The Amazing Journey

THE STORY

Greetings Fellow Sojourners in Christ!

The year was 2001. My wife and I had only three of our current seven beautiful children (one in heaven). I was serving as director of the Diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Catholic Diocese of Erie.

Following the 9/11 tragedy (2001), many said we'd be foolish to try and organize a faith event that would take young people out of the country. What's more, it would cost a lot of money, be quite uncomfortable and challenging, and "it's summertime... kids just aren't interested in faith." So they said. But JP II asked us to step out in faith, to join him and thousands of youth around the world in Toronto for World Youth Day in July, 2002. In the midst of a culture that distorts and diminishes our God-like identity, he invited us to boldly proclaim Jesus Christ "from the rooftops."

We had a great, faith-filled team, and threw the net out. Within months over 500 jumped on board. We were one of the largest groups in the United States. It would be an eight-day pilgrimage full of Spirit-filled prayer, music, catechesis, culture, conversation, adventure.

For me this was quite personal. John Paul II had been monumental in my faith formation. He helped me more fully understand the great dignity of the human person as imago dei (image of God). He helped me navigate my vocation through seminary into discovery of my uniquely "priestly" identity and calling as a husband and father. Complementary to this he helped me understand sacramental priesthood and consecrated life as revelations of our eternal destiny; we were fashioned to give ourselves completely to God. Family is not only called to image the Trinity, but the mutual, self-giving love is a participation in the very life of the Trinity! Family makes God known to the world! Family living its identity and mission is thus the cornerstone of civilization. This awakening informed our calling, our founding ImageTrinity.com.

Back to pilgrimage planning, there was one, huge but beautiful "bump" in the road. You would think that with all the logistics associated with this pilgrimage, with all our hopes and expectations, that two, graduate school-educated adults open to God's greatest gift of life could do some basic math! A couple months into our pregnancy we discovered that our fourth child would be due the same week as the pilgrimage! I would not be able to experience the grand finale of our year of preparation, to meet my hero. Needless to say, we recognized in this a paradox so common to faith: our "decrease" would precisely correspond to an "increase" - an opportunity to more intimately share in the work of John Paul II. On July 31 we gave this faith a name: Catherine.

Moving with that theme, many of the other parishes came with flags representing their countries or parishes. Our flag was quite idiosyncratic: a pair of blue footprints, one foot in front of the other, on bright yellow. These flags were seen many times that week through various news venues throughout the world. Many asked us if we were from "Footopia."

The symbol signified two things: (1) Along with Our Lady (blue), our desire to constantly be moving forward in Christ, to trust in Him for everything, and; (2) Our commitment to the protection of unborn children. After all, the vast majority of these pilgrims were survivors of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision (1973) that took away protection of the unborn through all nine months of pregnancy.

We gave Max a camera and told him to capture everything. He overnighted the tapes. I kept producing back at home. By today's standards, the visual quality is wanting, but it's "Bethlehem stable" perfect... capturing the humble reality of so many hearts deeply discovering God's love, purpose and presence in their lives.

It's amazing to see what God has done with these participants since then. A good number who were seminarians (or even just in a high school youth group) are now priests. At least four have made professions to religious life. Many now are in beautiful, Catholic marriages with families of their own... all joyfully embracing their role to build a civilization of love.

As our pilgrimage was eight days, we will release one video corresponding to each day of that pilgrimage, a new one every week (beginning with Day 1, the following week, Day 2, and so forth), leading up to the Beatification of John Paul II (May 1, 2011). We do this with great gratitude, and continued prayer for God's will to be done "on earth as it is in heaven." We invite you to join us in praying every day the Abandonment Prayer we had been praying throughout the pilgrimage. (And NOW...) Saint Pope John Paul - pray for us!

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Image Trinity is rapidly growing movement of families engaged in the great adventure and mission: to Image the Trinity (Get IT?). Simply put, we exist to make Love known. This takes place in vibrant parishes where Jesus Christ is more fully discovered and lived (MassImpact.us).

What can you do right now? First, Join the Prayer. After that, in the degree to which you have been blessed, please prayerfully consider being His Blessing. Help us financially. We need you. Your generous donation is tax-deductible. It is board-accountable, multiplied many times over by engaging volunteer leaders- and is making a person and parish-transforming difference.

Thank you, and God bless.

“O most Holy Spirit, come and ignite the great Fire of your Love, set it ablaze in our minds and hearts.” [ JOIN THE PRAYER ]

Greg and Stephanie Schlueter Family
+ Image Trinity | Mass Impact Team

Greg@ImageTrinity.com

C: 814-449-8808

"I've come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze!" Luke 12:49
"Become who God made you to be and you will set the world on fire." St. Catherine of Siena

THE PLAN Dynamic Parishes in 3-5 Years
THE BASIS Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium
THE NEED Your time, talent and treasure

MassImpact.us
[Engaging the Masses in the Great Adventure of Holy Mass]

DAY 1: We Begin | July 21, 2002

TOUR GUIDE: Fr. Rich Toohey

It was September 2001. I was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Erie four days before the horror of 9/11. I was asked if the events of that day dampened the enthusiasm of my mission as a priest. I responded that the existence of evil revealed by the terrorist attacks only strengthened my resolve in my mission… to testify to the only answer to such evil in our world: Jesus Christ!

This was the context for what follows. I was asked to be a part of the Erie Diocesan Pilgrimage to Toronto for World Youth Day in July 2002, not only as an adult leader for the 25 pilgrims from my parish of St. Jude the Apostle but also as the Spiritual Director for the Diocesan Team which would oversee and lead the 500 pilgrims of the Erie Diocese. As daunting as this task seemed, it was the perfect opportunity to jump into my priestly mission with both feet. Here was a chance to share with my parish and diocesan community a dimension of our universal church that I had been so blessed to experience intimately during my four years of study in Rome. This was a chance to see, pray with and encounter the Vicar of Christ on earth, Pope John Paul II, while also gathering with hundreds of thousands of other young people from around the world who held the same beliefs.

This was a decision I would question over the 10 months leading up to the pilgrimage, but one for which I will be grateful for eternity. I say ten months because we were asked to participate in 10 months of prayer and meetings to prepare for the journey. Following a format that had been used for several years already in the Diocese under the title “Journey to Emmaus” (byline: “The Journey is for Eternity”), in 2002 it was decided that the culminating “JTE” event (as it became affectionately known) would be the pilgrimage to World Youth Day and there would be monthly meetings to prepare for that event. We stressed to all the pilgrims that in addition to being a lot of fun and seeing new places, the focus of the journey was to grow closer to God through prayer, Christian fellowship, learning and offering up any hardships as a sacrifice for our particular prayer intentions, for our Church, and for protection of all life from conception to natural death. This foundation of prayer and preparation allowed our group to sustain such a positive attitude and spirit of true Christian joy throughout the entire journey, as arduous as it was at times.

Day one of the pilgrimage, Sunday, July 21st, was unique from the rest of the days because it involved staying in Erie, PA. All pilgrims were invited to meet on the campus of Villa Maria Academy for an opening celebration that started in the afternoon. This also allowed other youth and adults who could not make the entire trip to be a part of the experience, at least for this day. Despite the intense heat, everyone joined in the games and activities, as well as the music, skits, dramas and prayer. The highlight of the celebration for me was the Ceili Rain concert which concluded the night. They brought a lot of energy to the group and helped get us “fired up” with the Spirit before departure the next morning. At the conclusion of the concert, some pilgrims stayed overnight at Villa while others left for one last night of the “comforts of home.”

I remember this day being a great local start to the pilgrimage. But there was no way to anticipate the incredible journey that lay before us, culminating in our time spent with the Roman Catholic Church’s spiritual leader, Pope John Paul II. Even though I was blessed to have met him during the late nineties and spent numerous other occasions in his presence at the Vatican, there was something special about this encounter. First, it was the last time I would be and pray with him before his death in April, 2005. The last moment with any loved one is a memory we typically cherish, and that is even more the case with this memory of the Pope. As the world mourned the death of this great man and turned out in such remarkable numbers to do so, I found myself recalling our reaction as his helicopter approached Exhibition Place in Toronto for the first time-a reaction of utter thrill and excitement- which intensified as the Pope-mobile drove through the crowds on its way to the stage. I remembered the great Mass we celebrated with him on the last day which started out in a storm of rain and strong winds and ended in sunshine and a refreshing breeze. I will never forget the Pope spontaneously by-passing the planned Sprinkling Rite at the Mass and commenting that we were already sprinkled by God through the rain that had persisted through the night and into the morning. To this day I thank God for those wonderful memories and the great grace brought by being in the presence of such a living saint.

But there was another dimension to this experience of the Pope that was even more unique and moving to me. It’s a great gift to visit the Pope oversees, in the Papal Palace and magnificent surroundings of St. Peter Basilica and Square. But there was something more special about Pope John Paul II coming to be with us, to spend time with us in “our own back yard.” This was one of the most remarkable aspects of Pope John Paul II’s papacy, that he traveled more than any other pope in history. He made an effort to tell his flock that he cared enough about them to come to them. And that truth hit home for me in Toronto.

This gathering in Toronto also helped me experience the unity of the universal church represented by the pope and the hundreds of thousands of Catholics from other countries and my local church of home. It was a reminder that we were part of something far greater than our immediate, local church– reminding me of the great gift my parish and diocese are to me. It was as complete an experience of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, that I ever had, and I will never forget that.

Meeting a living saint in the person of John Paul II also helped make my call to holiness more real. It reminded me that the saints were real people. John Paul reinforced for me that the Christian standards of our faith and the scriptures are attainable, not just hundreds or thousands of years ago, BUT NOW in THIS generation, in THIS society, in THIS age. My prayer is that the beatification of this great saint of our day will make the call to holiness more real for people everywhere. His authentic belief in the truth of our faith and his personal relationship with our God fed through his deep prayer life are an example and inspiration for everyone.

I mentioned at the beginning of this reflection that Jesus is the only answer to the evils and challenges of this world. No where have I seen or heard that truth lived out and witnessed more powerfully than in the life of Pope John Paul II. He has made me a better believer, teacher, lover and priest. I hope his example and prayer can do the same thing for you! Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Fr. Rich Toohey is currently pastor of St. Joseph Church (Warren, PA).

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Greg and Stephanie Schlueter Family
+ Image Trinity | Mass Impact Team

Greg@ImageTrinity.com

C: 814-449-8808

"I've come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze!" Luke 12:49
"Become who God made you to be and you will set the world on fire." St. Catherine of Siena

THE PLAN Dynamic Parishes in 3-5 Years
THE BASIS Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium
THE NEED Your time, talent and treasure

MassImpact.us
[Engaging the Masses in the Great Adventure of Holy Mass]

DAY 2: Getting There | July 22, 2002

RECAP: FRIDAY, MARCH 18
TOUR GUIDE: Stephanie (Kerchinski) Muhs

The second day of our World Youth Day pilgrimage was one filled with great hope and anticipation. As we boarded the buses that beautiful, sunny morning, one could hear the excitement in our voices. We were all so eager to experience the Catholic Church in such a concrete and powerful way! The actual thought of having the youth of the whole world united together in prayer and song, in one place, with the Holy Father--- UNBELIEVABLE! But we definitely BELIEVED IT, and we were thrilled to say the least. As the buses filled with songs, chants, and prayers, our hearts were filled with undeniable JOY. For myself, I remember thinking that I was experiencing a dream coming true, and we were just getting started!

The ride to Toronto seemed to go by so quickly, but it was during that time that I was able to reflect and be thankful for where God had placed me in that moment. I was going into my senior year of high school, and it was hard to believe that it was just a short year before that I had come back to the Catholic faith. For many years, I had struggled with being Catholic and was searching in other places to find God. Fortunately, our Lord in His great wisdom, had other plans -- which included my mother forcing me to attend a To Encounter Christ (TEC) Retreat. And I’m so glad she did! The weekend changed my life, my perspective about God, His Church, the Eucharist, and His Mother in an instant. After that, I couldn’t help but fall in love with Jesus, and commit to living my life for Him. I spent my whole junior year learning and growing in this faith that I now accepted as my own. And here I was, one year later, finding out that the Church I thought at one time was totally dead, was actually FULLY ALIVE and ACTIVE, not only in our Diocese, but throughout the world. This realization became even more evident when we stopped on route to celebrate Mass at The Basilica of Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, New York .

Participating in Mass was one of the most peaceful moments of day two of our journey. It was such an honor to receive our Lord in the Eucharist in such a beautiful and holy place. The Church was a reminder of Heaven and brought so much peace to our hearts as we gathered together to pray. In that moment we were united as one body in Christ in a very special way. The songs we sang echoed throughout the church, and the light in our hearts proved ready to shine out to the world. With Christ now dwelling within us, we were ready to continue on our way to our destination.

When our buses finally reached Toronto, there seemed to be a second wind of the Holy Spirit. The day was coming to a close, but the night was just beginning. As we got all of our belongings situated, our hearts couldn’t help but grow more and more in anticipation to meet Pope John Paul II. We were so close now! But first, we needed to prepare our hearts with MORE FUN! We gathered in an auditorium to lift our hearts and voices once again; this time with Jesse Manibusan! He joyfully sang out to God and got us pumped up for our faith, reminding us why we were here and what we were about to experience. He left us all with smiles and a conviction to be Christ to one another. More importantly, he left us singing “Here I Am, Lord”, encouraging us to give our lives to Christ and to follow him without reserve. For Jesus says, “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). And we did just that as the night came to a close. We had danced, laughed, sang, and prayed like our life depended on it, holding nothing back. As the darkness came upon the day, the light of the Holy Spirit enflamed the diocese of Erie. We were now ready to “be a light unto the nations” and spread His love to the world.

“JPII: WE LOVE YOU!”

My experience of World Youth Day 2002 impacted my life in more ways than I could ever fully explain. I had never really understood the power and wisdom of our Church until seeing our Holy Father, John Paul II, face to face. To be in the presence of such a holy man was an honor and a blessing -- one that I am still grateful for to this day. His witness to us, the young people of the Catholic Church, inspired me to live out my faith more radically and to embrace the will of God every day.

The past 8 years of my life, since our pilgrimage, have not only been filled with God’s graces, but have especially been filled with the memory of JPII, in his life and in his death. Let me explain:

After graduating St. Mary’s Area High School, I looked to further my journey of faith by attending Franciscan University of Steubenville, where I studied the teaching of the Church more in depth as a Catechetics Major and Theology Major. I remember sitting in class reading JPII’s encyclicals and picturing His joyful face driving by in the “Pope-mobile” at WYD. I prayed for the day to come when I could see him again, and amazingly enough, my prayers were answered -- just not in the way I was expecting.

While studying abroad in Austria in 2005, we got the news that John Paul II was not doing very well and was hospitalized in Rome. So of course, living on the edge of faith, we all jumped in buses and traveled south to Italy. While we were there, God provided us with an amazing opportunity to pray for him in the hospital chapel, and send a spiritual bouquet up to his room. As we left the hospital, filled with the Spirit, we could not help but start singing praise and worship as loud as we could, giving thanks to God for the gift of JPII’s life. Little did we know it at the time, we were right under his window and he heard every word! And although we didn’t see him in person during our hospital visit, we were blessed to be with him again at his viewing in Rome after he went home to our Father. Being with John Paul II in his last moments on this earth were overwhelming and awe-inspiring to say the least. His memory will go on in my heart forever.

Since graduating from Franciscan, God has blessed me in my vocation to marriage with a loving husband and a beautiful 16-month-old baby girl, who both love Jesus and lead me closer to Him every day. Within the past 2 years, God has called us to minister together not only in our work as youth ministers on Long Island, but also in our family life by starting a Family Prayer Community entrusted to the intersession of John Paul, The Great. So we are anticipating his Beatification and the honor of calling him “Blessed”…for he has truly blessed our lives and so many others!

John Paul, The Great….. Pray for Us!

Stephanie "Kerchinski" Muhs lives in Amityville, NY with her husband, Anthony, and their daughter, Maria Grace. She is the Director of High School Youth Ministry at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Massapequa, NY, alongside her husband. She also leads liturgical and praise and worship music for their Life Teen Youth Mass every week and various events throughout the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

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“O most Holy Spirit, come and ignite the great Fire of your Love, set it ablaze in our minds and hearts.” [ JOIN THE PRAYER ]

Greg and Stephanie Schlueter Family
+ Image Trinity | Mass Impact Team

Greg@ImageTrinity.com

C: 814-449-8808

"I've come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze!" Luke 12:49
"Become who God made you to be and you will set the world on fire." St. Catherine of Siena

THE PLAN Dynamic Parishes in 3-5 Years
THE BASIS Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium
THE NEED Your time, talent and treasure

MassImpact.us
[Engaging the Masses in the Great Adventure of Holy Mass]

DAY 3: Mass & Concert | July 23, 2002

TOUR GUIDE: Fr. Dan Hoffman

There are not many things more beautiful than the joy of the Lord! As we embarked on the third day of this pilgrimage of grace this joy of the Lord was becoming more and more evident. By this time all of the weariness of travel had almost completely worn off and we were able to enter more fully into the many great graces that God had planned for us all on this encounter with Him.

The day began as had the previous day and the following days with our morning prayer in our temporary homes. We were privileged to begin each day together and end each day together. This made perfectly clear to all of us that this is not just a “tour group” but that we were really a community of one heart and soul on a pilgrimage to encounter our ever living and present Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the goofiness and reverence of these beginning moments of the day we were able to find great strength in Christ and in each other. These times of instruction and prayer were able to facilitate for all of us a more fruitful reception of the many and varied gifts that we all received on this pilgrimage.

What continues to strike me about World Youth Days, and this one in particular, is how the presence of Christ in His Church transforms the world in which we live in. Toronto, Ontario was not the same city after World Youth Day as it was before. Jesus not only saves, but He transforms, He heals, and He loves. The Lord was loving this city as His children overtook the subways and the city streets. He was transforming the routine culture of cynicism that so many live in and have been accustomed to into a true “culture of life.” This is a culture where holiness reigns in place of sin. A culture where hope defeats the despair of this world. In this culture the joy of the Lord reigns supreme! This is the “real world” that we are called to live in because it is the world that our Father in Heaven intended for us from the beginning.

For the majority of us on the pilgrimage, myself included, Pope John Paul II was our only pope up to this point. He was our Vicar of Christ and our Successor of St. Peter. We LOVE him and will never forget him. What a wonderful day May 1, 2011 is going to be when the Church definitively proclaims what we already knew … Pope John Paul the Great is in Heaven! He is still loving us, shepherding us, and praying for us! This saintly man brought out the best in his flock. He promised us that if we give our lives to Christ than we never need to be afraid. He taught us that if we don’t stand for the truth than we fall for anything. He inspired us to always promote the contradiction of the cross that showed itself in a true culture of life and holiness. He led us on the royal road of the cross to give our lives away in the beautiful gifts that God has chosen for us in our vocations.

One of the most inspiring moments for me while watching this video was seeing a young teenager at the time and now a major seminarian for our diocese preparing for priesthood proclaiming with all his heart, “I am here because I want to be a priest!” The seeds of his vocation which were just germinating at the time of World Youth Day are now growing and maturing into a beautiful and holy priestly vocation for the Church. What amazing growth this vocation must of experienced by the holy nourishment that it received from this World Youth Day. I would not be the priest and man I am today if was not for my friend Pope John Paul the Great and experiencing this pilgrimage. This was my first World Youth Day, and at the time I was just a new seminarian. How impressed I was by not only knowing in my mind that there was a universal Church, but also being able to experience and live it! I was so inspired to be able to receive the very same Jesus at Mass from the hands of bishops, cardinals, and the Pope himself that I was able to receive from the hands of my very own parish priests and seminary priests. Seeing the sea of confessors all throughout these days instilled in me an even greater love of God’s unlimited, forgiving mercy through this sacrament of confession and how gentle He is to give it to us through the ministry of His priests.

I, like this teen, wanted with all my heart to be a priest of Jesus Christ and His Church and am so grateful and humbled now that I am one! The priesthood, as Pope John Paul II so beautifully described is a great “gift and mystery.” He always addressed his brother priests in his Holy Thursday letters to them as, “my dear brother priests.” How awesome and terrifying at the same time to know that I am privileged to share the very same priesthood as Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict XVI! How mind-blowing it is that we all share the same priesthood of Jesus Christ the Great High Priest! This gives me such deep, abiding, and radiant joy! But, at the same time it oftentimes reduces me to humble tears of gratitude because of how good God has been to me in my own weakness and frailty. This is truly the testament that the priesthood of Jesus Christ is much bigger than the man himself. That young man in the video already had a glimpse of this, and soon, God-willing he will be able to receive this “gift and mystery” of the priesthood.

The day continued with the highlight of all days … the Holy sacrifice of the Mass. To be able be transported back to Calvary with hundreds of thousands of the faithful was spectacular. The miracle of the Mass is the fact that the very same Jesus is made present in His Word, in the priest, in the faithful gathered, and really and truly in the Eucharist no matter if there is just one person there or one trillion! The Eucharist was and must be the source of joy and strength for us all. The very same Blessed Sacrament that we are privileged to receive and adore in our churches at home was the same Blessed Sacrament that millions received and adored at World Youth Day in Toronto. The Eucharist was the source of joy and holiness par excellence for Pope John Paul II and must be for us as well.

The Eucharist was truly our viaticum, or food for the journey on this pilgrimage, and it must be continue to be so all the days of our life. The nourishment and joyful grace we all received at this Mass presided over by one of the princes of the Church, the Cardinal Archbishop of Toronto, then spilled over into the celebratory concert that happened immediately following. For the Catholic Christian, joy is not only experienced and lived in concrete moments of the day like at Mass or during Adoration, but it must spill over and characterize the very essence our lives. The joy and love of Christ must permeate everything we say and do. This is what makes a saint. This is what Pope John Paul the Great lived and taught us so very well!

Fr. Dan Hoffman is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Erie. He is currently living in Washington, DC working on a License in Canon Law (JCL) at Catholic University of America.

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“O most Holy Spirit, come and ignite the great Fire of your Love, set it ablaze in our minds and hearts.” [ JOIN THE PRAYER ]

Greg and Stephanie Schlueter Family
+ Image Trinity | Mass Impact Team

Greg@ImageTrinity.com

C: 814-449-8808

"I've come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze!" Luke 12:49
"Become who God made you to be and you will set the world on fire." St. Catherine of Siena

THE PLAN Dynamic Parishes in 3-5 Years
THE BASIS Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium
THE NEED Your time, talent and treasure

MassImpact.us
[Engaging the Masses in the Great Adventure of Holy Mass]

DAY 4: Catechesis | July 24, 2002

TOUR GUIDE: Statia (Sullivan) Brown

Every morning we attended the Catechetical sessions with hundreds of others to learn more about our Catholic faith. We heard from different cardinals, each teaching us a lesson that dealt with the themes of World Youth Day. This particular day the session focused on the Holy Spirit. The Cardinal encouraged us to “stir up” the Holy Spirit living inside us. He spoke of the Holy Spirit’s desire to work in us and through us. We were also able to participate in Mass every day. It was great to receive the Eucharist with our brothers and sisters from around the world, truly coming together as the Body of Christ. Throughout the days there were different speakers, exhibits and concerts that we could attend. We had many opportunities to pray, whether in adoration, praying the rosary with friends, old and new, or taking time for personal reflection.

During the day I met Brother Michael Mary from the Dominicans. I was struck by his youth, his intense love for the Lord, the Church and the priesthood. Brother Michael Mary was studying for the priesthood and would be ordained in two years. We had an amazing conversation about why he took the name of Mary. He was so in love with the Blessed Mother that he wanted her to be his guide, protector and intercessor in his priesthood. It was a great witness to me of how the Lord uses His Mother to call His people to Himself and to call men to the priesthood. The Blessed Mother has been and continues to be an integral part of my faith journey and it is amazing to see Her at work.

My own vocation was strengthened and confirmed during the pilgrimage. The Lord placed a desire in my heart to serve His youth and this desire only grew while in Toronto. When I went back to college I changed my major, the fall semester of my senior year, from Secondary Education, History to Human Development and Family Studies, so I could better serve the youth of the Church. The Lord has led me to work for his Church as a youth minister and college campus minister. The Lord was also planting seeds for my vocation of wife and mother. I attended World Youth Day with my future husband. At the time, though, we were just friends, not even thinking of dating let alone marrying each other. Five years after World Youth Day we were married. Now as husband and wife we share our experiences of the pilgrimage, we remember the married couples and parents and children who made the pilgrimage together and use their example and witness to help us deepen our faith and live our lives as Catholics as a family.

Pope John Paul II, before and after World Youth Day, has had a great impact on my life. His prayers and encyclicals continue to call me to a deeper spirituality, to a better understanding of my vocation as wife and mother and to a greater love of the Church. Over the past three years I have been studying some of Pope John Paul’s writings on family life and womanhood. He has touched my heart and has challenged me to be a better woman, wife and mother.

Statia (Sullivan) Brown is a wife and mother of two. She is an active leader in various ministry endeavors.

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“O most Holy Spirit, come and ignite the great Fire of your Love, set it ablaze in our minds and hearts.” [ JOIN THE PRAYER ]

Greg and Stephanie Schlueter Family
+ Image Trinity | Mass Impact Team

Greg@ImageTrinity.com

C: 814-449-8808

"I've come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze!" Luke 12:49
"Become who God made you to be and you will set the world on fire." St. Catherine of Siena

THE PLAN Dynamic Parishes in 3-5 Years
THE BASIS Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium
THE NEED Your time, talent and treasure

MassImpact.us
[Engaging the Masses in the Great Adventure of Holy Mass]

DAY 5: JPII Arrives | July 25, 2002

TOUR GUIDE: Fr. Chris Singer

God's ways are mysterious and marvelous. I had the great honor of attending World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto. And it was there that I marveled at the work of the Spirit in my own life. As I walked the streets of Toronto, attended the workshops, observed the spirit and enthusiasm of thousands of young men and women from around the world – my heart was full of deep memories. And it was filled with a fresh spirit of joy. The excitement of John Paul II's arrival that day electrified everyone. But it was a bit surreal for me. As I took in the experience and watched the reaction of the many people around me, my heart was more or less silent. My mind filled with images and memories from a decade earlier. On this day in Toronto my heart was filled not so much with the joy and excitement of the moment, but with a deep sense of wonder and gratitude at the working of God.

You see, almost exactly ten years earlier, as a high school junior, I was at World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado. After coming off of a few tough years in middle school when I had serious doubts about my Catholic faith, I was once again curious about God and opening back up to His presence. At that same time the Catholic Youth Ministry in my hometown of Oil City was organizing a trip with the Diocese of Erie to the upcoming World Youth Day. It caught my interest. I'm not sure why, but it did. I checked it out, signed up, raised the money and found myself on a plane to the mountains of Denver. In the first days of that week we had Masses with Bishop Trautman of Erie and with other groups from around the country. We attended workshops, concerts, and penance services. We were even present at Mile High Stadium in the pouring rain for Pope John Paul's arrival by helicopter. All of these experiences were exciting and fun, but not really all that significant for me.

At the end of the week in Denver, we hiked out to Cherry Creek State Park for the all-night prayer vigil. More than one-hundred thousand young people from all over the world were camped out in this enormous field. Sleeping bags and backpacks were arranged nearly as far as the eye could see in every direction. Throughout the evening we participated in the prayer vigil, sang hymns, chatted and simply enjoyed the time with each other as we awaited the morning's Mass with the Holy Father.

As the night drew on, my friends and fellow pilgrims from Erie one-by-one drifted off to sleep. By about 4am, I was the only one still awake on our little piece of land. I was tired, but couldn't quite sleep. A restlessness was within me. I walked quite a distance throughout the camp. There were pockets of people awake here and there. I came across a group of young people with guitars sitting in a circle laughing and singing in French. I came across another group bantering in Spanish, and yet another in a language unrecognizable to me. I was amazed.

For the first time I realized how amazing God and his Church is. I realized that our Catholic faith was more than just my own experience in Oil City or in Northwestern Pennsylvania. I could not speak the same language as these young people around me – but yet we had an automatic kinship. We were there because of Jesus. We were there because there was a yearning within us for something more. We did not share the same nation, customs, or even continent. But we shared the same God. We could not speak to each other…but we automatically knew more about each other than words could convey. We shared the same faith – and all of the sudden these strangers became sisters in brothers, and the world in my mind became a much smaller and more friendly place.

At that moment I experienced exhilaration unlike any I had ever known before. And as I continued to walk, observe, reflect, pray, and then drift off to a short hour of sleep, a thought continued emerging in my heart. The thought was this: Chris, this Church is beautiful. This Church is powerful. This Church is Christ. Chris, you could set aside your other goals and aspirations and serve this Church as a priest. This thought had never even so much as crossed my mind before. But in the darkness and quiet of those early morning hours – something very new was stirring within me.

The rest of World Youth Day 1993 was tremendous. As I returned home to my normal busy routine of life, work, school, college-searching, etc., the idea of the priesthood diminished in my heart. I already knew what career path I wanted. I already knew that I would marry and have a family. The idea of the priesthood was just a passing fancy inspired by the moment. The priesthood is a great thing, but for someone else, not for me…

As I walked the streets of Toronto that afternoon surrounded by the jubilation of the Pope's arrival, my heart was quiet and reflective. It had been ten years since I last attended a World Youth Day. It had been ten years since that night in Denver when I first perceived God's invitation. And it had been ten days since my ordination to the transitional diaconate. It was at a World Youth Day that I first considered the ordained ministry. And it was at a World Youth Day that I first exercised that gift of ordained ministry. The ten years in between were tremendously challenging. I fought the call to enter seminary. My discernment was dark and difficult nearly to the very end. But the Lord pulled me through. I was now filled with wonder at God's mysterious ways. I was full of gratitude that He invited me to participate in His ordained priesthood. I was full of gratitude that He safely guided me to my vocation.

Jesus tells us that, when two or more are gathered in His name, He is there with them. When hundreds of thousands are gathered together in His name, the Spirit is powerfully at work. I greatly benefited from that action of the Spirit. It was at a World Youth Day that I first heard the invitation to the vocation that I now deeply love. And it was at another World Youth Day that I first exercised that ministry which the Lord entrusted to me. God's ways are mysterious and marvelous!

Fr. Chris Singer is Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Erie.

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DAY 6: The Cross | July 26, 2002

TOUR GUIDE: Dan Meola

“What is man, that thou are mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:4). These words come to my mind every time I think of World Youth Day 2002, when I first encountered Pope John Paul II. I was barely seventeen then and I had just begun to explore my faith after falling away from it during the first two years of high school.

My lack of faith during high school was somewhat unconscious and unplanned. I didn't leave the Church formally. I did not disagree with the Church's teachings. And I did not give up on the faith because of a scandal. Rather, I was not active in my faith because I just did not see the relevance of it in many individuals' lives. Thus, more than anything, I questioned God's world. If God is so important for the world, why did so few love Him? Why should I be the only one to care about God? Moreover during high school I was suffering from the pain of my parent's recent separation. So I asked God why I should love Him if He allowed such a world to exist where two people could profess love only to break it so devastatingly? Quickly I realized, although I could not put words on it then, that like the character Ivan in Fyodor Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, “It is not God that I reject but His world.” I had rejected the faith because I rejected the indifference and suffering of God's world. Ironically, I absorbed this indifference and suffering into my own soul, like a fish swimming in a polluted stream, oblivious to the fact that it's dying until it suddenly swims into fresh water. For me, one of the “fresh water experiences" in my life was World Youth Day. It was there I heard Christ say to me, “Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4: 14).

In contrast to the suffering and indifferent milieu I saw around me, World Youth Day gave me a different image of the world. A world celebrating joyfully. A world where one saw nuns jump roping and Lithuanian dance teams dancing. A world gathered together in prayer and peace. A world in love with a Savior, singing, “We scatter darkness when love becomes our way” (From the official World Youth Day Song for that year). During these various activities of the week, there was one that to me was set apart from the rest. It was the Stations of the Cross on Friday. Christ's passion was re-enacted at different stations all across the city of Toronto. Excitedly, my group tried to find the starting place to process with the crowds from station to station. But to our dismay we got lost and were unable to join in the procession. So our leader decided that we should just pick one stage and stand there to see at least one station. Not knowing which station it was, we chose a random stage in a park. As it turns out, it was the station of the Lord's Crucifixion. We were now standing in the very front row watching Christ be crucified with over two hundred thousand people behind us processing with Christ during the Stations of the Cross! The feeling was unbelievable. Everywhere around us people were weeping. Disabled people in wheelchairs in front us were trying with all their might to reach out to Christ. One sensed that even though Christ died on a mountain rather than in a metropolis that he somehow was traversing these streets at that moment, dying like he did in the year 33 A.D. Crying and weeping with the crowd, watching Christ being crucified, I realized then that I saw before me who man is and what he was called to.

“Remember, man, that you are dust” -- I felt these words ringing in my soul as I saw the grandeur of Christ. I marveled all the while that the dust of my life was so important to God that He was crucified for it. Crucified for my dust, Christ revealed that man is someone who is infinitely more than the ashes of one's life. Man is the one who is called to be caught up in the rushing current of Triune love that Christ gushed forth on the cross.

At the foot of the cross there in Toronto, I realized that Jesus' sacrifice answered the indifference and suffering I felt at that stage in my life. I felt invited to partake in the love of God and respond to the suffering of humanity by dying for the world. This task is no small challenge and one I still certainly struggle with everyday. I certainly have felt overwhelmed at times asking God where to start in order to live His love. Luckily, God has responded by providing some incredible witnesses to His love to follow.

One great witness God gave me during World Youth Day was none other than Pope John Paul II. There is a lot to admire in Pope John Paul II: his passion for the youth, his desire for truth, and his unflinching devotion to God amidst some of the greatest sufferings in life - a bloody world war, a ruthless communist occupation of his beloved homeland, and the death of his entire immediate family by the age of twenty-one. Yet what I love best about him can be gathered by the simple phrase he said while commenting on why he became a priest: he said he “fell in love with human love.” He knew that human love could be as beautiful and as deep as the love of Christ on the cross. This is the reason why he frequently repeated the line from Gaudium et Spes 22, “Christ fully reveals man to himself.” It was John Paul II's zeal for authentic love that inspired me to pursue a doctorate at Pope John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. It is an Institute which he set up to study and to contemplate human and divine love. This contemplation is a task I find overwhelming as one can never exhaust the richness of love, but it is a supremely rewarding task. In pursuing this truth at the John Paul II Institute, I was even blessed to meet a wonderful woman there. She is going to be my wife on May 28th, 2011.

All of this -- my inspiration to study theology, my career, and my future state in life -- I owe to the thought and life of soon to be Blessed Pope John Paul II. It really is amazing how this one man's life has shaped mine so radically. But he would be the first to admit that it was not him but the Love of all loves who worked somehow mysteriously through him to touch my soul. It is this Love which I have realized I cannot live without. Indeed, as Pope John Paul II said, “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself; his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer 'fully reveals man to himself'” (Redemptor Hominis, 10).

God, through Christ, gives love so that we may love in return. God gives so we may give. Thus, when the psalmist asks, “What is man, that thou are mindful of him?” one looking to Christ could say that man is the image of love, ordered to giving love. Today, many people refuse to make this gift of love and therefore never experience the love God wants to give all of us. Like the high school me of the past, they are okay with merely absorbing what the culture gives them. But Pope John Paul asks us to do otherwise, for it is only in making the sincere gift of self that man truly finds himself. Thus, in this time of Lenten reflection before the beatification of Pope John Paul II, we should all take his lead and say “Yes” with a gift of our total selves to this proclamation of God's love!

Daniel Meola is a doctorate student at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C. He has an M.T.S in person, marriage, and family from the same Institute as well as a B.A. in theology and a minor in philosophy from the Catholic University of America. He was proudly born and raised in Erie, PA.

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“O most Holy Spirit, come and ignite the great Fire of your Love, set it ablaze in our minds and hearts.” [ JOIN THE PRAYER ]

Greg and Stephanie Schlueter Family
+ Image Trinity | Mass Impact Team

Greg@ImageTrinity.com

C: 814-449-8808

"I've come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze!" Luke 12:49
"Become who God made you to be and you will set the world on fire." St. Catherine of Siena

THE PLAN Dynamic Parishes in 3-5 Years
THE BASIS Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium
THE NEED Your time, talent and treasure

MassImpact.us
[Engaging the Masses in the Great Adventure of Holy Mass]

Pages

THE STORY

DAY 1: We Begin | July 21, 2002

DAY 2: Getting There | July 22, 2002

DAY 3: Mass & Concert | July 23, 2002

DAY 4: Catechesis | July 24, 2002

DAY 5: JPII Arrives | July 25, 2002

DAY 6: The Cross | July 26, 2002