Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Celebrating a global faith
Celebrating a global faith
World Youth Day in Australia 'was an amazing experience'
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published July 25, 2008
Detroit Exhausting, exhilarating, eye-opening, and so worth it Detroit teens and young adults were among those who had a great time and learned more about the Catholic faith while in Syndey, Australia, for World Youth Day.
For Haley Daignault, who turned 18 on Tuesday, the trip was a reassurance that she is supposed to be a part of the Catholic faith after all. Her grandparents, Frank and Marion Daignault, gave the trip to her and her cousin, Jessica Daignault of Marquette, for their high school graduation; they attended with the group from Prince of Peace Parish, West Bloomfield Township, where her grandparents attend, although she is a member of Christ the Redeemer Parish, Lake Orion.
Her grandfather told her whether or not she would truly gain something from the experience, at last it will be an eye-opener, and she would then understand what the Catholic faith is all about, she said.
"I wanted to really know in my heart this was what's right for me," she said by phone from Australia. "I don't even know how to go home and thank my grandparents."
|
Pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Detroit (from left), Anna Dudek of St. Mary of the Hills Parish in Rochester Hills, Fr. John Martin Shimkus of St. Benedict monastery in Oxford, Sandra Tomaszycki of St. John Fisher Parish in Auburn Hills, Tony Thompson from St. Joseph Parish in Lake Orion, and Christa Lindsey of St. John Fisher Parish, take in a ferry ride in Australia. |
Daignault will attend Saginaw Valley in the fall to study international business, and seized the opportunity to practice her French with other visitors and meet new people. "They're all so friendly," she said. "Everyone here is so gracious and helpful."
Jason Gappa, youth minister at Prince of Peace Parish, said he made the trip for the religious experience, but "I got so much more out of it than just that," he said.
"It was definitely what I was hoping for, but not what I was expecting," he said. "It was so much more."
Although the group had chilly weather for the first week, when they were in Newcastle for Days in the Diocese, it warmed up a bit for the second half of the trip, when the Prince of Peace group stayed at St. Paul the Apostle primary school in Sydney.
Gappa said it was "phenomenal" celebrating Mass with Pope Benedict, especially with people from all over the world coming together. He also enjoyed the vigil the night before, which included flags waving from all over the world representing the many people at World Youth Day.
"It was an amazing experience," he said.
Anton Lisowski, 17, an incoming senior at De La Salle High School, Warren, who attends St. Hubert Parish, Harrison Township, said being a part of so many people coming together of the same belief has strengthened his faith although he added the experience was emotionally draining.
"It doesn't hit you until you're leaving," he said. "I was caught up in the moment. Now that it's over, I realize I was a part of something special."
He said there were so many people at the Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict, he couldn't tell where the people ended youths stretched farther than he could see.
Kelvin Furuta, 17, a recent De La Salle graduate who attends Immaculate Conception Parish, New Baltimore, agreed that the impact of the trip didn't really hit him until he got to Sydney and everyone came together. "It's definitely been an eye-opening experience," he said.
He said the trip has definitely strengthened his faith. "Meeting a lot of the people and seeing no matter what language you pray in how global the faith is," he said, is what really affected him.
Bro. Michael Shubnell, a chaperone who took a group from De La Salle High School, Warren, said the youths have all gotten a lot out of the trip. "They learned a lot about each other, a lot about their faith," he said.
"When we get back to our home parishes, it won't be the same."
Daniel Blumer, 17, another member of Prince of Peace Parish, enjoyed attending Mass with the pope and meeting people from all different countries, but also enjoyed some of the sightseeing he got to do, too. He visited the Blue Mountains, and got to see a kangaroo and koala close up. The group also enjoyed a performance by the Sydney Youth Orchestra.
He explained that the youths all bring trinkets to trade with others, and the Prince of Peace group had brought American flag pins. Through trading, Blumer said he met people from countries he'd never heard of, and met people who'd never heard of Michigan, either.
He said he liked seeing how one religion could bring so many people together from places so far away from each other. "I'm excited to go back and share (the experience) with people," he said.
Kathryn Brandell, 18, also a member of Prince of Peace Parish, said she was left speechless for her first World Youth Day experience, being a part of such a large event where everyone is of the same faith.
"I was expecting there to be a lot of people, but being there and being in that atmosphere with everyone else, for the same reason it was an amazing feeling knowing you're not alone," she said. "You just feel so filled, knowing that faith you believe in is so widespread."
They met people every day from all over the world, including from the Cook Islands, Monaco and Tokelau a territory between Hawaii and New Zealand during the Days in the Diocese. During the week of World Youth Day, the group met people from Mexico, Italy, Canada, England and Lebanon, and many from Australia, she said.
Brandell said the most moving experience for her was the living Stations of the Cross, which traveled from one part of Sydney to another. It's one thing to hear the Stations read when you go to Mass before Easter, but it's another to see a person acting out the last days of Jesus, she said. "It's really hard not to be moved by that."
Overall, Brandell has much to take home with her after her two-week pilgrimage.
"It has been the most exhausting but exhilarating trip of my life," she said. "The whole week was a whirlwind. I'm ready to go home and live my life better."
Related Links:
|
