WYD Madrid 2011

WYD Madrid 2011, a photo by Catholic Church (England and Wales) on Flickr.

I would like to briefly thank those who made it possible for Josh, Nathan and I to attend “World Youth Day”.
For those who do not know about WYD, let me give you a little information. WYD was started by the late Blessed Pope John Paul ll in 1986. WYD does actually happen every year, however once every two or three years young people from across the Earth come together for a weeklong event, we come and celebrate our Faith with the Holy Father, the successor of St Peter in Holy Mass.
The three of us went with the diocese for two weeks, although we didn’t go straight to Madrid. Firstly we travelled by coach to Valladolid; home of the Royal English college of St Alban. We had a tour of the seminary led by Bishop Terry and attended Mass at the college most days during our stay here.
While staying at Valladolid we also travelled to Avilla famous for its association with St Theresa. We visited the monastery where she was for some time based. We also visited the monastery at Duenas where the relatively new Spanish Saint Raphael had lived. Both these saints were patrons of this WYD.
In the second week we travelled from Valladolid to Madrid. Most mornings we had Catechesis followed by Holy Mass. Some of the talks during the catechesis sessions were really inspiring and helped us to understand the teachings of the Church. This is really important for young people, as sometimes it is difficult to defend our beliefs if we do not understand it ourselves.
At the main the events the atmosphere was amazing, at the vigil alone was over a million people. Everyone was really friendly, we had loads of photos taken with other people from around the world and we had small badges with our Diocesan name on which we swapped with various trinkets from fellow pilgrims – I came back with a little koala from Australia and a bag from Italy, among other things.
When the Pope arrived the atmosphere was electrifying; everyone singing and cheering – it made you proud to be a Catholic.
To anyone thinking of going to the next WYD in Brazil (2013) – Go for it. It will be well worth going and you will meet lots of other Catholics the same age as you and make lots of great friends who share the same Faith you do. It shows you are not alone.
Do not be afraid, you are not on your own, your one in a crowd of many who share the same beliefs, be proud of your Faith.