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World Youth Day Sydney 2008 |
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 Kate Costello speaks of her time at World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia in July 2008
Check out the photos!
"This is a wonderful opportunity to share my pilgrimage experience and to tell as many people as possible the story of my life changing journey to Australia, with the Tuam Diocese for WYD 2008. I would like to give you a glimpse of what an uplifting trip this youth pilgrimage was - all I have done since I have returned home is talk about the group everyday, reminisce and look back with a smile, laugh at the memories and constantly try to relive every minute. Overall for me the trip was so much more than I could have ever anticipated and it most definitely surpassed all my expectations.
It all began two years ago one regular Sunday morning at Mass in Brooklodge. All that was on my mind at the time was the pending Leaving Cert. However something caught me eye in the mass leaflet. Fr.Tod from Tuam had inserted a notice regarding the organisation of a group to attend World Youth Day in 2008 and I decided to get in contact with him. Little did I know at the time that this was to be the beginning of an amazing adventure, of a trip that I hope has shaped me as a person forever. Days out, deposits, fundraising and flights all followed as part of our preparation. The organised get together's were sometimes daunting as I didn't recognise a face in the room. However after a couple of visits to Castlebar, Ballintubber, Claremorris and Tuam I began to realise that I couldn't have found or meet a more open or friendly group to travel with.
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World Youth Day Cologne 2005 |
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 A Late Night with a Difference in the city of Cologne
Put forty young people together on a foreign trip and you expect late nights and early mornings. But for forty young people from around Mayo and Galway late nights in August had a different significance this year. The forty young adults from the diocese of Tuam made the journey to Cologne in Germany to attend the World Youth Day 2005 celebrations in the company of Benedict XVI. It is estimated that in excess of 1.2 million people from over 162 countries throughout the world attended this weeklong festival which culminated in the Saturday night vigil on August 20th and a papal mass celebrated at Marienfeld outside Cologne early on Sunday morning.
The crowds of young people who thronged to the German city made the narrow streets around the city's famous Gothic Cathedral look like Jones' Road after the final whistle on All-Ireland Sunday. Flags were to be seen from every continent and many of the young groups sang their native songs as they made their way along the streets to attend the various events which were organised as part of the festival. Not to be outdone by their European counterparts the young people from the west gave enthusiastic renditions of the Fields of Athenry and the Saw Doctors' "Green and Red of Mayo." The Mayo colours and the tricolour were flown proudly by the young people from Castlebar, Kiltimagh, Westport, Claremorris and Tuam who were really amazed by the event.
See photos of the trip
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