Our day began with a brisk stroll to our catechesis location; the same space that our Australian gathering took place. Whereas today it was open to all English speaking people, we mingled with a range of people including Canadians, Americans and South Africans! I thoroughly enjoyed this gathering, and it has made me want to join a youth group! In today sermon the Archbishop of Dallas discussed how easy it is to blend in, but it’s essential that we as pilgrims go out in the world proclaiming Jesus Christ. The second I get back to Australia I am finding a youth group! He spoke to us rather than at us, and I appreciated that. He told stories of his youth and how his calling to the priesthood was not all rainbows and sunshine, he discussed the hardships he went through, his reluctance, his fears and his confusion regarding what God wanted from him. My favourite quote from his whole homily was ”Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking. And he is saying No. Lord NO!” HAHA imagine that with a Texas accent! Absolute gold!   

Bishop Burns homily linked the Gospel reading beautifully to one of his life experiences; he explained how on a typical Sunday Mass, it felt as though his audience was on autopilot, not indeed at the moment. As a poor homeless lady crying stroll into the church and no one helped. In linking the gospel reading, he told us we should learn from the Pharisees and always stretch out your hand to attend to the needs of others even though we have rules, regulation, laws and rubrics still see Christ in others. 

Being an American Archbishop his homily resonated with the ideas of the current political frictions. Emphasising the need as Catholics for us to recognise the needs of others our God who is an immigrant God. As he crossed the border from the divine to the human to become one of us, he becomes one of us, into a family who was then refugees to Egypt crossing another border. We need to recognise that we must welcome the stranger! We are welcoming Him! All of our brothers and sisters are made in His image we must help all, the Pharisees were paralysed they didn’t know how to respond to this! Never be crippled when it comes to helping others around us! In serving them and usable to serve our God.

Father James Baxter Discussion.

Before our daily reflection session father discussed the critical principle of the church, unity. 

Unity – the core principal of everything in the faith. On this journey we have felt the sense of unity to its fullest degree as no matter where you go in the world (or which church you accidentally stumble into as you lose your bearings in Panama) for Mass it is the same! A universal church. 

The Pope and local bishop are visible sources of our local unity as everyone in a diocese are united by the bishop and everyone in the church is joined by the Pope – a physical reminder of where our unity comes from which is very real. I believe WYD is as enjoyable as it is because it is the sign of solidarity on a large scale.

I also had the opportunity today to hear some killer track; real party starters! I cannot wait to teach my students once back at school! I highly recommend listening to the following  *disclaimer: very addictive; you may find yourself singing it in the shower*

• King of Heaven – Paul Baloche
• Lion and the Lamb – Leeland (acoustic version) 
• Here I am the Servant of the Lord – Panama 2019 Theme Song (English)
• I’m alive because of him (amen) – Matt Mahar 
• 100000 reasons – Matt Redman 
• Lord I need you – Matt Maher (oldie but a goodie!) 

Victoria Lissikatos

I’m a massive horror fan. I’m forever looking for the latest horror flick to watch but when you think you have actually seen a ghost in real life, well it isn’t as fun as it is in the movies. The moment I saw Fr James at the airport, I could not look in his direction. It was like I was looking at my late father, Arthur. The hairline, the strong jawline, eyes, ears- everything! I always knew this pilgrimage was going to spark up emotions within me but in the first 5 minutes? Really? It took me 2 whole days to be able to sit anywhere near him or even speak to him. After getting over the initial shock that lasted what feels like a lifetime, I was able to gather my thoughts and chat with him. How ironic that I get to call him ‘father.’

Fr James is a man of grace and patience who has the most unique sense of humour that has had me laughing and smiling from ear to ear. He is gentle and has offered so much of his time to everyone on this pilgrimage. I’m convinced he is a guardian angel walking this earth. Fr James’ homily back in Washington DC is one of the many things that has resonated with me. He spoke about times we may not feel worthy or holy enough, times where we feel we can only go so far with our faith and times of guilt. He then confirmed “that’s exactly what God looks for.” I guess we will always be seeking guidance and searching for the answers to our questions but it is comforting to know that’s exactly what God wants from us. It’s ok to sometimes feel lost or confused with what you want or where you are going because that’s where you will find God.

“There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already born for us, and does not now bear with us.”

-Pope John Paul II

God bless! Tam x

Buenos Dias! What an amazing welcome to Panama, I cannot express how much love we have felt from this magnificent country. The people here are phenomenal they are so excited to have us here, even though due to the language barrier most cannot tell us verbally but they are telling us through their actions. As we walked to the WYD opening Mass site every single car that drove past honked with glee as they yelled happy words out of their vehicles with smiles as bright as stars. I feel like a celebrity half the time people ran across traffic to get a photo with us and our charming inflatable Kangaroo. For a country that was perceived as being extremely dangerous I have felt nothing but safe here.

23 000. No that’s not the amount of money I won at the hotel casino. No it is not the amount of calories I consumed in Washington. It is the amount of steps I walked on day one of WYD. This was the epitome of POPE an acronym for

P – part

O – of 

P – pilgrim

E – experience 

An experience it sure was, we walked from our hotel to the WYD site which was approximately 7kms… in 32 degree heat. It was magical. Yes, we could have taken the metro, yes we could have caught a taxi which would have cost only $10. However, in hindsight, I am so glad we walked it. We got to walk in the footsteps of Christ; we got to feel what conditions Jesus would have felt as he travelled the Holy Land. It was also an excellent chance for us to sympathise with those around us, the struggle many people here face travelling long distances for employment, it humbled us. 

Environment: 

Once at the WYD location, I was gobsmacked ( I am sure there is a more elegant way to describe how I felt, but this hit the nail on the head) I have never seen more smiles in my life, hundreds of thousands of people from all across the world gathered in one place, in unity, for one purpose in solidarity. You could feel the love from miles away! I loved how you could walk up to anybody and begin a conversation with four simple words ”where are you from?” which could lead to an hour-long conversation with a stranger.     My one regret was that I forgot to bring my gifts to swap with people, I am looking forward to tomorrow to do some swaps! (people bring things from their home land and trade for things from yours… We bought stuffed koalas!)

Mass: 

Even though the Mass was in Spanish with a few English versus just to keep us on our toes I cannot believe how much I enjoyed it. I understood it completely (figuratively of course) this was a prime example of the universal church, even though it was in another language you knew exactly when and what to respond and exactly when to stand kneel sit or shake! Yes I did not have an autocorrect moment I mean it SHAKE! Every single part of the Mass had upbeat spicy salsa music! The Mass from start to finish felt like a FIESTA! It indeed was a celebration of Christ which I thoroughly enjoyed!  

Especially whilst receiving the Eucharist, I still to this day do not understand how they were able to give all 500 000 thousand of us pilgrims communion but they did! Here’s a bit of trivia, did you know that a few countries, Australia being one of them, have been provided with an exception to be aloud to receive the Eucharist into their hands! Most countries are only allowed to receive the Eucharist by it being place inside their mouth! Well, I found that out the hard way as I approached the Eucharist Minister with my hands ready to go left over right ( thank you RCIA!) you could imagine my response as the minister placed his hand on my lips. I was mortified, I was embarrassed as I had no clue what I was doing and probably made his job 99.99% harder as his hand felt as thought it was halfway down my throat. In my state of shock after Mass, I went straight to Father James and questioned him about my experience, to which he explained in-depth as to why most countries do not allow you to feed the Eucharist to yourself. They were 

1. We are not worthy of holding the divine body in our unclean hands
2. The fear of breaking, dropping the sacred body of Christ in the process (or leaving crumbs)
3. The body of Christ directly entering you without being touched/ tainted
4. The symbolism of being nourished by your mother, the parent(god) as we are all children of God we are being nourished directly by His hands.

Evidently after our discussion number 4 was my favourite justification and after 10 minutes of coaching as to how to receive the sacrament this way I will be testing it out tomorrow! Wish me luck! 

Adios Amigo!

Victoria Lissikatos

Are you hurting and broken within?

Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin?

Jesus is calling

Have you come to the end of yourself

Do you thirst for a drink from the well?

Jesus is calling

O come to the altar

The Father’s arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Leave behind your regrets and mistakes

Come today there’s no reason to wait

Jesus is calling

Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy

From the ashes a new life is born

Jesus is calling

⁃ O Come To The Alter: Elevation Worship

One of the hardest challenges of my WYD journey has been letting God within me. Each time I feel his presence close or have a sign, I am overwhelmed with emotion that I have trouble describing and reflecting upon. Today during our morning catechesis the song O Come To The Alter played. If I was waiting for a sign from God, that was it. It spoke so beautifully to how I have been feeling.

Throughout my faith journey I have had doubts about my relationship with God and his presence in my life. Being surrounded by a “mainstream” society who create constant doubt and pressure.

On the first night of the opening mass, I was lucky enough to visit the Old Town of Panama. During this time I had the opportunity to speak with a pilgrim who is a Seminarian. I spoke to him about how I was nervous to go to confession as it had been a long period of time since I had. I spoke about the conflict of whether I was ready to resolve and take action for some of the sins I would confess. He gave me hope that the priest would talk to me about how I could work towards union with God and myself and that as long as I was trying to work on resolve, it was ok for it to take time.

During today’s group reflection, Fr Baxter led us on a meditation where we reflected on our relationship with others, God and self… again, if I was after a sign… this was it. He asked us to consider if we needed to repair a relationship. If so, what action or challenge could we give ourselves.

I challenge myself to attend confession for the first time in many years. I challenge myself to talk to God about my relationship with him and leave behind my regrets and mistakes; as the song says.

I’m looking forward to breaking down barriers and feeling more secure in my relationship with God and myself. I understand this is a journey that’s going to take time. I am grateful that I am here with such supportive people that are here to help me through the challenges.

One final sign I received today – a fellow pilgrim informed me that this morning they chose to pray for me. It was a new feeling I experienced during this moment. It was an uncomfortableness that I’d like to embrace. I thank them for their prayers as they’ve contributed to a day where I’ve never felt so close with God.

Lauren Smith

The number of tears I have shed these past five days outnumbers the tears I have collectively cried my whole life. I feel as though it has become a bit ridiculous now and braced myself for a visit to the Holocaust museum. Not my smartest moment to pick this time to try hold myself together but I gave it a try… having visited a few Holocaust museums I reassured myself that I would be fine, I would be able to hold myself together! I had been to the extermination camp Auschwitz; surely I would be able to keep it together at a museum. I was wrong. No matter how many times you see or hear the stories of the Holocaust survivors, it feels like the first time. 

However, this was the first time in my life I had experienced something and automatically linked it to the breach of a particular Catholic teaching. Instantaneously I heard myself continually referring back to the dignity of the human person. How can you call yourself a Catholic? How can you call this regime purification? Your actions are a walking contradiction on the faith! I would love to have a sit down meeting with Hitler and discuss, scratch that I would like to watch the knowledgeable Eva (our amazing bus leader) have a conversation with him about the theology of the body! 

At certain points, I felt enraged I just wanted to scream ”WHERE WAS EVERYBODY? ASLEEP!” It’s as though the museum knows by this point your frustration towards the atrocities has reached a pinnacle as this sign appeared. 

These beautiful words sum up the effects of bystanders. The first thought that entered my mind was my classroom, when I spoke about bullying and about being an upstander rather than a bystander! THIS IS WHY! It is because of the upstanders from all around the world that millions survived. Coming from a Greek background, I resonated with this quote from the wall of people who helped victims of the Holocaust. Phrased in a way that truly represents the Greek people, I could imagine any of my uncles and anties with a frappe in hand and cigarette in the other in times of desperation finding a way to stand against the terror (with a pinch of sarcasm I feel I inherited). 

What scared me the most was this eerie feeling in the pit of my stomach that I could not shake. It could be that I am currently in Washington and Trumps in close proximity, but all this occurred because of one man. One radical notion and compliant people. What makes Hitler’s idea of segregation and the inferiority of the Jews any different to Trump’s racism? Is that the first step? Is history indeed bound to repeat itself? Like the people who attended the March for Life protest rallying for the dignity of human life… moments after interrupted and mocked Native American Elders at an indigenous Rights Rally chanting ”build the wall.” What happened to the dignity of the human?  I think I may be watching a bit too much CNN. 

However, I feel as though on this journey I have discovered a new life skill. I can identify the beauty(God) in terrible things. Those people who helped hide, aid and protect Jewish families during this time appealed to me. I found myself focusing more on the stories of resilience and compassion, rather than the pain and suffering people went through in the concentration/extermination camps, which steers such anger in me and tends to consume me. After walking with Father and discussing some of the horrors, we talked about how this event provided people with an opportunity to embody Jesus, to allow Christ’s light to shine in this world through their actions! 

Written by: Victoria Lissikatos

Earlier this week we were so blessed to have celebrated mass in such a beautiful space. St John Paul II National Shrine was truly a sacred place where we felt emotions that surprised us but in turn, filled us with nothing but gratitude. Personally, I enjoy attending mass and coming together as one body to celebrate life and what it means to be a catholic. How special it is to share this with people who feel the exact same way. The church was filled with light and love. The walls were finished with amazing mosaic art that illustrated the love of Christ.

One of my wishes for my experience on this pilgrimage is to become closer to God through prayer. Most of the time I find it hard to tune out and relax with such a busy lifestyle so I was very much looking forward to focusing my energy on my faith. With the guidance and love from one of the most amazing priests I have ever met, Fr James, I have been able to begin this journey without those distractions. A new friend I have made on this pilgrimage said “when you sing, you pray twice”- WOW if only I could convince my school kids!!

The very moment that it hit me, when I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be was when I was standing there in this divine church and we began to sing. No music, just our voices singing ‘Lord I need you’. The emotions that ran through me were incredible- a feeling of just pure peace, love and fireworks (possibly a mix of this and lack of sleep!). I found myself singing with such pride and joy. Tears were running down my face at this point because I had just experienced the power of prayer.

Do not be afraid to be saints. Follow Jesus Christ who is the source of freedom and light. Be one to the Lord so that He May lighten all your ways.
St. John Paul II

I couldn’t have asked for better friends to experience this pilgrimage with. Victoria, Lauren, Charlotte and Jess thank you for supporting me in this journey.

God bless! Tam xx

I call heaven and earth to witness this day.
I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose Life – that you and your offspring shall live. – Deuteronomy 30:19

Over the past few days we have been immersed in lessons of why the sanctity of life is at the forefront of our Catholic faith. In contrast after visiting the The Holocaust Museum, we were able to see the adverse effects of when human dignity and the sanctity of life is not valued.

Our day began with a visit to America’s largest and one of the top 10 largest Churches in the world; The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. To say the Church is grand is an understatement. Every corner and nook is filled with elaborate and ornate mosaic representations of Mother Mary from around the world, how could the world not be inspired by ‘Our Mother’.

Each representation depicts the names Mary is known by within various cultures. We look forward to experiencing her through the embodiment of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Panama.

Mass was again led by Archbishop Anthony Fisher, which is always a thought provoking experience. The Bishop’s homily focused upon the intercession of Mary. He stated that no saint is called upon more often than Mary, the mother of Jesus. While every saint has at least some devotees within the Church, Mary is loved almost universally. Just about every Catholic has some sort of devotion to her which is evident through the entirety of the Basilica.

Throughout the homily the Archbishop spoke about the power of Mary’s intercession and how through our prayers we can look within ourselves to see the gifts and talents we can bring to the service of others.

The thought of intercessional prayer has been conveyed within many group discussions with our leaders Eva and Ivanka. This concept of intercession through Mary will continue to resonate with all pilgrims due to World Youth Day holding Mother Mary at its centre.

Something special we can take from Mass and our experience thus far, is to look within and challenge ourselves by seeking a saint whose ministry speaks to us on a personal level in order to begin praying through intercession.

Charlotte Garner & Lauren Smith

Day 2 and 3 of our pilgrimage could only be described as a roller coaster of emotions. We participated in the March for Life, attended mass and paid tribute to Pope John Paul II at his shrine and visited Arlington Cemetery.

To quote Pope John Paul II, “so often man does not know what is within him, in the depth of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain about the meaning of life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair.”

Each person on our pilgrimage is at a different point in their faith journey and yet it is so important that we each reach a true understanding of this quote.

On the second night of our trip, we attended a seminar ran by an Australian activist for the Pro Life movement. What was meant to be a session to prepare us for a March for the sanctity of human life, ended up as a confronting speech, with many questioning the legitimacy of the content delivered.
Most people left that evening with negative feelings towards the March. It also left a large group of pilgrims questioning their part in the pilgrimage experience. Upon reflection it allowed many people to bond and get to know each other as people supported and confided with one another.

On the day of the March we went back to St Matthew’s Cathedral where a contrasting full congregation (compared to the day before) was gathered and singing beautiful songs. Mass was lead by the Bishop of Washington and a healing homily was given by Father Andrew Wakefield. I say healing, as I believe it provided the correct message as to why we should be marching. This helped pilgrims to place themselves in the right mind frame.
Father spoke about the sanctity of life across a multitude of issues, not just abortion. He said “we must work to create a world where the right to life is protected. We must work to protect all who are marginalized, all who are unwanted, all whose dignity is denied, all who suffer in silence.”

With a new outlook on the March for Life, we were able to each take part in our own way. Some embraced the culture of the Americans through cheering, singing and holding signs, whilst others found strength in the solidarity of fellow Catholics from around the world, all marching for one purpose; the sanctity of life.

Day 3 continued to allow us to explore concepts of human dignity as we visited Pope John Paul II’s shrine. It would have been a fantastic formation opportunity to visit the shrine prior to participating in the March. This is because of the Pope’s simple yet inspiring message to “Be Not Afraid!” This message was so important to see as we live in a society where it is becoming an increasing challenge to be an advocate for your faith.
He further explored on several occasions his love for Mary where he stated “I am completely yours.” This was special to witness as the theme of our pilgrimage is to say Yes! like Mary did. We are called to be brave, educated and formed in faith. By allowing ourselves to receive this message, we step forward on a journey to become closer with Christ.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

By Lauren Smith & Charlotte Garner

”In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn’t matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did.” -Cassandra Clare.

For today’s blog post to make sense, I must take you on a journey, deep into the abyss… In a time where dinosaurs roamed the land… Yes you guessed correct the prosperous reign of our lost brother Anthony Crewdson (term 2). There sat amongst the never-ending supply of chocolate in the staff room four doe eyed beginning teachers, passionate, dedicated and determined to make a difference in the lives of our students. But how? Yes we could attended a multitude of PD sessions by the one and only Gerald Oshea, yes we could do some extensive reading OR we could immerse ourselves in faith through the World Youth Day pilgrimage…As tempting as the numerous hours of reading sounded, attending WYD was the leading contender. As the wise words of Ruprals Drag Race – “How the hell you ‘gun’ love, someone if you can’t love your self?!” with a few miniscule tweaks, it fit perfectly into our scenario ”How the hell are you going to form your student’s faith if you haven’t formed your own!” – Dr PhD Master of Awesomeness Lissikatos.

The tricky part was deciding which pilgrimage to attend! We had a CHOICE of three fantastic places Mexico, Peru and Washington. Instantaneously MEXICO caught my eyes, as Crewos name burst out of our mouths! Peru was next but due to the warm weather I was hesitant and then Washington, which sounded great however I was a bit cautious as the ”Walk for Life” protest was a choice in this pilgrimage which I personally did not want to attend. After extensive discussions and scrutinising of each pilgrimage we all agreed Mexico it is!

Timelaps Thankfully we had all been accepted and assigned Washington. We rejoiced! We were thrilled to have been offered a position and without hesitation all sent out acceptance emails, Mary said Yes! And so did we. After reading back on the pilgrimage we were going to experience we noticed a significant phrase which alleviated all of our concerns: Day 2: Today is all about the sanctity of life whether you CHOOSE to participate in the March for Life rally or visit the Holocaust museum.

This brings me back to the present moment where our choice was taken away from us. On the evening of our first day, which had been textbook perfect from laughter, sightseeing to fluffy balls of snow we were all stopped in our tracks. We had a guest speaker, most of us not sure what we would be discussing but assumed it would be about one of the fantastic places we visited today. We were all wrong. Instead it was a talk given by a young girl who fights for the abortion law to be abolished. After what felt like the most extended thirty minutes of my life, most leaving the room with tears flooding down their faces or with fist clenched tight in anger, we felt wronged. It was wrong. Our CHOICE had been taken away from us, we were told we must attend the March for Life. Being an extremely sensitive topic for a vast majority of us this caused complete anarchy amongst all pilgrims. People who expressed their concern, their refusal to march was promptly met with empathy and reminded of their vocation and the expectations. I was not angry that the rally was occurring, I was not angry we had to attend, I was angry and hurt that my CHOICE was taken away from me. I came on the pilgrimage with a CHOICE and lost the right to that CHOICE.

However, I am grateful that we attended the Mass and the Walk for Life rally as in the madness and chaos I found beauty. In particular the Mass, Fathers Homily was beautiful, he spoke from a perspective I had not encountered before about abortion and sensitive pro-life issues. His stance came from a place of love, compassion and most importantly forgiveness. The three fundamental messages that are lost in the publications of the rally and in some of the vulgar signage and words spoken on this topic. I was extremely thankful I got to attend this, as it opened my eyes to the Churchs perspectives, which is the only one that made actual sense to me.

”You cannot control the behavior of others, but you can always choose how you respond to it.”- Roy T. Bennett.

During the March we had opportunities to mingle with Americans from all over the country and people who had come from great distances to participate. It was moving hearing crowds of people all fight for a common goal through song, comradery and unity. That was the part of the rally I enjoyed, but the horrendous videos and images I don’t believe were necessary to send the message to the people! It did help to have Father James Baxter with us as on our walk he comforted many of us in different ways through his loving and caring words.

Ironically by the end of the day I was thanking the same people the night before I held so much anger towards for making me experience this, it truly has impacted my faith in a positive way.

”In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Victoria Lissikatos

---

Airplane travel is nature’s way of making you look like your passport photo. — Al Gore

After 23hours of travel, a missed connecting flight and some interesting passengers… we finally arrived in Washington DC. We were greeted by our Cosmos Tour leader Barbra. Within a short few minutes Tameeka and Charlotte were experiencing snow for the first time. A pretty special moment to share together.

As part of our pilgrimage each staff member was to spend half a night on duty for the student pilgrims. We all felt pretty guilty as we waved goodnight to Charlotte as she was the lucky candidate to spend her first night from 2:30 to 6:30, on duty! The good old saying “what hurts you today makes you stronger tomorrow,” didn’t quite come true. The following days long journey of sight seeing left us with a pretty hilarious and slightly crazy Charlotte!

Our first morning greeted us with a trip to St Matthews Basilica, commonly remembered for holding the funeral of JFK. This was a breathtaking church to walk inside of, surrounded by beautiful mosaics, stained glass windows and statues. A beautiful statue of Mary was depicted within the church which stunned most of us. We had never seen Mary in such a way. With one hand pointing down to earth and one to the skies. It was moving to see such a different interpretation of Mary.
Bishop Anthony Fisher welcomed us to mass as we were lead by our wonderful pilgrim choir. The Bishops homily made me reflect and think about my calling as a pilgrim to say yes to all experiences and God, like Mary. It was a wonderful way to begin our day and place our minds in the right frame for our journey.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Our day continued with wonderful opportunities to visit the White House, The Capitol, The Library of Congress, Lincoln Memorial, WW2 Memorial and the Vietnamese War Memorial.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

On our return to the hotel we popped into the local store to further experience some American culture and buy some snacks for the next day!
A pretty magical night as we stepped out of the store and IT WAS SNOWING!!! Our first day had been pretty much perfect!

•