Who's Behind this Pilgrimage?
This year Catholic Relief Services (the official international outreach agency of the U.S. Catholic Church) has partnered with the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops to create this year-long Global Pilgrimage leading us to World Youth Day. As you prepare to be one of the millions of young people from all over the globe who go to pray, worship, and share fellowship with the young church and the Holy Father, know that the people of CRS and the U.S. Bishop's Conference are honored to journey with you in this great gathering of the Catholic Church!
What is Pilgrimage?
Pilgrimage describes our life-long journey toward wholeness. Perhaps rooted in our nomadic past, pilgrimage is central to many religious traditions. Restless for change, newness or transformation, pilgrim people put their lives on the road and travel together to sacred places, hoping to return blessed, healed, transformed.
The Christian Church, first described as a "movement," defines itself as a pilgrim people on the road to God's domain of justice and peace. Pilgrimage is broader than a pious journey to a holy site like Lourdes or St. Peter's in Rome. A pilgrimage is a call to journey beyond the familiar and to immerse ourselves in sacred spaces.
As we prepare to pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia in July, 2008 we are invited to begin with this web site. It is a global pilgrimage around the world opening up to each of us the tremendous gifts and needs of those who will be pilgrims with us at World Youth Day. It is hoped that in our learning about these countries from whence will come our pilgrim companions; we will be inspired to seek them out once gathered in Sydney.
Sydney does not have holy sites as we have come to define them. However, it is holy ground and its sacred spaces will be more enhanced by the presence of us, the World Youth Day pilgrims. Our prayer is that we return as pilgrims who have been blessed, healed and transformed acutely aware that we are part of a global society with all of its gifts and challenges.
"To journey without being changed is to be a nomad (or a tourist). To change without journeying is to be a chameleon. To journey and to be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim."
Mark Nepo
May we return from Sydney as true pilgrims!
(Acknowledgement with gratitude is given to JustFaith Ministries for concepts contained within these words.)