World Youth Day - Friday

Finally updating with more stories from last week.

Friday was a wonderful day.  After getting some sleep (not too much!) we went out early to see some JPII sites: we went to the Jagellonian university where he was a student and later a professor.  Then we prayed at the huge Marian basilica that is in the downtown square.  I prayed especially for the parish whenever I saw John the Baptist, which was of course quite often!

We next made a quick visit to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati at the nearby Dominican church before heading to a morning Mass with Bishop Rhoades at the ancient church of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Stanislaw at the Skalka monastery.
The not-very God-fearing king Boleslaw had the gall to come into the church and slay the bishop Stanislaw because he was excommunicated (probably for the right reasons!).  Anyways, he threw the body of the bishop martry into the stream nearby, and this is the origin of the fountain (the water is "drinkable" but very sulfuric - I learned the hard way!).

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis happened to be at the church and were hoping to find an English Mass that morning, so they were thrilled to join us.  Two of the pilgrims were my sister Katie and her husband Matt! (and their child in the womb!)  I was so happy to see them for the second time (I saw them Wednesday at the Tauron Arena with the 20K pilgrims there).  I had hoped I could hang out with them for the afternoon but it did not work out since we had different groups, etc.
I continued for the afternoon as a bit of a JPII tour: the Wawel Cathedral (he was Archbishop & Cardinal), as well as his first parish church, St. Florian's.  Then the four of us got a very nice (and huge) lunch at a restaurant and visited another church before making our way to the Blonia park again.

The stations of the Cross that evening were especially moving for all of us.  After Pope Francis arrived, we began immediately to enter into this tradition prayer that Saint Francis himself instituted some 800 years ago.  Each station was coupled with a work of mercy (corporal or spiritual), and each began with a  Gospel reading followed by a dramatic presentation of some sort to introduce the theme.  Then we read a meditation and a prayer, concluding with a video that showed how the Church was carrying out that work of mercy throughout the world.  The meditations were powerful.

 After this concluded, we started back for the hotel.  I however, broke off for a special treat: I went to see JPII's apartment where he lived for a couple years with his dad while he attended university.  (This was before he decided to enter seminary).

I was welcomed in after hours by a nice lady who had mercy on a nice young priest.  So I was able to see the place by myself and pray quietly there!

I also tried to see the nearby parish he attended, because he celebrated his first public Mass there as a priest.  However, I was not able to get inside, so I ended up going there early the next morning!

We saw the Pope!!

This morning was a free morning for the groups to seek out the experiences they were particularly interested in since there is so much to do and so little time to accomplish it all. I simply got some good sleep and a nice breakfast before I went for a smaller English catechesis in a church nearby. Unfortunately the first destination was all in Polish, oops! but the church was gorgeous so I snapped a photo.

We we finally found the right place nearby and had about 15 minutes to prepare for Mass. Then my friend Sean Allen found some radios (to listen to the real-time translation of the main events). We ran into Bishop Rhoades who was out on his own and about to eat lunch.

We visited a church with him and then met the big group to head back to the same huge park to see Pope Francis at his arrival.

He rolled right past us waving and smiling. We were screaming and I just yelled his name and that I love him. It was very moving, tears for some of the teens. We were very very close, like ten feet. Wow!
After some welcomes we introduced the saints of WYD and their messages of mercy. Then we read from the Gospel of Luke, the story of Martha and Mary, and Pope Francis gave a talk about the importance for youth to dream, to believe things can change, to never give up on life.
Then back to the hotel. I decided to call in pizza for the group to make things easier, so I can sleep!! :)

Tuesday & Wed.: Opening Mass & English mega-site

On Tuesday we had an easy morning where I was able to wash my laundry. Father Jonathan Norton and I went out to see if we could find the relics of blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. I found the church but was unable to enter the relics because there was a Mass going on inside:

Then we get it as a whole group after a quick lunch, and headed out to a huge public park near downtown for the opening Mass with the local archbishop Stanislas Dziwicz who was personal secretary for John Paul the second for most of his papacy and even before that.

There was a huge crowd for Mass, probably 200,000 people. (However, that is only a 10th of what is expected for Sunday!)

The rainstorm did not dampen anybody's spirits. And this small break in the and this small break in the clouds allowed the sun to shine during the consecration of the Eucharist.

On Wednesday, we went to a huge arena for a catechesis with about 18,000 English speaking pilgrims, and I ran into my sister Katie and her husband Matt!!!

The day began with amazing speakers with a wonderful mass and beautiful music. We stayed there for the whole day along with other lectures and opportunities, and it finished tonight with a huge mass concert with two of the best Catholic musicians around: Matt Maher and Audrey Assad. I was proud that I could sing almost every word of every song!
We also had adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: the young man leading the procession was a boy from our diocese who is now a Dominican priest!

The new bishop Robert Barron of LA gave a sermon during Adoration about the cross, especially noting the martyrdom yesterday of Father Jacques, a priest in France killed during Mass by an ISISfighter. It was obviously very moving for everyone. We walked 4 miles to get home and I am ready for sleep! :-)

Auschwitz and Divine Mercy

Sunday we saw the heights of divine love and the lows of human sin. In the morning we woke in Katowice and headed to our destination of Oswiencim, the town where Germans drove out the people to make room for a labor camp that eventually became the extermination camp after its huge expansion in 1942.

The Poles (especially from here) did much to help the Jews, and this nation boasts the majority of those honored as "righteous" at the Shoah museum in Jerusalem.

Here Fr. Maximilian Kolbe starved to death, the last of 10 victims of Nazi retaliation for a prisoner escape (the SS, under Himmler, ran the concentration camps).

This pond was full of human ash. Evil leaves its mark, but the glory of Good cannot be conquered for it lives on into eternity.

Here Sr. Faustina's body lies. The Saint of divine mercy is beneath the image she commissioned on the left.

Above is the large chapel of Divine Mercy. A very strange modern church but it had good musical acoustics!

1/2 mile away is a shrine to JP2. Here is the cassock he wore when shot 4 times (twice through the abdomen).
The evening was on our own for dinner. A small group went out to eat and got ice cream. I ended up with one of our priests talking until 11:30 with a pair of locals! It was a nice surprise!

Real quick

Czestochowa was amazing!!

This chapel of Saint Michael is the oldest building in the region. About 600 years originally, and this one about 500. Sheesh! :)

Kalwaria is the second most popular site after Czestochowa. It's a huge hiking religious site. I loved it and I understand why JP2 did as well!  The picture below is a steep downhill, but hard to notice here.

Then we went to JPII's birthplace, Wadowice, and saw the basilica where he was baptized and went through the museum of his home. He lived right next door!!

It was Sunday so the church was full all day!!

Warsaw

We arrived in Warsaw after a 2-hr flight delay and things went well from there. It was a bit difficult being on the plane for 11hrs but I slept on-and-off the whole way.
Warsaw, despite being mostly leveled by Germans and Russians in WWII and after, has much beauty in its buildings, particularly in "old town" shown here.

The Mass for the 150 pilgrims (including Bishop Rhoades, 14 seminarians, and 5 priests) was at Saint Stanislas Kostka where Blessed Jerzy Popiulsko is buried.

His outspoken sermons against Communism cost him his life. He truly worked to overcome evil with the power of good.
after a great and much needed dinner we got our tired sleepy selves to bed before a nice breakfast and a 4hr drive to Jazna Gora to see the Black Madonna.
pray for us!!

Here we go!

Updates coming soon! :)