Ten years after leaving the Catholic Church and 20 years after my last major Catholic Youth Day experience which God used to help lead me to Him, I find myself doing it all over again.
What am I doing???
My wife says, "Watch out! You might become Catholic again." (I thought I already was)
This time though I am looking through different eyes, eyes informed by an understanding that Jesus alone has done everything to save me. So this blog will be biased. It must be. I write as a reformed protestant because that's who I am. Mind you, everything else you read about WYD will be biased too. Have you noticed how the recent abuse scandal has been reported by the media this week? How long have they known this before they made it public? But given my bias I will try to be fair in what I write.
My pilgrimage begins at St Mary's Cathedral, the spiritual headquarters of Catholicism in Australia and seat of the Australian Cardinal, George Pell.
He's had a rough week this week hasn't he? Though with 200,000 pilgrims behind him, the stature of the man has grown. I'm sure he'll get through.
Even though I'm here weeks before WYD, the tourists are already flocking to get their pictures taken under the countdown sign. I walk inside " no kneeling, crossing or blessing myself with holy water any more. The first thing I notice is the massive restoration going on. Every square of marble - and there are a lot of them - highly polished. The second thing I notice is Mary " her statue at the highest point behind the alter, dazzling in her spot light, broadcast on every plasma TV screen throughout the building. They seem to have the same TV screens we have at St Andrew's. I wonder who copied who? Jesus on the cross is in the shadows on the floor of the Cathedral. The other thing I notice is the collection box with large Gold letters "Make a Contribution". I wonder what people notice when they walk into our buildings?
It's the week before the Pope arrives now and I'm at the registration office in Chippendale to collect my press pass " I couldn't help chalking "Certainty" outside the front door " the security guard asked me what I was doing, I smiled and said I wanted people to know about certainty, he seemed happy enough. The registration process has been a bit difficult and they don't seem to be able to find my pass, but the people there are lovely. They go to a lot of effort to sort things out. There are young people from many different countries manning the desks. An Aussie girl with a ring through her lip seems to be in charge. A French girl wearing a scarf is also very helpful. She has come to Australia on a working visa for WYD and is trying to immigrate because things are very tough in Europe at the moment. I wasn't aware. Next I meet an Irish guy who also came out on a working visa for WYD and is looking forward to a holiday after it is all over. The conversation seemed to stop when I told him I was working for the Anglican Church. Finally I meet an Asian girl from Melbourne who has been working for WYD for 6 months. I ask her if she is paid. She says no, just free accommodation. I say, that's quite a commitment! She says that she will only ever be part of one WYD in her life. I ask what she is looking forward to most, and she says "meeting all the different people, I'm not so excited about meeting the pope, just the people". She graciously sorts out all the mistakes I made in my registration " in my defense, it was a pretty tricky registration process.
Finally, after paying $335, I am given my pilgrim backpack. It contains; a pump water bottle, a fluro orange poncho, a space blanket, a cool LED torch that doesn't need batteries " you pump a leaver to create your own electricity, a WYD bandanna, a couple of pens with attached "I ♥ Australia' hugging koalas, a couple of tattoos, four McDonald's vouchers and vouchers for Sydney Airport, a set of WYD08 wooden rosary beads, a mini Gospel of Luke and Acts (today's English version published by the Bible society), a larger Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, an even larger pilgrim transport guide with the face of Morris Iemma on the inside cover (I wonder if he gets a papal knighthood in the future), a Pilgrim guide with the faces of George Pell, Kevin Rudd, Anthony Fisher, and Morris Iemma (No Joseph Ratzinger yet), a liturgy guide with the face of the Pope (there he is), and finally a hardcover book of photographs by Ken Duncan with quotes from Acts 1:8 and "The Holy Father Benedict XVI", including; "The Eucharist is a perpetual Pentecost". It is not!
Notable absences " the rest of the Bible, sermon (homily) outlines and space to write anything much for yourself.
There we have it " next installment Wednesday.
