youth drama, music and other performances.
There will be some time spent picnicking at Niagara Falls before the highlight of the festival on the final day, the World Youth Day Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II.
This will be the third World Youth Day Ms Franklin has participated in.
“I believe in it so much, I’m willing to share it with others,” she says. “And now we have more than 300 young people to share it with.”