Youth attend World Youth Day gathering in Spain
Written and compiled by Maggie Guter, 14 and Demi Mathews, 9, with contributions by Elise Heide, 8.

Going to church is a weekly activity for many people. Most people, however, only travel a short distance to go to services nearby. This was not the case for a large group of Catholics from the Upper Peninsula who attended the recent World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain.

Catholics from all over the world, the majority of them young people, traveled thousands of miles in some cases to be at this event. Joining the hundreds of thousands of other pilgrims was a group of fifty-five from the Upper Peninsula, who journeyed about 4,500 miles to renew their faith and attend Mass with the Pope.

Josh Rapavi, seventeen, of Marquette, who attends St. Peter’s Cathedral, and Ben Rivard, sixteen, of Cornell, who attends the Holy Family Church in Gladstone, were two of the group from the Marquette Catholic Diocese who attended. They departed from Marquette on August 14, and returned on the 24.

8-18 Media sat down with them for a question and answer session about their experience.

8-18 Media: Why did you decide to attend World Youth Day?
Rivard: I was really looking for something that would strengthen my faith and I saw World Youth day was coming up so I decided to sign up for that.
Rapavi: Because I thought it would be a great cultural experience being in Spain and meeting people from all over the world. I thought it would be really neat to see the Pope and I thought it would be a great spiritual experience as well.

8-18 Media: What kind of activities did you do while in Madrid?
Rapavi: We attended mass with the Pope. We went to catechesis sessions in a center for the English speaking people where we listened to talks by nuns, priests, bishops and cardinals. We also attended some concerts, and did some sightseeing.

8-18 Media: What was your favorite part of being there and why?
Rivard: My favorite thing going over there was just touring Madrid. The Catholic sites in Madrid especially and being able to see all the history over there-the history of my Catholic faith. It was amazing to see all the cathedrals and all the detail and work that those artists put into these Catholic sites all for the glory of God. We don’t really have that much of anything like that over here in America, so it was amazing to see that in Spain.

8-18 Media: What was it like to see the pope?
Rivard: It’s hard to put into words, but it was an overwhelming experience. It was amazing to see the head of our church; the vicar of Christ.
Rapavi: It was very incredible. Everyone was pretty quiet until the pope showed up then everyone just went crazy! It was almost like at a rock concert––everyone was taking pictures and laughing, some people were crying, but everyone was just so excited to see him.

8-18 Media: In your own words, what was the pope’s message for the youth attending?
Rapavi: Just to stay rooted in Christ and to live the Catholic faith in unity with the church and with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

8-18 Media: What did you see as the main purpose of world youth day?
Rivard: I would say that the main purpose of World Youth Day was to get all the youth together and rekindle the fire of the Holy Spirit in them and to send them out into the world with the new evangelization to try to bring the world to Christ.

8-18 Media: Did you enjoy being there and why?
Rapavi: Yes, definitely, it was a really great experience. I had a lot of fun meeting people of my age from all different countries, even if they didn’t always speak the same language. It was really neat to see a different country and different cultural things and of course it was a great spiritually.
Rivard: I enjoyed it a lot. As a Catholic I was always taught that the Catholic Church was universal and attending World Youth Day, going to Madrid, I was actually able to physically see that, you know, all these Catholics gathered here to pray and worship God with the Holy Father.

8-18 Media: Has your trip made you think in a new way or change how you look at the world and how?
Rapavi: I think it has because it’s made me realize that as a Catholic I’m part of something bigger than I even knew before. It was really eye opening to see so many other people who share my religion with me. Before World Youth Day Spain just seemed like such a far off place, but now after going there I see the world as a place with many opportunities. I can go to these places now where before it just seemed so far off and almost abstract.

8-18 Media: Would you recommend this trip to other Catholic youth and why?
Rapavi: Definitely because it really deepens your faith as a Catholic and it’s an amazing cultural experience. It will open your eyes to different cultures of the world and it’s really fun.
Rivard: I would definitely recommend it to other catholic youth. It was physically hard, but it was very spiritually renewing and for any Catholic teenager or young adult seeking God this is definitely something they should look into. This would really strengthen their faith.

The next World Youth Day will be occurring in 2013 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. For more information about World Youth Day Madrid 2011, visit www.madrid11.com/en.