Erin's Trip Down Under

Bishop Kmiec to celebrate Mass for World Youth Day pilgrims

Young people from four diocesan parishes will participate in a special Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown Buffalo as they continue their preparations for World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney , Australia .  Bishop Edward U. Kmiec, bishop of Buffalo , will be the principal celebrant at the 4:30 p.m. liturgy on Saturday, June 28.

Seventeen WYD pilgrims from St. Mary of Lourdes Parish, Bemus Point and Mayville, Christ Our Hope Parish, Sherman and French Creek, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Lakeview, and St. James Parish, Jamestown, are scheduled to leave from the Erie (Pa.) airport on July 9 and return to Erie on July 21.

Father Josef Dudzik, parochial vicar of St. Mary of Lourdes Parish, is spiritual director of the group and will lead the WYD pilgrimage.

To help pay for the pilgrimage, a number of fundraisers were held in the past year, include bake sales, garage sales, T-shirts, calendar and candle sales; a Christmas concert was held and the young people began a music ministry.  Their band performed at a number of concerts and at parish Masses.

Generous private donations also helped to offset the cost of $3,250 per person.

Pilgrims will first fly into Melbourne and will stay with host families from Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Parish. 

While in Melbourne , the diocesan pilgrims will attend a commissioning Mass on July 11 for domestic and international WYD pilgrims.  Father Dudzik will be a concelebrant at liturgy.  From Melbourne the pilgrims will travel to Sydney for World Youth Day.      

The next information meeting for the pilgrims and their parents will take place at St. Mary of Lourdes in Mayville on Sunday, June 29, at 7 p.m.  Also at St. Mary, Father Dudzik will celebrate Mass on Sunday, July 6, at 9:45 a.m., for the pilgrims, their families and the wider community.

The largest youth event in the world, World Youth Day will be held July 15-20.  Led by Pope Benedict XVI, WYD brings youth from around the world together to celebrate and learn more about the Catholic faith.  About 225,000 are expected to attend.

The WYD ’08 theme, received from Pope Benedict XVI is, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)  This passage occurs after the death and resurrection of Jesus, just before his ascension to the Father. It represents the birth of the Church.