ARCHBISHOP John Bathersby of Brisbane, at the launch of the Queensland pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2005, urged young people to ‘climb aboard’ for the trip of a lifetime to Cologne, Germany.
Archbishop Bathersby, who will lead the journey to World Youth Day along with Bishop Brian Heenan of Rockhampton, said pilgrimage had always been an integral part of the life and spirituality of the Catholic Church and young people in the archdiocese and other Queensland dioceses should use such spiritual help as a way of getting to know Christ.
‘Pilgrimage is a tried and tested way of deepening faith and devotion,’ he told about 50 young people at the O’Shea Centre, Wilston on September 22.
Past pilgrims, parish pastoral council members and those who were thinking of travelling for the first time attended the launch.
‘Within our Christian tradition pilgrimages to the Holy land and to Rome and the tomb of the apostles became common from the very earliest centuries of the Church,’ the archbishop said.
Archbishop Bathersby, who has accompanied two previous World Youth Day Queensland pilgrimages, the first to Rome in 2000 and the other to Toronto, Canada in 2002, said a pilgrimage could never be regarded as just a tourist jaunt, but was always a spiritual exercise.
He said they were both journeys of faith and discovery into Jesus Christ.
A pre-pilgrimage trip, titled ‘Pathways of St Paul – Turkey and Greece’, will take Queensland pilgrims in the footsteps of St Paul.
Archbishop Bathersby asked young people planning to journey with him to prepare not only physically, by taking adequate exercise, and financially, by saving money, but most importantly spiritually, by learning as much as possible about St Paul and the faith he received from Jesus and later passed on in his teachings.
Brisbane’s Parish Youth Ministry Services (PYMS) has a World Youth Day 2005 Web site and e-newsletter for prospective pilgrims, providing information about the pilgrimage and World Youth Day in August 2005.
It is at www.bne.catholic.net.au/wyd.
