Group from St. Vincent's treks to Europe for WYD

For Jim Kenny, it was another chance to go.

For 10 teenagers and chaperones from Parish in Richboro, it was the chance to experience a trip of a lifetime.

From Aug. 11-23, a group of 28, comprised of people from both St. Vincent’s and St. Ignatius of Antioch in Yardley, traveled to Europe to take to take part in the World Youth Day (WYD) celebration in Madrid, Spain. The pilgrimage, organized by Kenny, also included some other popular destinations along the way.

“The outpouring of emotion toward the faith was great,” said Kenny, the Vice President and Sales Manager of Macy’s in Philadelphia and a St. Vincent’s volunteer youth minister for the last decade.

World Youth Day, which was started by the late Pope John Paul II in 1986, is an annual event for teenagers and young adults from all corners of the globe. Over a five-day period, conferences, talks and songs are among the precursors to the Pope’s arrival. The celebration culminates with a Saturday night Eucharistic adoration and Mass Sunday morning, both of which are led by the pope.

Normally WYD, which has at in the past been attended by one million people and had over 400,000 registered this season, is held at the Vatican in Rome. But every three years or so, it is moved to another world city. This summer, that happened to be Madrid, and Kenny, who had organized previous St. Vincent’s WYD trips to Toronto and Cologne, Germany, got the chance to do so again.

“Each of the countries visited held memories that will last a life time,” said Maureen Mullins, who chaperoned the trip and was able to take her daughter, Brianna. “I found it fascinating that despite their language barriers, our kids were easily able to communicate with pilgrims from other countries to teach each other games, trade items from each others countries and let’s not forget trading contact information, (e.g. facebook).”

From playing soccer with fellow teens from around the world, dancing with people from Africa, sleeping in a gym or field, the concluding Mass at an airport and seeing Pope Benedict XVI, Madrid proved to be quite an experience for the St. Vincent’s group.

“My favorite part of the trip has to be visiting the Louvre. I thought it was amazing to see all of the works of art,” said Sarah Castronuovo, who went for the first time. “I also thought that just seeing the vast amount of people at the over night during world youth day was just amazing. Not just the participants of World Youth Day but also the thousands of local people that came out. It was amazing to see the amount of people that love Jesus so much.”

There was a tense moment during the Saturday night adoration time because of a sudden windstorm that blew several venue tents over, but no one from the group was injured.

“I absolutely loved WYD. Although my favorite country was Portugal, as I think back I definitely think my most memorable time on the trip was in Spain. I met so many new people from other countries that I still talk to today,” remembered Brianna, a junior at Council Rock South. “What was really funny about meeting all these people was that we all had one thing in common, we all loved playing the game ‘ninja.’ I also have so many souvenirs from a bunch of countries that I didn't even go to! If you had something that was from America and someone from Germany wanted it, they would trade you anything from their country for it. That goes for all countries that were there, including us!”

The Madrid portion of the trip, though, only lasted six days. Prior to that, the group flew from the U.S. to Heathrow Airport to spend two days in London. There, they visited sites including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and the London Tower.

“In London, we visited the Tower of London where people were tortured or beheaded for standing up for their beliefs as opposed to conforming to the belief of the king,” said Maureen.

After their time in London, the group also trekked to Paris to visit places including the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Miraculous Medal Shrine and St. Vincent DePaul’s church.

“In this church the body of St Vincent himself is kept above the altar in a solid silver shrine,” said Brianna. “I thought this was interesting because in about seventh or eighth grade I learned about that in Religion class.”

Their journey was not complete in Madrid, though. Following WYD, the group took an overnight train to Lisbon and then spent the next day in Fatima, a town in Portugal where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to three children in 1917. The total cost of the trip was about $2,700.

“That was a great day to end the trip on,” Kenny said.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” he added. “We’ve always treat the kids like they’re young adults and they generally rise to the occasion.”

Kenny is not sure if he will go to the next international WYD, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro 2013. But, he encourages anyone who has the chance to go to take advantage and give it a try.

“I am definitely glad I went on this trip, and I miss every second of it all the time,” Brianna said. “I would do anything just to go back for a day!”

St. Vincent’s Youth Group, headed by Dan Tarrant, meets each Sunday, beginning with Mass at 6 p.m. followed by a gathering until 8:30 p.m.