12:16 PM
Jo-Anne Rowney
I was interviewed for the Westminster Chronicle - here's the article.
Posted by Juliet Eysenck on Aug 26, 11 03:53 PM in News
Young Catholics have returned from a successful pilgrimage to celebrate their faith with the Pope.
Four members of the Westminster Cathedral Youth Group, in Victoria, joined around one million other young pilgrims from around the world to meet the head of the Catholic Church, in Madrid.
They were taking part in World Youth Day, an event organised by the Catholic Church every few years.
Jo-Anne Rowney, 23, who works as an intern for the Diocese of Westminster, attended the event for the first time this summer.
Despite torrential rain as they camped out at the Cuatro Vientos airfield for an evening vigil with Pope Benedict XVI, she said the event helped her "fall in love with God again".
She added: "It was pouring with rain and you could see tents being ripped apart.
"The heavens just opened on us.
"We thought the Pope would go inside but he said, 'My place is with them, I'm going to stay here'.
"People were chanting his name and there was this amazing atmosphere.
"Then the weather just suddenly stopped and it all went deadly silent.
"We all dropped to our knees and we felt so connected to everyone else."
The following morning, on August 21, the Pope returned for a Sunday mass service to an audience of bishops, priests and pilgrims.
"Even though we had a lack of sleep, we were sleeping rough and getting dirty, I realised I would never have such an amazing experience where everything went silent," she said.
"It was like a burning in my chest and it was the moment I fell in love with God again."
The World Youth Day events were slightly marred by protesters demonstrating against the cost of the Pope's visit to Spain.
"There were only once when we were on the metro, when someone was saying how much the Pope's visit was costing Spain," said Ms Rowney.
"But then someone said, 'Do you know how much you're getting from us?', because the towns and restaurants were packed every night.
"It was the only time we came across anyone who was adverse.
"We had lots more people welcoming us and saying how glad they were that we had come.
"There was even an 83-year-old woman who wanted to join us, even though it was meant to be youth day."
A total of 121 young adults represented the Diocese of Westminster, which includes the whole of London and Hertfordshire.
Posted in: 
0 comments:
Post a Comment