Journey of the cross

World Youth Day (WYD) is the largest youth event in the world and was held in Sydney, Australia this year. Over 400,wyd2008_ pilgrims including 110,wyd2008_ from 170 nations making it the largest event ever hosted in Australia. From 1 July 2008, the WYD Cross and Icon will follow a fifteen days walking pilgrimage through Greater Sydney, encompassing Wollongong, Parramatta, Broken Bay and Sydney CBD, culminating in the WYD Cross being carried into the Opening Mass of WYD08.

I wanted to experience this event from a non-Catholic perspective without prejudice and unbiased point of view. I braced myself and spent three days following the pilgrims on the last haul of this journey, trying to understand the true meaning of Catholicism. The spirit and devotion of the prayers are undoubtedly admirable.

From this experience, I understand the only one thing that can unite everyone in this world as one is to ‘Belief’.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------