WYD pilgrims return home filled with faith

August 17, 2023

Beautiful. Special. Blessed.

These are some of the words floating through the minds of the nearly 60 Iowa pilgrims who traveled to Portugal this summer to join 1.5 million other young adults in celebrating World Youth Day with Pope Francis.
“It was beautiful to see the universal Church come together and fully in action,” said Maria Haas, of Ss. John and Paul Parish in Altoona. 

“The virtues of love, faith and hope were profoundly on display through the joy of 1.5 million youth so happily united in communion, focused on God,” said Catherine Swoboda, of St. Ambrose Cathedral Parish in Des Moines.

Pilgrims say blessings abounded.

They purchased a travel package with a trip to the Marian apparition site of Fatima, only to later learn they would be spending a week in the Diocese where Fatima is located. Iowa pilgrims had not just one but two opportunities to pray where Mary appeared to the young children Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia in 1917.

St. Ambrose Cathedral parishioners brought prayer intentions and placed them at the church at Fatima for all to pray over.

“I carried with me this large envelope of about 200 prayer intentions from parishioners, visitors, family and friends from the Des Moines area and beyond,” said Theresa Lewis. 

Another blessing was the positive experience pilgrims had during Days in the Diocese, when they stayed in the homes of local Portuguese to learn the culture and cultivate relationships.

Friendships bloomed between the pilgrims and area residents, and among the pilgrims themselves.
“It was so special to be able to grow in friendship with everyone in our group and be reignited by the power of relationship and community,” said Haas.

Pilgrims were inspired by Pope Francis.

“At the start of our second week, we learned that Pope Francis encouraged the World Youth Day youth to ‘Make a mess!’ to bring our faith, creativity, ideas and try new things to make the faith alive in our parishes and homes,” said Soliana Janni, of St. Ambrose Parish. 

The Holy Father had beautiful messages of love and mercy, Lewis said.

On the first night, Pope Francis said the Church is for everyone and then he had the crowd say “Everyone” three times. 

“That was really powerful for some of our pilgrims,” Lewis said. “One told me how much that meant for him.”
The Way of the Cross was powerful, too.

“They went to great lengths to understand the concerns and the crosses of young adults and adults across five continents,” Lewis said. “The Stations of the Cross were presented in a way that Christ’s suffering is relatable to the crosses that we all bear,” she said.

“It was powerful for the young adults, but I cried through it because it was so powerful,” she said.

The Iowa delegation was just one part of the young adults gathered with the broader, worldwide Church.

“The second week was one particular Church seeing its part and being subsumed into the Church in a much larger sense, a taste of what we call the universal Church,” said Father James Downey. “The crowds will hopefully be the biggest ones most of the pilgrims will ever have to be a part of (estimated 1.5 million at the closing Mass), but it was still a very small gathering when compared to the Catholic Church as a whole.”
The size of the crowds and friendliness of the people dispelled pessimistic myths about the loneliness of being a faithful Catholic.

“The size didn’t obscure the familial aspect of the Church,” said Father Downey. “I was constantly running into people I knew and ones that knew people I knew. One pilgrim described it (for better or worse) to the effect: ‘Even in the crowds of hundreds of thousands and millions, being in Father James’ group is like going with your parents to the grocery store’” where everyone knows you.

What’s next?

“My fellow youth are eager to answer Pope Francis’ call to ‘make a mess’ and evangelize,” said Janni.
Haas said: “I pray Jesus will continue to conform my heart to be reminded that through his deep love and desire for us to live simply, we can lead with bold witness and testimony.”