Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result

Spirit moves across the waters – pilgrims return home inspired to follow Christ further than ever

byMark Bowling
1 March 2019 - Updated on 25 March 2021
Reading Time: 5 mins read
AA

All for Jesus: Pilgrims pray during Pope Francis’ World Youth Day vigil at St John Paul II Field in Panama City. Photos: CNS

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
All for Jesus: Pilgrims pray during Pope Francis’ World Youth Day vigil at St John Paul II Field in Panama City. Photos: CNS

PILGRIMS who attended World Youth Day in Panama have returned cherishing the moment of sharing with hundreds of thousands of fellow pilgrims from around the globe and, for some, it proved a joyful turning point and a renewal of faith.

“It was so great to see that no matter where you go you’ll always be welcomed by God’s love,” Brisbane Australian Catholic University student Cecilia Bub said.

WYD 2019 proved a joyful experience for Miss Bub, travelling through Central America as a pilgrim, visiting churches and shrines, including the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, and sharing everyday life while staying with Catholic families, including celebration of the Eucharist together.

“For me, you notice that people in other countries have the problems that we do, and they have this faith they can turn to, just like us,” she said.

Among hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, Miss Bub, a member of  Brisbane’s Neocatechumenal Way communities, was part of a small contingent of Australians chosen to celebrate the Mass on a stage close to Pope Francis.

“That was an unexpected blessing … you could see everyone’s reverence (in the presence of the Pope),” she said.

Miss Bub also said there was “joy amongst my close friends” when one of her fellow pilgrims made a spontaneous vocational decision to join the priesthood.

Rita Thetadig, co-ordinator of a 15-member pilgrim group from Brisbane’s Samoan Catholic Youth International, described WYD as a powerful, life-changing event.

“It really touched the pilgrims and enforced their belief of having Christ in their lives,” she said, after hearing pilgrims share their experiences in the Banyo-Nundah parish.

“To have the perspective of seeing so many young people standing for that – it has given them a personal commitment to say yes to the call of Christ.” 

Related Stories

Keeping Helèna McIlwain’s name alive

Matt Foxon inspired to make his home parish a place for youth to meet God

Former atheist who cried out to God during helicopter crash says faith changed him

Blessed moment: Pope Francis blesses the crowd with the monstrance during the World Youth Day prayer vigil at St John Paul II Field in Panama City.

Ipswich Catholic community’s Lauren Cocks helped lead a group of nine to Panama and said some of the first-time pilgrims were “blown away” seeing they were part of a large, global Catholic community.

“Other pilgrims were impressed when Pope Francis proposed young Catholics show a better truth to the world through their own example,” she said.

It was in the presence of a huge WYD crowd assembled at Panama City’s John Paul II Field that Australian Catholic University student Monica Pazniewski felt the presence of God.

“The highlight of the event for me was the vigil celebrated by the Pope at the sleep-out. Under the stars, kneeling down in Adoration of the Eucharist, 700,000 people were still and knew that God was there,” Ms Pazniewski, a third-year Bachelor of Physiotherapy student from Sydney, said.

“To be honest, I had no intention of going to World Youth Day – I didn’t think I needed it.

“But sometimes God calls you and paves a way for you when you least expect it.” 

Ms Pazniewski had never been to the Americas before and was feeling both nervous and excited. 

She was dreading the long flight but went to Mass several days before travelling – the reading happened to be about “taking courage”.

“In the homily, the priest said the Bible tells us to take courage about 400 times – that’s more than one for every day of the year,” she said. 

“This gave me a real sense of peace, knowing that God is looking out for me enough that He would allow me to hear that reading right before I left – it was perfect timing.”

Arriving in Panama, where the population is more than 80 per cent Catholic, Ms Pazniewski said it felt like the whole country was so excited to have the pilgrims arrive that people would beep “hello” to them from their cars as they passed by. 

“Seeing hundreds and thousands of young Catholics was incredibly inspiring,” she said.

“It is easy to feel alone in a secular world where there is hatred, violence and a lack of respect for human life.

“You feel alive every second at World Youth Day. 

“The joy and energy is uncontainable and suddenly the world’s problems seem to dwindle.”

High school religious education teacher Igor Pletikosa vividly remembers his brief contact with Pope Francis as one of the highlights of attending World Youth Day.

Mr Pletikosa, from Mt Carmel Catholic College, Varroville, in Wollongong diocese, said the experience was not only a journey of faith, but a journey of coming to better know himself, and his relationship with God and others.

“Although at times it was physically demanding, I felt that even through the challenging moments, God was present and without a doubt the Spirit was speaking to us,” he said.

Mr Pletikosa was the official Australian flag bearer during the Vigil Mass with Pope Francis.

“As I yelled out ‘Papa Francisco’, he looked up and acknowledged me with a wave and eye contact,” he said.

“This is a memory I will forever cherish.”

Mr Pletikosa said experiencing that multitude of people in communal silence was awe-inspiring.

“Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament at the Vigil had a profound impact on me,” he said.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Nationwide trust issues – Australians are losing faith in each other and something has to change

Next Post

The highs and lows of pilgrim life, hearing God’s voice in conversation with others

Mark Bowling

Mark is the joint winner of the Australian Variety Club 2000 Heart Award for his radio news reporting in East Timor, and has also won a Walkley award, Australia’s most-respected journalism award. Mark is the author of ‘Running Amok’ that chronicles his time as a correspondent juggling news deadlines and the demands of being a husband and father. Mark is married with four children.

Related Posts

News

Keeping Helèna McIlwain’s name alive

19 March 2021 - Updated on 14 April 2021
People

Matt Foxon inspired to make his home parish a place for youth to meet God

13 October 2020 - Updated on 16 March 2021
News

Former atheist who cried out to God during helicopter crash says faith changed him

8 October 2020
Next Post

The highs and lows of pilgrim life, hearing God's voice in conversation with others

God's a constant messenger – how one young man's dream changed from action hero to seminarian

Archbishop Coleridge urges Catholics to face failures but look to all the good done by the Church

Popular News

  • March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

    March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • We head for Poland as pilgrims, not tourists

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Catholic laypeople in Cologne Archdiocese demand local synod

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Was the Sudarium of Oviedo really wrapped around Jesus’ head after his death?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Opportunity to help: “As a society we can’t leave them without a place to call home – not when there are urgent and economically sound solutions.”
Australia

‘They deserve our help’ – Brisbane youth homelessness on the rise with 42 per cent of homeless under 25 years old

by Joe Higgins
21 April 2021
0

DEMAND for youth homelessness services is skyrocketing in Brisbane as providers report they are struggling to keep...

St Mark’s shows its ‘unity in diversity’ at 65th anniversary Mass

21 April 2021
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is seen near a picture of George Floyd in this courtroom sketch.

Bishops urge racial healing after former US police officer found guilty of killing George Floyd

21 April 2021
Health crisis: Referencing the Vatican document, the bishops said “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process”.

Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

20 April 2021
Germany's Cologne cathedral on the banks of the Rhine River. In the wake of reports on how clergy sex abuse was handled, Catholic laypeople in the Cologne Archdiocese have demand a local synod.

Catholic laypeople in Cologne Archdiocese demand local synod

20 April 2021
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop
    Continue Shopping