A Message from the Pope, 21st August 2011
“Thank you, young people, you rejuvenate the Pope, inspire the Church and refresh a world thirsty for hope and courage.”
Madrid 2011!
It's taken nearly a week to begin to digest our trip to Spain. There are many wonderful, enjoyable, and moving experiences that I will never forget, too many to explain! I don't know where to begin, however maybe I can explain some of the high points of our trip.
It began in style as we arrived outside Bristol airport in a limousine, and before we knew it we had arrived in the historic town of Toro where we were to stay for four nights. A friend and I stayed with a very lovely and generous retired couple who made us extremely welcome and fed us extremely well! We didn't speak very much Spanish, neither did they any English, so we communicated through an extended and rather comical game of charades! Whilst in Toro we bonded as a group and got to know each other really well. We had different activities each day, including tours of the local area, visits to attractions, and fantastic concerts. We were welcomed to lunch by our host family, the local parishioners, and a nearby convent. Being in Toro allowed us to see exactly what it’s like to be in a Spanish parish, and acclimatize to the heat before hitting the masses of other pilgrims in the hot streets of Madrid!
We traveled 3 hours by coach to Madrid on the Monday where we arrived at the very nice hotel we were staying at. Madrid was amazing, just walking around the streets was a fantastic experience meeting so many other young people from over 190 countries. The atmosphere for the whole week was one of celebration, everybody having a good time and everybody sharing one faith. We attended the welcoming mass for the pope which was the first experience of sharing your faith with so many people, the atmosphere again was amazing. Every morning we listened to an English speaking bishop which was always a great experience, followed by mass. Whilst in Spain me and the other boys received our A-level results which thankfully went well for all of us, so that night we discovered a few pubs in Madrid and celebrated together. The culmination of our trip was the vigil which 1.5 million young people attended with the pope, on the Saturday the atmosphere was one of a festival and the pope arrived that evening. Apart from a 15 minute freak storm that hit us, the vigil was very moving, we then all slept outside and awoke to mass on the Sunday morning.
This was the closing mass of World Youth Day and the pope announced the next would be in Brazil! Thank you so much for helping us make our trip possible, I gained so much from the 11 days we were in Spain - and had a simply fantastic time!
Thank you again...
Patrick
I enjoyed the whole experience, from staying with the Spanish host families in Toro to the massive festival in Madrid. Staying with the host families allowed us to witness and experience true Spain, from a Catholic view point. We spent our days looking at numerous churches and convents, this was added to by the atmosphere in Toro, as it was mostly Catholic, they welcomed us and put on shows for us. This, coupled with the overwhelming generosity of the Spanish host families allowed this to be an enlightening experience both to my faith and of Spain. The experience of WYD itself was massive, it felt like nothing else I have ever experienced and showed me how strong people's faith is. All you needed to see this is the reaction to the Pope’s arrival, and how, even though hit by a storm, and sitting in the blistering heat all day, people continued to celebrate. This is a real show of faith, which has stopped any doubts I have of faith, as there was no visible doubts there among the young people at WYD, when compared with the UK.
Matt Ewings
Being a young Catholic in modern British society is seen as something of a rarity and the lack of the numbers of young Catholics means that religion is not particularly celebrated. As a young Catholic myself, growing up, surrounded by predominantly non religious people has been somewhat strange, as not many seem to understand why so many people go to Church weekly and follow a religion. Nevertheless, being a young Catholic has given me not only a strong upbringing but also many great opportunities.
I first really discovered the opportunity of a World gathering of young Catholics in September 2010 when the Pope paid a state visit to the UK, giving me and many others a chance to go see him in London, amongst many others brought together in their faith The shear diversity of the massive crowd at the event at Hyde Park and also earlier at Westminster Cathedral gave me a massive buzz and alerted to me that the Catholic Church was very much alive and also that I could experience what I got that day in London; on a World stage with over a million people in Madrid.
From the very first day, travelling in a limo to Bristol Airport to the fantastic hospitality in Toro and Zamora and then concluding with the crazy week in Madrid; World Youth Day 2011 certainly lived up to the expectations I came with. Alongside with many other young people from the Plymouth and Clifton dioceses, we first came to a lovely area in Spain called Toro where we would all stay for around a week with Spanish families, doing activities throughout the day. Staying in a somewhat quiet neighbouring village called Villavendimio proved very bizarre at first and awkward with very little conversation! As the days went by though, this proved a little less strenuous as each of us got to know our families better.
Throughout the first few days we got up to many things. Several fantastic Spanish meals were had and tours throughout Toro and Zamora, to which everyone was very welcoming. This often was followed by tiredness, and relaxation in the heat was proving essential. Several beautiful masses and concerts took place, strengthening the pleasure of all. Perhaps the most significant part of that first week was a youth festival that occurred one night with blaring music surrounded by several thousand young Catholics, showing a vast culture. The sheer joy and togetherness that was shown that night raised my expectations highly as that would be much more in Madrid.
On the Monday morning that we all left Toro and Zamora, everyone was sad to say goodbye to the very welcoming town and the families. This was of course contrasted with the excitement of Madrid to come and the beginning of World Youth Day week.
And what a week it was. Staying in a plush hotel heightened the enjoyment of Madrid with Catechesis for the first few days and relaxation later on and mass events with the Pope and many others in the evening. Throughout the whole time, beginning with the opening mass in Madrid, the vast cultures and peaceful togetherness gave me exactly what I expected of World Youth Day. Surrounded by many others there for the same reason; faith.
The World Youth Day event was concluded with an overnight Vigil at Cuatro Vientos in an airfield surrounded by a reported 1.5 million young Catholics. One of the downsides of this event was the contrasting weather. 40 degree heat was experienced throughout the day, resulting in many people collapsing and practically begging for water and food. A 3 hour trek for food comes to mind! Despite this the atmosphere was still fantastic with everyone together experiencing the same thing. At night a storm was experienced. Everyone was rather cold and dirty and personally, with no cover bar a flag and a box, I suffered that night! Nevertheless, a great experience was had by all; sort of!
To conclude this rather long report! : The experiences that I got from World Youth Day were overwhelming. It has definitely strengthened my faith and brought me closer to the Catholic religion. Seeing young people throughout the World as young Catholics made me realise that our religion is very much alive.
Huge thanks must go to all those who raised money for me, Patrick, Matt and (Father) Philip. Without those funds, none of us would have gotten to experience the beauty of the event that is World Youth Day. The memories and friendships I have got from the experience are priceless. And for that I thank all that helped in raising the money.
John
