OLSH Pilgrims travel to Madrid for WYD BY Jessica Cerchiaro Academic & YYS Mentor
T
-shirts from Italy, Brazil, and Croatia; flags from Papua New Guinea and Italy; Romanian earrings; an Angolan scarf; bracelets and pins from Paraguay, the Philippines, Sweden, Africa, Spain and France – just a few of the material items OLSH students brought home with them from their pilgrimage to Madrid, Spain for World Youth Day 2011. But what will stay with them forever are the memories of hundreds of thousands of Catholic youth uniting to celebrate their faith with Pope Benedict XVI. This past summer’s trip to Spain marked OLSH’s eighth trip to the international Catholic event. This year’s OLSH group was made up of 11 students and was led by Principal Tim Plocinik with Director of Technology Katie Bartus, parent Ruth Ann Laffey, and alumni and seminarian Dan Gallagher '02. All of the students in the OLSH group were attending the event for the first time and were excited to experience the culture of a new country and grow in their faith.
8 • WWW.OLSH.ORG
A huge lesson that all first-time World Youth Day pilgrims learn shortly after arriving is the realization that they are pilgrims on a spiritual journey. A pilgrimage is not the same as a vacation and there is certainly some sacrifices they have to make! This year’s accommodations housed the students in a large gym with air conditioning and indoor showers. While sleeping in the gym was like a big sleepover to the students, the communal showers took a little more getting used to. Food choices in Madrid weren’t always appetizing to the group, but sometimes they were so hungry, it really didn’t matter! What seemed to impact the students more than the sacrifices is the sheer magnitude of people present for this international celebration. Everyone who attended commented on how crowded it always was. This gave students a different experience than they may have expected as they met individuals from all over the globe. As sophomore Becky Kazmierczyk shared,