The ending of a pilgrimage, the beginning of a mission

How can I adequately capture what it was like to not just watch World Youth Day on TV, but to truly experience it as three million fellow Catholics have?

While waiting for the plane back to Newark in Miami, various news sources filled us in on the parts of the Pope’s visit that we couldn’t take in as English-speaking pilgrims on the ground. The Vatican website had his Vigil Mass homily translated into English, and our group of New Jersey pilgrims gathered around an Ipad as Father Paul, a great priest who joined us on our pilgrimage, read the homily aloud to us. In this way, we kind of got to experience the homily twice. Being in the presence of three million pilgrims while hearing the Pope speak at Copacabana was powerful enough, even though I didn’t understand what he was saying. Hearing his words in English though, and then being right there with the New Jersey pilgrims as they heard the words for the first time in English, really drove home the Pope’s message for me.

He said being an active Christian is like being an athlete and not just a spectator. To be an athlete one must train, while spectators only have to pay admission. If life were a sporting event, we as Christians are the athletes on the field when it comes time to profess our faith. But before we can do so properly, we must make practicing our faith part of our everyday lives, just as an athlete must train every day before entering the arena.

On the plane back to Italy, Pope Francis boldly answered all of the questions on hot button issues that reporters asked him. Just search the Internet if you want to learn more about his answers and the reactions of the Press, because I don't want to make this pilgrimage into a worldly affair. If I received anything from watching the media's reaction to the Pope's visit and his seemingly eccentric message, it's that there's no way for modern society to capture the depth of Catholic tradition and theology. Modern media takes the quick soundbytes they hear from the Pope's messages, the soundbytes that could have a hint of what they want to hear if they twist them around a bit; then they harp on those one or two statements of his, like 'Who am I to judge' homosexuals, and then they turn it into a big headline that makes it seem like the Church has changed its teachings. Then while they're dwelling on those two minutes of Pope Francis' words, they completely disregard the beauty, the power and magnitude of World Youth Day. Perhaps they'll make a passive comment while observing the crowds at Copacabana, saying 'the Pope sure knows how to throw a beach party!' Enough of that already, though. We have our faith, and no matter how much the media misinterprets true Catholicism, we know who we are.

No outside observation of the Vigil at Copacabana can compare to actually being a part of that crowd of witnesses on the beach. What a great idea to have the vigil right on the ocean. The plan was to have it at Campus Fidei, which would have been about a nine-mile walk into the rain forest. When we were told it had to be moved from Campus Fidei because the rain made the spot too muddy, that seemed to make sense since there was a great deal of rain over the past few days. But when I returned to the States and heard what the news was saying, I heard the main reason the vigil was moved from Campus Fidei to Copacabana was because the rain caused the alligators and monkeys to come out at Campus Fidei.

The streets of Rio could not have been more awe-inspiring than when endless crowds of young Catholics sang their native hymns to Jesus and Mary and chanted "Esta est la juventude de Papa" (This is the youth of the Pope). The songs and chants echoed in the streets and tunnels; and I venture to say that those joy-filled streets of Rio captured the truthful, grassroots, natural essence of World Youth Day, because in the streets was where we saw the most authentic, personalized expressions of faith.

We walked from our hotel to Copacabana, about a three mile journey, and during that walk I could see the essence of our pilgrimage. We didn't have to go by foot, but we chose to because it was such a greater witness than taking public transportation. Wide highways were filled with pilgrims waving their flags, dancing and singing. I've never seen such joy in my life. I've never had such a pleasant long walk. Times came when we had to, or chose to, take the bus or subway, and even then songs and shouts of joy took over the trains and buses. 

As we did throughout our time in Rio, we exchanged items authentic to our countries during the walk to Copacabana. Our group had the red, white and blue rosaries made by the group of ladies from Holy Innocents Parish, Neptune. I received a whole box of them from this anonymous, magnanimous group, and they were such a hit that by the day of the vigil, July 27, we had none left. Oftentimes when we started handing them out, pilgrims from other countries would gather around us asking for one of them.

I can go on and on about the Vigil Mass, but let it suffice to say that it will be one of those memories that  remains engraved on my heart, mind and soul, especially when I think of the communal power of the Church. The last two nights of our pilgrimage, we slept on the beach and then on the airplane from Rio to Miami. I got very little sleep on the beach, as was the case for many of us; but on the plane for some reason I slept soundly. The flight back to the States couldn't have gone more quickly for me even if I'd been teleported to Miami on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Many of the other New Jersey  pilgrims on the plane experienced the same deep sleep. I truly think the Holy Spirit placed upon us a deep slumber of contentment after the adventurous, fulfilling pilgrimage we experienced over the past week.

When I awoke and found myself back in New Jersey after the flight from Miami, I was blessed with the clarity of mission. One of Pope Francis' messages to the pilgrims was 'You came here as disciples. You will leave here as missionaries.' We went to Rio as followers of Christ, as young people seeking a way to serve him. Now we are overflowing with blessings, grace and inspiration. We have been evangelized. Now it is time to evangelize, to 'go and make disciples of nations.' Throughout my WYD blog posts, starting with my first one, I pondered when it would be proper to say my journey has truly begun. Now I know there is no better time than now to truly begin my journey.  

What to expect of Rio, what should Rio expect of us?

What comes to mind when I think Rio? There’s the Christ the Redeemer statue, the laid back beaches hugged by mountains and high rises, and the controversial shanty towns in the foothills. There’s the recent riots against bus fares, the 6.3 million citizens, and Portuguese (which I told myself months ago to learn, but still haven’t).  Then there’s the FIFA World Cup next year and the Summer Olympics of 2016.

With the exception of Mexico, I’ve never been to another country where English wasn’t a common language.  In fact, with the exception of Mexico, Canada and Ireland, I’ve never been to another country, period. Ironically, with the exception of Canada, I’ve never been to another country for anything other than missionary purposes– unless you count that one time I crossed over to Nogales just to get a real Mexican poncho, or the time I accidentally took the San Diego rail line into Tijuana. The trip to Ireland was with my college rugby team, but even then my team, the Franciscan University Barons, saw sports as an opportunity to evangelize the teams we played and their fans.

Remembering that mission to evangelize adds to the adventure of this journey to Rio. It is a strange way to be a missionary though, I must admit. Usually you think of missionaries serving in hospitals, feeding the poor, or building new homes for the homeless in ‘mission territory’ where there really aren’t many other Christians. But we’ll be attending concerts, drama skits and inspirational speeches with about 2 million other Catholics in a city that is at least half Catholic and at least three quarters Christian. Yes, we will be about 2 million strong, and we still won’t outnumber the local Catholic population of Rio.

The media is expecting World Youth Day to boost the economy of the city. That’s really the core element of missionary power here…  our presence, the sheer magnitude, the communal power, of so many young Catholics being there. Even if you are Christian, it is possible to be re-evangelized by such an extraordinary witness. And that’s what WYD really is: so out of the ordinary. Even the cultural Catholic could be pleasantly surprised and inspired by this eccentric representation of the Church. We see an aging congregation at Mass on Sunday, the lack of young faces among the clergy, and we walk up to the locked churches all around the country, and we think the Catholic Church’s future is dismal.

Then we see the missionaries of World Youth Day. Many of the events in Rio from July 23 to 28 will be entertaining in nature because this is a truly joyful generation of Christians. They bring not only hope but life. Many Catholics are discouraged by the lack of religious vocations in my generation, but let’s get to the real issue here. My generation has been disconnected from the rich Catholic culture that our elders knew so well. We need to rebuild first. We need to raise true Catholic families before we can get a good influx of religious vocations, because the vocations will come from those families  -- and the families will come from those inspired by John Paul the Great’s great idea, World Youth Day.