Youth Speak News

St Barnabas Church in Scarborough helped represent Canada at WYD in Madrid.

We couldn't walk a meter without being stopped by other pilgrims for photos and memories.

Young Catholics from all over the world gathered to encounter Christ and His Church.

I told a pilgrim from Hong Kong that they should host WYD one time for the intentions of the Church in China, and she replied that one day WYD will be in Beijing! What great faith!

Please, as we are called, go to a World Youth Day/s, if you are able to!  Thank you Jesus, God, and Pope Benedict, for a safe trip for all and myself.  I have become closer and more knowledgeable of my faith and God because of many opportunities.  I also enjoyed the unique aspects of Italy, my host in Cintruenigo, during Days of the Diocese, as well as Madrid, the World Youth Day host.  "Joy" was referenced by the Archbishop during a Catechesis session.  Jesus.  Others.  Yourself.  World Youth Day in Madrid, has provided wonderful memories, you and I need to now daily keep active and apply to others, for the next 20 years and the rest of our lives!  Daily, we are tested and with the help of God, we are able to make positive decisions.      

With Jesus, we experienced the most precious Madrid Memories.  My most memorable, the second day of Catechesis, on the Thursday, as I cried and saw my Father very clearly, who passed away many years ago, after as he always said, carried his Cross.  The music before, during, and after Communion moved me greatly as I prayed.  Also, I am very happy to have been chosen last year with my Sister to be Godparents.  What happiness, to have seen the Vatican, the Sistene Chapel, Cintruenigo, and the events of World Youth Day, in Madrid, as well as daily morning and evening prayer.

Today was the opening day of World Youth Days Madrid!!!!! Alleluia!!

The pilgrims were excited to make it over to the Love and Life Center at the Palacio in downtown Madrid bright and early for the Canadian welcome, and as we got closer and closer, we found more and more english speaking pilgrims! The day was full of welcoming introductions and I ran into an array of my Toronto friends speaking at the podium and working behind the scenes. I was very proud to tell my pilgrims about the Salt and Light connection in Toronto.

The day was focused towards the Opening Mass in Cibelas Square at 8pm. The subway trains were rammed like sardines in a can, but it is nothing that us WYD troopers aren't used to, so we walked 45 minutes to our destination. Encountering different countries with their flags, we joyfully and energetically join in on their cheers. That is the language that breaks all barriers during world youth days --- enthusiasm! Even on our most tiring walk, our energy flows out of us like a river. When we arrived at Plaza Cibeles, our spot on the street was more than 1km away from the altar. We had to watch on a large screen. It was beautiful to sit on a crowded street surrounded with different countries chanting their favourite chants. Whats more, is that they were all there to listen to God`s word.

On Aug. 7, I embarked on a pilgrimage to Madrid with a group of 96 youth from the archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Catholic Youth (OCY). During our two-week journey through Rome, Cintruenigo, Spain (for Days in the Diocese), and Madrid, there were numerous ups and downs. On our last night in Madrid, our leaders asked all the pilgrims in our group to reflect on the highs and lows of the experience; the memories that I take away with me are undeniably founded on those very moments.

My lowest point of the pilgrimage was near the end: the night of the papal vigil. My group and I spent the afternoon walking 13 km under the oppressive Spanish sun in 47 C heat. When we finally arrived at Cuatro Vientos, the vigil site, we were exhausted, hungry, thirsty and anxious to enter the gates, to see the Pope and to get some rest. To our dismay, we were informed that Gate 2 was closed and that we would have to continue walking to Gate 3. Upon our arrival there, we learned that it, too, was closed and, further, there was no more room for pilgrims. As the result of poor organization and security, we found ourselves unsure of what to do in what seemed like a desolate, barren desert.

This was not the first disappointment we experienced on pilgrimage, and many of us felt like this was a breaking point; while we understood that it would not be safe to camp outside the gates, we did not want to leave. I remember looking around at my fellow pilgrims feeling heartbroken and worried.

My name is Katrina Read and I have just experienced my first World Youth Day.

I didn’t know what to expect, I figured if nothing else it would be a free trip to Spain but it was so much more. I never realised there were so many practicing Catholics my age. The people I normally associate with are Catholic but not to the extent of the people I met on this pilgrimage.  

It was refreshing to be around a group of young people whose faith was so strong, I could ask questions and their answers were always so pure and honest, so straightforward, there was no arguing with them.  

I don’t know when exactly it happened, but one day I woke up and more than anything I wanted to go to mass. My perspective on so many issues had changed. I had been learning new things about my faith since the beginning, but didn’t realise it until I went to “Theology of the body”. “Theology of the body” was my favourite lecture on the pilgrimage. It was very inspiring and the speaker was captivating. Witnessing people in my parish grow in their faith was exciting, we had all matured so much in our faith.

MADRID, SPAIN - While 1.5 million pilgrims gathered at Cuatro Vientos airbase for the World Youth Day closing Mass, about 85 Canadian pass-holding pilgrims who were denied entry to the grounds because of overcrowding gathered in a hotel lobby to celebrate Mass and hear the words of Pope Benedict XVI.

With a BlackBerry in hand, Toronto Auxiliary Bishop William McGrattan read the Pope's homily before the Pope himself had read it to the crowd at Cuatro Vientos. Despite a rough night for many pilgrims who were shut out due to volume, spirits were high at the hotel Mass.

"Dear young friends, as the successor of Peter, let me urge you to strengthen the faith which has been handed down to us from the time of the Apostles," read Pope Benedict's homily. "Make Christ, the Son of God, the centre of your life."

The homily also strongly emphasized that following Jesus means "walking at His side in the communion of the Church."

The festivities in Spain are over, but we want your memories of World Youth Day to live forever!

Share your favorite experience from World Youth Day 2011 in the easy to fill out form below, and have your experience published in The Catholic Register's special online feature, "Memories of Madrid".

This web page has been designed so that you can share your thoughts and feelings of an unforgettable event.

Here are some of the first entries we have received.

Memories of Madrid - Ken Ramiro
Memories of Madrid - Alycia Rodrigues
Memories of Madrid - Stefanie Romano
Memories of Madrid - Katrina Read
Memories of Madrid - Darrell Vekasi

Our Youth Editor Vanessa Santilli travelled to Madrid, and you can relive her pilgrimage experience online at youthspeaknews.org. All of our World Youth Day 2011 coverage is included in the "Related links" section at the bottom of this page.

In the September 4, 2011 edition of the newspaper a few select of the Madrid memories were printed. Any submissions we receive from now on will be featured here on the website.{iframe width="100%" height="501px"}http://www.catholicregister.org/images/stories/MemoriesMadrid/form.php{/iframe}

MADRID, SPAIN - Fr. Rob Galea brought a crowd of about 5,000 pilgrims to their feet at the gathering of Canadians here Aug. 16, the opening day of World Youth Day.

Galea, a newly ordained priest and singer, serenaded the thousands with Taio Cruz's hit pop song, "Dynamite," along with a song he wrote about finding his vocation. The audience responded by waving its many flags, singing along and cheering.

What will young people do with their lives? "Jesus is telling you to jump and He'll catch you right before you hit the ground," Galea told those gathered. "We only live life to the fullest if we live the will of God."

The gathering of Canadian pilgrims was hosted at Palacio de Desportes, which is acting as the Love and Life Centre — a home for English-speaking pilgrims in Madrid. The Love and Life Centre is co-hosted by the Knights of Columbus and the Sisters for Life. Fr. Thomas Rosica, CEO of Salt + Light Television, was the event organizer.

TOLEDO, Spain - World Youth Day pilgrims who wanted to dip a toe in Spain's rich and deep Christian history discovered the Cathedral of St. Mary of Toledo was not a bad place to start.

"I am a homebody who rarely travels, but when I saw the cathedral I was utterly amazed not only at the Spanish history but our own history -- a glimpse at where we come from and how important our history is," said Gino Galley, 24, a seminarian in the Diocese of San Bernardino, Calif.

He marveled at an enormous gold monstrance and the many murals, including a heavenly scene by artist Luca Giordano, seen overhead in the sacristy. Of special interest was a collection of the Toledo-born El Greco's early religious paintings not normally open to the public.

Many artworks were made visible to the public in time for World Youth Day, including those at the13th-century Gothic church that some consider the Gothic masterpiece church in all of Spain.