faith lives
World Youth Day was created by Pope John Paul II in 1984. This year, 3 million attended the final Mass in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Twelve members of the Marquette community attended festivities in Rio.
I stood up In July, more than 3 million young Catholics traveled to Brazil for Magis, an Ignatian experience for pilgrims from Jesuit institutions, and World Youth Day, a worldwide gathering of Catholic youth. Communication senior Jessie Bazan was one of 12 pilgrims from Marquette who made the trip. BY JESSI E B A Z A N , MA GA Z I N E I N T ERN I wanted to stand up but I couldn’t. Physically, I had no choice — my 6-foot frame was crammed into seat 24C. But when the plane took off for Brazil, my mind was bogged down, as well. Could I handle the 80-mile walk that is the first part of this pilgrimage? My concerns ran deeper, too. Truth is, I was apprehensive about spending three weeks immersed in Catholic festivities. It’s not easy being a Catholic young adult today. Many write off my generation as religiously apathetic, too engrossed with the latest iPhone app to care about the future of the Catholic
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Church. As I watched students at Sunday Masses on campus become more and more disengaged during my three years at Marquette, and heard my thousandth peer boast about being “spiritual, but not religious,” part of me began to wonder: Could the doubters be right? Is the future of my church that bleak? There was no turning back now. I had to psyche myself up, so I grabbed the one book I brought along, Thirst by poet Mary Oliver. Skimming the first page, one line jumped out that would remain at the front of my thoughts for the entire pilgrimage. In her poem, “Messenger,” Oliver wrote, “Let me keep my mind on
Jessie Bazan (our hatted friend at top left) carries a spirit of joy for the Catholic faith wherever she goes, including into Marquette Magazine.