An estimated 140,000 people attend the World Youth Day opening Mass and ceremony in Sydney, Australia, July 15. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Sydney, Australia — Hundreds of thousands of young Catholics from all corners of the globe, including more than 100 traveling with the Diocese of Rockville Centre, descended on the Land Down Under to celebrate World Youth Day here July 15-20 with Pope Benedict XVI.

They waved flags of every color and sang songs in every language, showing the world that there are young people in the Church, that they are great in numbers, and that they are excited to express and share their faith.

Throughout the week, pilgrims participated in a variety of events, from main ones like a live re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross, to smaller ones like concerts, exhibitions, and information sessions in venues around the city and nearby suburbs. The pilgrims with the Rockville Centre Diocese also had free time throughout the week to soak up Australian culture, visiting the zoo, attending an opera at the Sydney Opera House, going to the beach, climbing the span of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and sampling a kangaroo steak. And everywhere they went, the teens and young adults from Long Island made friends, traded items, and joined in the singing and the chanting, the two most popular being “Benedetto!” and “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy, oy, oy!”

World Youth Day kicked off with an opening Mass celebrated by Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of the Archdio-cese of Sydney, on July 15 and the arrival of the World Youth Day cross, which had been traveling around Australia, to Sydney. The following three mornings, pilgrims attended catechesis sessions that included Eucharistic adoration and Mass. On July 17, 500,000 pilgrims filled the waterfront site of Barangaroo, the area known as The Domain by Hyde Park, and lined the streets in between for Pope Benedict XVI’s arrival and welcome address. The main event on July 18 was a live re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross through the streets of Sydney.

World Youth Day wound down with a pilgrimage walk through Sydney July 19 to Randwick Racecourse for an evening candlelight vigil with the pope. Almost 250,000 pilgrims braved the cold and slept out under the stars. Pope Benedict returned to celebrate the closing Mass the next morning.

“I knew there were going to be a lot of people,” noted Erin MacBride, 17, of Curé of Ars Church in Merrick, “but it didn’t really faze me till I saw everyone. It’s just amazing. I would love to come back to the next one, wherever it is.”

“Being present at all the World Youth Day events,” said Joe Leno, 17, of St. Pius X in Plainview, “and being among the youth of the world has made me feel more in touch with myself and with Christ. I’ve always been involved in music ministry in my parish and school, and not very often do you find a group of young adults and young people that will come together to sing and praise the Lord together and not be shameful of that. I feel like there’s not one person in our group or the groups around us who would not sing out and shout out to the Lord.”

“I knew I would get something out of World Youth Day,” noted Dimitri Moise, 15, of St. Boniface Church in Elmont, “but I didn’t think I’d get that much. But just walking down the street, seeing all the different people, the different cultures waving their flags, I just felt so touched to see that we’re all so different yet so unified under our faith.”
Danielle LaRose, youth ministry leader from Curé of Ars Church in Merrick, planned to bring that spirit home. “We’re not going to let that spirit die because we’re leaving from one place to another. It lives on in our hearts and it lives on in our actions.”

Eileen Tracy, the youth ministry leader from Our Lady of Victory Church in Floral Park, was struck by “the different levels of faith that people entered into this experience with. There are some people that this is almost brand new to and there were other people that this is the path that they walk, but that we all came together has been extraordinary.”

“This is my third World Youth Day,” said Nick Gubelli, 23, of St. Chris-topher’s Church in Baldwin. “I’m coming to it from a different perspective as an adult, but what was really cool was to get to watch all the kids come together and open up to everybody day after day. Now we’re like one big family!”

“We speak different languages, we come from different cultures, we have different traditions and customs, but the one thing we have in common is that we all come together in our love for Jesus,” added Christine Early, the youth ministry leader from Holy Spirit Church in New Hyde Park.

“The three things that I’m really proud of is that the Church is alive, the Church is young, and it’s universal. The spirit is contagious. I’m proud to work with (the young people) because it makes me realize that there’s a hope for my faith, and that my faith isn’t going to die because I’m entrusting it in good hands.”

Aboriginal young people carry the Book of the Gospels during a ceremony welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to World Youth Day in Sydney July 17. (CNS /Paul Haring)

For slideshows from WYD events please click here