Ballarat Diocese pilgrims have told family and friends of an amazing and rich range of experiences on their World Youth Day pilgrimage.

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1 Ballarat Diocese pilgrims have told family and friends of an amazing and rich range of experiences on their World Youth Day pilgrimage. The weather pushed us physically and Pope Francis pushes us spiritually said one of the Warrnambool pilgrims. Pope Francis addressed the pilgrims on a number of occasions, culminating in the Vigil and the World Youth Day Mass. Krakow turned on rain for some events and then the WYD Mass was held under a clear sky and hot sun. The pilgrims walked fifteen kilometres away from Krakow to Mercy Field to join Pope Francis for the Vigil reflections on Saturday evening. All the pilgrims kept vigil or slept there overnight, out in the field, under the stars, and in the morning participated in the WYD Mass, 1.5 million mostly young people with Pope Francis as the celebrant. They then went off to their post-wyd retreat in the nearby mountains to debrief and reflect and prepare for home. The Victorian Pilgrimage, including the Ballarat pilgrims arrive home this weekend. We look forward to featuring their WYD stories in the next E-news. You can see and hear Pope Francis and the WYD events on on demand video through xt3

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3 Several St John of God caregivers joined hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims in Krakow, Poland, to celebrate World Youth Day. Led by St John of God Murdoch Hospital Deputy Director of Mission Michael Trainor, the caregivers say the experience was absolutely amazing. We started our journey by staying with host families that offered us hospitality in abundance, said St John of God Ballarat Hospital Clinical Nurse Specialist Ali Pickles. It was amazing to learn about Polish family life and to become a part of the local parish. The pilgrims followed in the footsteps of St John Paul II by staying in Kalvaria, the former Pope s favourite retreat in the Mountains, before travelling to Krakow for the World Youth Day Opening Mass. Festivities ran from July and included Catechetical sessions, walking pilgrimages, music and an appearance from the Pope. What an experience, both spiritually and emotionally, said Ali. We could not wait to come home and share our experience with you all. Read more about Ali s experience below. FROM A LEADER S VIEW: As a leader, and someone who has attended previous WYDs, I was really touched to see the enthusiasm and witness of the pilgrims. One of my favourite days was the Papal Welcome. We walked in pelting rain to Blonia Park to our designated section of the field. Like the thousands of other pilgrims, we positioned ourselves near a fence with the hope that Pope Francis would drive by us in his famous Popemobile. The arrival of Pope Francis was indeed very special. However, it was what happened after this that was the real highlight. This included each area of the world being celebrated with a presentation of a saint from that area and with music. When Australia was mentioned and we saw a gigantic image of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, the crowd around me erupted. We jumped. We cheered. We danced. A small circle of dancing pilgrims quickly multiplied and before long hundreds of pilgrims were involved. The energy was amazing and it is something that I will never forget. Pope Francis himself was a particular highlight. He not only embodies joy, but he speaks in such a way that inspired us all. At the vigil he called on young people to avoid being couch potatoes. He went on to say to all those present that, Today s world demands that you be a protagonist of history because life is always beautiful when we choose to live it fully, when we choose to leave a mark. This is the challenge for all pilgrims who attended World Youth Day. How do we live out this challenge to fully live our lives and our faith on our return to our normal lives? Thank you to all those people who have supported our pilgrims, our Diocese was always in our prayers. I encourage all members of our Diocese to keep supporting their local pilgrims as they continue on the journey that they have begun at WYD in Kraków. Stacey Atkins

4 Before attending the WYD pilgrimage I was reconnecting as a Catholic and I finished completing my sacraments at Easter I was baptised a Catholic but was brought up in Baptist faith attending Youth group and Sunday school. As I grew up, as a teenager, religion was uncool (in my eyes) and I completely stepped away from my faith. Some years later I attended the Australian Catholic University in Ballarat studying for my nursing degree and this re-engaged my curiosity about the Catholic faith. My belief in myself and concern about what others thought of me prevented me following this curiosity through. I have worked for St John of God Hospital for many years adhering to Catholic values and when I had children I found myself sure I wanted them to be brought up as Catholics. I baptised my three children in the Catholic faith and they attend school at St Thomas More Primary School. The more my children learnt about the Catholic faith, the more my need to follow my Catholic journey strengthened and I finally took the step late last year to finish my sacraments. This was the best decision as it has opened so many doors for me. The opportunity to travel to WYD came about as one of my sponsors is the Director of Mission at work, who felt I would learn so much from the WYD experience. I cannot comprehend how much I have learnt. Before I left I didn t even know how to pray the rosary! Top: Ali pictured front Bottom: Ali in red on the Many people talk about God moments on WYD. Beforehand I would have said yeah right! However there were a few God moments for me during the WYD experience. The Opening Mass was the first. It was overcast and looked like it was about to rain. As soon as Mass began the clouds parted and the suns rays shone through onto the stage for the whole of Mass. It was such a beautiful moment. Another moment came from the retreat in Lichen Stary. Not only was this a beautiful place but also I felt so connected. I prayed more than I ever have and was surrounded by like-minded people who helped me grow in myself as a Catholic. I entered the retreat free of any angst I had previously carried before embarking on WYD. Overall, the highlight of my WYD experience would have to be the time spent with the host families in Warsaw. I knew it would be fun as I have participated in an exchange as a student however this was unbelievable. My host family opened their doors to us and although they did not own much and were not wealthy, they treated us like royalty. They welcomed us like members of their own family and despite our language and cultural barriers we were brought together by faith. Without this experience we would not have experienced traditional Polish family life and culture. The whole experience of WYD has changed me significantly. I am connected to some awesome people and have become close friends with a couple of young priests from Western Australia. We were some of the older ones in our group and we connected on many levels but most importantly spiritually. They have taught me so much and continue to answer my silly questions. For that I am very thankful. I now feel fully connected to my Catholic faith. I understand Mass, the prayers and I feel now I can fully participate. Post WYD I want to get more involved with the Catholic community. Specifically helping in the youth ministry in my diocese. I will get off the couch as Pope Francis suggested. I would like to lead young people to the Australian Youth Festival in Sydney 2017 as well as be a leader for a youth group to the next WYD in Panama 2019.

5 Michaela Corrigan, a pilgrim from Ballarat speaks of her experience at World Youth Day: On August 16 I boarded a plane along with fellow pilgrims, bound for Rome. Our group pilgrimage was called the John Paul II Trail, a reversal of Pope John Paul II s journey from Krakow to the Vatican. My personal pilgrimage was the discovery of Divine Mercy. When I was in my early 20 s I turned my back on the Church and what I saw as its outdated rules and regulations. With every passing day I stepped further away from Christ and lost a little more of my faith, until I reached the point where I began to doubt the very existence of God. I was deeply unhappy and unfulfilled by my secular lifestyle and eventually, after many years, I began a slow and painful journey back to the Church. I started to attend Mass again, but I felt out of place sitting in the congregation. In the Michaela and Stacey Atkins time that I d been away changes had been made, the prayers I knew so well now had different words and the responses had also changed. I felt conspicuous, as though everyone in the Church could see that I had no idea what I was doing. I was afraid that they all knew my ugly truth, that I didn t belong and had no right to be there. I would leave ashamed and disheartened and each time it would take me weeks to build up the courage to come back again. I went to youth group meetings, hoping to find acceptance with people closer to my age, but again I felt terrified that they would see through me and recognise the fraud; faithless and lost. When I heard about WYD I saw it as my last-ditch effort to find my way back to the Church. As I began preparing for the pilgrimage I started to feel the weight of my lifestyle during my years away from the Church. It had been eight years since my last confession and those eight years had become a physical weight that sat heavily on my heart. I couldn t bear the thought of carrying that weight with me on the pilgrimage. I needed to go to reconciliation. I poured my soul out and at the end my parish priest explained to me that our faith is one of great joy and now I would be open to experiencing the joy of Christ s Mercy for myself. I left feeling relieved and at peace, the unbearable weight had lifted, but there was no joy. I realised that it had been many years since I had felt any joy in my life. So I began my pilgrimage absolved but still seeking acceptance. Until we reached Czestochowa and attended Mass near the shrine of Our Lady of Jasna Góra. After receiving communion, I knelt to pray, looking up at the massive crucifix above the altar and was filled with shame. I had turned my back on Christ, I didn t deserve His Mercy. To the left of the altar was an image of the Black Madonna, I prayed for her to bring me closer to her son. As I prayed I was filled with the most incredible feeling of love, Mary s love for me. Stronger than anything I had ever experienced in my life and with it finally came the joy I had been missing for so long.

6 I overflowed with joy and I couldn t help sharing it with my fellow pilgrims along the rest of our journey. And as we shared experiences, laughed, explored and prayed my joy grew. This amazing bunch of forty-two young people and three incredible chaplains were my friends, my family, my community. For the first time I felt like I truly belonged, not just to my little pilgrimage group but to Christ s Church. FROM A CHAPLAIN S VIEW: Kraków 2018 is the third World Youth Day I have attended, but it s the first World Youth Day I ve attended as a priest. The priest s perspective is very different. I think I heard up to one hundred confessions of pilgrims from all over the English-speaking world and I provided spiritual direction to thirty or forty pilgrims from Victoria. Those ministries give me a glimpse into the impact of WYD on the interior life of pilgrims, but of course I m not at liberty to relate any of that. That s privileged information, unique to God and each pilgrim, and I was only eavesdropping. Even if I remembered it, I couldn t repeat it. As it happens, I have a terrible memory, so I forget very quickly. I ask the Holy Spirit to take care of the rest. However, Maya Angelou s famous aphorism still applies: People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. There is a general feeling I experienced as a WYD chaplain which is vivid and unforgettable. It evokes a few thoughts that I can comment on. Everything that follows derives from external observations and public conversations and testimonies. Where two or three are gathered in my name, our Lord assures us. There am l in the midst of them. (Mt 18:20) When two or three million are gathered in his name, the Lord s presence is palpable. I know so many pilgrims who experienced a wondrous personal encounter with Christ during World Youth Day, often for the first time. Typically, pilgrims met Christ In their fellow pilgrims. The Victorian pilgrimage adopted an inspired arrangement which meant that every pilgrim spent the bulk of their time with six co-pilgrims and a small group leader. At the start of the trip, those co-pilgrims were random strangers, with disparate backgrounds and often opposing temperaments. By the end of World Youth Day, new and sincere friendships were forged on common experiences and shared faith. As a chaplain, who did not belong to a small group but moved between them, I could observe how important each pilgrim is to God s divine work.

7 From the start, many pilgrims were well-established in the faith. Maybe they are members (or leaders) in a vibrant parish youth group, or maybe they are the only young person in their entire Sunday Mass congregation, but still they come, week after week. Probably, these pilgrims were looking forward to having their faith confirmed, and meeting likeminded peers who get them. God s thinking is different, instead of blessing these pilgrims with consolations, He put them to work knowing that their knowledge of the faith and love of God would profoundly impact pilgrims with less faith or none. Many pilgrims signed onto World Youth Day with caution and hope. They were wrestling with sincere doubts, or maybe their faith and love of God had become lukewarm. Many hoped that the catechesis and experiences of World Youth Day would assuage doubts, or reignite previous fervour. God s thinking is different. The excitement and enthusiasm of co-pilgrims baffled many, and it isolated them. But they met the like-minded too. A Syrian pilgrim shared her testimony at the papal vigil. She described the horrors of civil war, the gut-wrenching fear which becomes a daily companion and the subsequent doubts in God s mercy. Ultimately, this heroic young woman has resolved her doubts and loves God very much. Her words touched pilgrims at all stages of faith, many of whom return home still wrestling with big questions unresolved. Many pilgrims signed onto World Youth Day with little or no faith. Often they started with a scientific curiosity, disinterested observers who looked forward to learning more about Poland, or experiencing a global event. God had different plans for them too. Many were swept up and swept off their feet by the sincere love and unembarrassed faith of young people who are just like them. Fr John Corrigan Robert James: Earlier this year, as part of the Victorian Pilgrimage John Paul II Trail, I attended my fourth WYD in Karkow, Poland. My WYD story begins as many do when this Catholic Youth Event founded by Saint John Paul II in 1985 came to our home country of Australia and hosted in the city of Sydney Experiencing such a large gathering of Catholic young people renewed my Christian faith and set me on a path that had led me to Poland in World Youth Day, celebrated Internationally every three years, is a week-long series of events designed to celebrate young people and their faith in the Church. Beginning with an Opening Mass held on the Tuesday evening, four other main events make up the core of WYD. The Papal Welcome which

8 takes place on the Thursday Evening and the Stations of the Cross on Friday Evening are two of these main events that help lead to the final weekend events. The events on Saturday and Sunday include a pilgrimage walk to the site of the final two events, the Vigil Mass and the Final Mass, ending with the announcement of the host of the next WYD. World Youth Day 2016, was a unique and powerful experience for me in my faith journey. This trip of a lifetime had found itself happening at a time when my life was throwing some serious obstacles at me and getting away for three weeks was the ideal opportunity to rediscover the path I was supposed to be following. My World Youth Day Week experience began on the Tuesday, leading our pilgrimage group through the crowds to Blonia Park, and settling an area for us to enjoy the Opening Mass. Unexpectedly cloudy and cold, with a chance of rain, I ll never forget this Mass because from the moment it started, the clouds parted and a ray of sun shone down on the cross above the altar for the duration of the Mass. It was after this Mass, returning back to our accommodation and food court, that I experienced one of the many joys about WYD. Standing in line I became great friends with a young Alaskan pilgrim from America. The Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Mornings involve Mass and Catechesis with a bishop. This is a chance to hear from some of the leaders of the church and to enrich our faith with a better understanding of some of the themes associated with each WYD. A particular highlight was Friday morning getting to attend Catechesis with Bishop Prouse, whom I had known from attending WYD13 with him in Rio. Wednesday Night is a chance for the youth to attend Festival Events, and I was lucky enough to attend in a big basketball stadium, a night of mercy. This was a particular highlight I experienced through music, adoration and meaningful testimony. The Papal Welcome and Stations of the Cross provided their own good memories, but my spiritual experiences came from the Candlelit Vigil Mass, Testimonies from the Youth around the World, and the Final Mass, with the announcement of the next WYD. World Youth Day is one of those experiences that if you have the opportunity, take it with everything you have. You never know what it may bring to not only your spiritual journey, but your life direction.

9 Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. (Mt5:7) World Youth Day in Kraków, Poland brought together young Catholics from around the world to celebrate and learn about their faith. In a world where it is not always popular, or easy, to be a Catholic, over 2 million young people gathered with Pope Francis at "Campus Misericordiae" (Field of Mercy) to celebrate the young heart of the Church. I was privileged to be the Pilgrimage Coordinator for one of the four pilgrimages from the Dioceses of Victoria. It was an honour to lead a group of inspiring young men and women on the John Paul II Trail. During our pilgrimage, we walked in the footsteps of JPII. We prayed at his tomb in St Peter s Basilica, we visited the town where he was born and we walked the streets of Kraków, where he was the Archbishop. We visited and prayed at various holy sites, including St Francis tomb in Assisi and at the Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa and we reflected at Auschwitz and Birkenau. Throughout the pilgrimage, we were all strengthened in our faith by those that we walked besides. Each of the four pilgrimages had amazing experiences and opportunities to grow in their faith. Throughout the WYD week we listened to Cardinals and Archbishops speak to us about the theme Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (Mt5:7), we attended large scale events, including the Opening Mass, Papal Welcome and Stations of the Cross, and we had quiet moments of prayer and reflection. It is extremely challenging to capture the entire experience of WYD in a few paragraphs. Each pilgrim will have their own moments where they were touched, where they learnt something, felt something and where they were transformed. There were moments where I was challenged, where I felt complete joy and where I experienced the mercy of God in those I journeyed with. No pilgrim returns from WYD the same. Fr James Kerr: To be entirely honest I hadn t given all that much thought to the upcoming pilgrimage as I packed my bags for World Youth Day Krakow. I was very grateful for the invitation from the Bishop to accompany the group as a chaplain, but as a chaplain I figured I was going not so much for myself but for the pilgrims I would minister to. Perhaps this allowed me to simply take the pilgrimage as I found it, I m not sure. What I can say is that going as a priest chaplain was a tremendous blessing. I was able to live the experience through the eyes of the hundred pilgrims I accompanied, as well as through the many others I encountered during the week in conversations and in confession.

10 If there was a common theme to their experience it was this; they had had an encounter with Christ. The shape of that experience was unique to each pilgrim. For some they were overwhelmed with joy, surrounded by so many like-minded young pilgrims ready to embrace their faith. For some they were consoled with a deep and profound peace, firm in the knowledge they were known and loved by Christ. For others still, their path was not as easy. For various reasons they might have experienced great difficulties while on the pilgrimage. In that desolation though they were able to find love, and in that love Christ showed his face to them. Love by its very nature is something shared, and in being shared is strengthened. When we are filled with love for a person, we have a deep desire to share that love with those around us. As a priest therefore I live for nothing other than that others may come to know and love Christ. To see this encounter in the lives and hearts of those I serve is my deepest joy and reward. I am deeply grateful therefore to have had the opportunity to attend World Youth Day as a chaplain, and would like to pass my thanks on to the Bishop and all the faithful of the Diocese who made it possible. ALOISIA MAFI FROM THE MILDURA PARISH: Attending my first WYD in Krakow, Poland I didn t know what to expect but I did have some idea of what it could possibly be like. In the end I never expected to fall in love with a country with such a rich history and beautiful culture, which wouldn t have been such a perfect and memorable experience without the strangers from the Poland Encounter we met at the formation sessions in Melbourne, to the family we became by the end of the pilgrimage. There were many great highlights from my WYD journey but for now I will share one special moment. Before coming to WYD, I had been seeking answers I knew only God could answer and the major one was What is my vocation? What was God calling me to be or how could he use me for his greater glory? I guess I might have known what it was but for selfish reasons I ignored what he wanted to say in hope that he would give me the answer I wanted. So it was during our first catechesis with Cardinal Dolan where he responded to a question of Mercy for oneself, that I was touched from his words of love and wisdom that resulted in my deep need to go to reconciliation. Coming back from confession and gazing upon our Lord in adoration, I couldn t help the tears that continually flowed from the overwhelming feeling of love and forgiveness I d just experienced and it was in this moment that I felt

11 Jesus speak to me in my heart and say Yes that s what I want you to do. This confirmed my question to be truly open and explore the possibility that he might be calling me to the religious life. Having said Yes to him I decided that s what I would do when I returned home from Poland. Having faced many challenges along the way, overall it was the most amazing and best time of my life, spent with fantastic companions and meeting such beautiful people, particularly my host family. I am very grateful I had the opportunity to go on a journey I will cherish forever. CHLOE MASON - ACU BALLARAT STUDENT - BACHELOR OF EDUCATION (PRIMARY) I left my hometown of Ararat on July 15 feeling very excited and nervous about what I was about to experience. When we arrived in Greece, we visited Philippi, the location of the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 16, following the journey and hardships of Silas and Paul. Philippi was filled with ruins of churches, prisons and amphitheatres. It was in this moment where I could feel and see the historical landmarks within the Bible, an experience I will never forget. Mass was held in St Lydia s Baptistery. It was my first experience having Mass outside and it was a beautiful place for it. We travelled onto Berea where on this day, Mass was held at St Paul s Altar. We also visited a place where religious icons are handmade and we were allowed to watch as the artist painted them. As we moved onto the fifth day of our trip we spent the day travelling picturesque mountains where we visited a few Monasteries. These Monasteries had been there for centuries and I couldn't believe how long it must have taken them to get the materials to build them from the bottom of the mountains to the top. The beautiful artworks displayed inside each Monastery were the same, but were painted by different artists who interpreted the pictures differently. We travelled then to Athens and we were able to see some ancient Greek buildings in Acropolis and Corinth. To physically see centuries old architecture was incredible. It was an amazing experience to think people from centuries ago had been going about their daily lives in these ancient structures. We were lucky enough to go to Patmos, one of the Greek islands and we travelled there by ferry from Athens. We were taken to the cave where John was inspired to write the Book of Revelations and at this point I sat in complete awe of what we were seeing. We were shown the fissures in the rocks that represented The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We also got to sit in an evening prayer called the Vespers in a Monastery which Monks prayed. It was an interesting experience to see this evening prayer that has not changed for centuries. After another ferry ride we arrived on the Greek island called Kos. There we saw the tree of Hippocrates. This tree is known in the medical field as it is one of the earliest forms of medicine. I couldn't believe this 2000 year old tree was right in front of my eyes, the very start of the medical world as we know it today. The rest of the day was spent exploring this beautiful island. We took a plane from Kos to the Czech Republic and then we drove the rest of the way to Krakow for World Youth Day week. We made a stop in the Czech Republic for lunch and there were about ten other buses with pilgrims on them. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people and this was only a small proportion of what I was going to experience on the World Youth Day week. When we finally got to Poland, we were greeted by many other Australian pilgrims.

12 Over 1500 Australians gathered in the Tauron Arena. We were told there were going to be 3000 Australians at World Youth Day, which is the most any World Youth Day has had with the exception of the Sydney World Youth Day. Later Mass was held, on very large grounds where there were thousands of people around us. Unfortunately, it rained for three hours with lighting and thunder but it finally lifted right before the Mass began. It was a sea of blue, yellow and red as the World Youth Day packs we were given supplied us with ponchos. Mass was not spoken in English, but in Polish, so we all huddled around a few radios that were playing the translation. The next day was very hot and humid and we were tightly packed in lines to see the St John Paul II Sanctuary and the Shrine of St Faustina. It took about two hours to get to each place. It was well worth the wait as both places had very beautiful architecture and artworks. On the fourth day of World Youth Day Week I was privileged to experience catechesis, something I have never heard of before. I really enjoyed myself and was inspired to hear from Priests from around the world. After this we explored more of Krakow - it was so beautiful. We also had the welcoming ceremony of Pope Francis. So many flags surrounded us, we could only see him through a screen, but it was still amazing to be in his presence. The next day we engaged in the Stations of the Cross with the Pope. It was so amazing, as they took each Station through many different forms including interpretive dance, a sand artist, an oil painter and acrobatics. As we approached World Youth Day we left our accommodation at 6.00am to start our fifteen kilometre pilgrimage to Blonia Park, where the Vigil and the Mass were going to be held the next day. The Vigil was a unique experience which we shared with two million people. Everyone had lit candles and were completely silent during Adoration and at this point I felt especially close to God. We had finally reached World Youth Day. We had Mass with Pope Francis and listened to his inspiring homily. Everybody there was bound together with their faith. It was an amazing experience to be a part of something so special and monumental and it will be a time of my life I will never forget. Read more ACU student WYD stories here -