The Augustinian Friars in Britain
Our Hearts are Restless until they Rest in You, Lord
Preparation weekend for World Youth Day with the Augustinians Sydney, 12-27 July 2008
On the 25-26 April, 20 of the 30 people travelling to Sydney in July met In Birmingham to get to know each other and prepare for the trip. Here, Rick Kelly from Southport recounts his experience:
Well what a wonderful weekend we had down at St.Mary’s in Harborne, Birmingham, in
preparation for World Youth Day in Australia in July. It was great to finally meet
most of the people who will be travelling on this fantastic trip. It was very pleasing
to see people from different parts of the UK come together to go over last minute
preparations before we finally depart on our 24 hour flight down under. We seem
to have a good group of people going on this venture and I am looking forward to
getting to know people more over the two weeks we will be sharing in Oz.
It was very uplifting to be around other young people who share the Catholic Faith. Everybody got on really well. We all know now what we need to take with us and we all know what to expect after watching video clips and going through our programme for the two weeks. There is an awful lot of travelling involved for this trip but I’m sure the experience will be worth it. It is a very special occasion and I am grateful that I am able to take part in it. I’m sure I will remember this trip for the rest of my life.
After we had discussed the trip during the day at St.Mary’s we were treated to an
Indian meal in the evening down in Harborne village. Everybody enjoyed their meal
and it prepared us for an Irish night back at the Parish which was raising funds
for Australia. The Irish band, dancers and musicians were all on form and made the
night very pleasurable as we drank and danced (well tried to!).
To top the weekend off we attended Mass on the Sunday morning in which Father Stefan Park from Edinburgh was the principle celebrant. Father George Donaghy from Birmingham assisted. They will be going to Australia with us, along with Br Barney Johns, an Augustinian student. It was a lovely service in a wonderful church and what made it better was the fact that we all participated in some way, whether it was by reading or by being a Eucharistic Minister. It was a good end to a good weekend and it left us excited and keen to get started in Australia with just over two months to go now. That will pass in no time and I am looking forward to meeting those of you that weren’t able to make it to Birmingham.
Rick Kelly
St John Stone Parish, Southport