From the moment we arrived in Sydney last Tuesday, there was something palpable in the air. It was the presence of the Holy Spirit, God’s bond of love working in the hearts and lives of the young people who came from virtually every nation on earth to be together and with the Holy Father for the 23rd World Youth Day. The opening Mass celebrated by Cardinal George Pell, Arch-bishop of Sydney, set the tone: “The power of the Spirit will come upon you and you will be my witnesses.”

Msgr. Morrissey and I worked together for the next three days of catecheses that built on the theme of WYD: the Spirit that transforms, the Spirit and the Church, and the Spirit that makes us witnesses to the world. Each day we were in a different part of greater Sydney. The first day over 100 of the pilgrims from our diocese joined us, and the third day we had almost as many again from Rockville Centre. The evening of the second day of catechesis, we had the opportunity of being with over 100 of the pilgrims from our diocese led by the Marianist brothers of Chaminade and Kellenberg High Schools.

Everywhere we met joyful, faith-filled young people who were proud to be Catholic and who recognized in one another the same Spirit working to transform their lives. The sacraments of initiation, Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist had made them into witnesses who rejoiced in being members of the one Body of Christ and eager to share their faith with one another. The question and answer periods in each catechesis were different but seemed to me to lead us deeper and deeper into the mystery of God’s life and love we all wanted to understand better and live more fully. The first day there were many questions about the meaning of God’s plan for us and about many aspects of what God wants from us and who He calls us to be. The second focused on the Church and gave us a chance to examine some of the challenges of living our faith and following the moral imperatives of being members of the Body of Christ. The third day struck me as being the most extraordinary as the witness of pilgrims about the struggles in their own lives led them to embrace the cross of Christ and grow through their own suffering and struggle to become ever more vibrant witnesses to God’s care for us and the wonder of the Spirit that lifts us up and makes us free.

The afternoon of the third day, Thursday, we went to the beautiful harbor at Sydney to welcome the Holy Father who came to us on a boat accompanied by about 24 young people from all over the world. He was lifted up by the joy of the welcome he received. And we were all heartened by his challenge to live the life of Christ. What that meant was spelled out in vivid detail on Friday’s Stations of the Cross, which took place across the backdrop of the whole city of Sydney. The living drama of the last hours of Jesus and his salvific offering of Himself to the Father on the cross for love of us all touched us all. It certainly brought the whole city of Sydney a message of love and redemption that spread from there to the whole world.

On Saturday morning I had the joy of offering Mass in the hotel where our young pilgrims were staying, and then 10 of them joined me at the bishops’ hotel to do a simulcast live to Long Island. Msgr. Brennan, the vicar general and Msgr. Vlaun from Telecare were with a group of 200 young people from our diocese who gathered for a weekend retreat at Kellenberg High School in union with the WYD and the Holy Father in Sydney. They were taken by surprise when at 8 p.m. Friday evening — which was 10 a.m. Saturday morning in Sydney — 10 young people and Tom Smith, diocesan youth director, appeared live on a 30-foot screen at Kellenberg. We then had a half-hour interactive conversation with the young people and us in Sydney and the young people and Msgr. Vlaun here on Long Island.

The witness these young people gave to one another touched me so deeply. I can only say to one and all how humbled I felt to be able to be pastor to such wonderful disciples of Christ. To hear them share their faith experiences made me very grateful to God and very confident that the Holy Spirit is guiding them and our Church for the future. Every now and then I hear some people my age lamenting that young people are not going to church, that the Church is failing them and on and on. Believe me, they have a faith and a hope and trust in the Lord that makes them witnesses to some of the people in my age bracket.

At the vigil Pope Benedict offered a reflection on the life of the Triune God, the spirit of truth and the indwelling spirit of love that flow from the Father’s goodness and offer us the model for our lives in the Son and the strength of their love in the Spirit.

Finally, the concluding Mass on Sunday saw 400,000 young people who had camped out overnight welcome Pope Benedict with the enthusiasm that only they can muster. Yet once Mass began, there was a sense of reverence and awareness of the presence of the Lord that touched us all.

There are so many aspects of this week that give such reason for hope. The faith is alive in these young men and women. The Church is young with the youth that is the gift of the Spirit. When Pope Benedict came to us here in New York this past April, he came as a messenger of joy and hope. While I know how many and how difficult are the challenges young people face today, we all have every reason to be confident that these young people and thousands like them in our diocese will be the messengers of hope and joy because of the deep faith and commitment to Jesus and His Church that has signed them as true disciples of Jesus Christ.