After a year’s planning, getting together for formation weekends and hard work to raise the needed funds, in early July finally it was time for the PYD group to gather at Heathrow airport for the most exciting part of their pilgrimage: World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney. After a long journey we were given a very warm welcome by the Carmelite Friars at Varroville, a retreat centre outside Sydney where we would be staying for the next two weeks, sharing with a group of young people from Taiwan.

Once we got over our jetlag we joined the official ‘Days in the Diocese’, where we got together with  groups of other young people who were staying in our area to explore ideas around social justice and reconciliation with indigenous Australian communities. As part of the celebrations our host Diocese of Wollongong also put on a big ’Everything Aussie’ festival; koalas & kangaroos, sheep shearing and a massive BBQ included, as well as a joyful international mass. 

The actual World Youth Day Programme started with an opening mass celebrated by Cardinal Pell, around 500 Bishops and 4000 priests. The following days were action packed, every morning all pilgrims were invited to parishes for catechesis sessions from which they went to the main event of the day, such as the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI on a boat in Sydney harbour or a dramatisation of the stations of the cross. Elsewhere, smaller concerts and workshops were put on all over the city.
 
As is the tradition, on the last evening 200,000 pilgrims gathered for a candlelit evening vigil during which Pope Benedict spoke to us about his vision of a new generation of Christians, empowered by the Holy Spirit. After a night out in the cold, the celebrations culminated with a final mass and the announcement that the next World Youth Day will take place in 2011 in Madrid.

At the end of our two weeks everyone agreed that the pilgrimage has been a precious and worthwhile experience which definitely won’t be the end of our faith journey together.

Below you can watch a video where participants share their experience of the whole PYD programme.

For more info on how the group got on in Australia, read our official blog (835 KB).

Over the months leading up to World Youth Day we introduced a different pilgrim each month. Click to see their profiles (412 KB).

Here's a link to the WYD section on the Vatican's website, with write-ups of Pope Benedict's homilies and messages to the pilgrims.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales website also has a WYD section , with articles, photos and videos.