We arrived back at the parish at 9:30 Wednesday morning for registration and the beginning of the Passionist Youth Encounter (PYE). When I was handed my ID tag I was surpised to see that under contact group it said - "Group B (group leader)" While I vaguely remembered telling Joyce (the woman who organized us from the states) that I was willing to help in whatever way needed, I did not know that this meant I was scheduled for this. I quickly looked at the schedule to see when these contact groups were meeting. I saw that the first one was scheduled for 11:30 that morning. I said to myself, "Gee, it would be good if we had a chance to meet as group leaders before that to find out what we are supposed to be doing!" As I further scanned the schedule I saw that in fact we were, right at that very moment!
That meeting was both helpful and reassuring. The contact groups are groups of about 15 people each that have been selected to put each of us in contact with people from many other countries. Five times throughout the PYE we will gather in these small groups to discuss and share based on our experiences. My role as group leader is simply to facilitate those discussions. Our first meeting was largely a get-to-know you session. Our group has people from the States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Phillipines, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, and Brazil in it. The pilgrims range from 16 to 55. (The 55 year-old is the leader of the group that has come from the state of South Australia.) Their connection to the Passionists varies from having grown up in a parish staffed by Passionist priests to those who work with the Passionists in various ministries.
The focus of the day was on the opening ceremonies and prayers of that afternoon. At 3:30 we gathered in the Church parking lot and processed a quarter mile up the hill to a local park that overlooked the entire area. There, at the very crest of the hill, we were priviledged to be welcomed to country by a representative group of aboriginal people. These original custodians of the land of Australia have begun to have their voice heard again in special and real ways. Aborignal Catholics have now been allowed to bring the traditions of their ancestors in to the local Catholic community as gifts to be treasured. As a part of the ceremonies, three traditional aboriginal message sticks were presented, one to a representative of the local parish, one to the provincial minister of the local province of Passionists, and one to the Passionist General Superior who was present to take to Rome. This exchange of gifts marked the profound respect that has begun to grow between the local Catholic Church as these first Australians. With tradtional music and dance, with a ceremony involving earth, fire, and water, we were made to feel welcome and included in this ancient place. This was a profoundly moving experience and one for which I am most grateful and most humbled.
Knowing the history of discrimination that the Aborignies faced here in Australia and the ways in which the Catholic church had been complicit in the attempts to destroy aborigianal culture and ways of life, to see that it was beginning to be understood and accepted that the Spirit of God was present and active in this ancient culture long before Europeans first landed on the shores. The spirituality and life of the Aborigines can only add to richness of the universality that is the Catholic Church. One does not need to become European in order to be Catholic. In school I have studied in the theology of inculturation, but I felt priviledged to see this reality expressed in such concrete ways.
This ceremony was followed by a procession back to the Church where we celebrated mass dedicated to Mary under the title of Our Mother of Hope. The provincial minister preached on the meaning of hope and its connection to what we are doing on this pilgrimage. The mass began with a presentation the relics of three Passionist saints who are special patrons of young people, St. Gabriel, St. Gemma, and St. Maria Goretti.
After supper the day closed with a Taize style prayer led by the pilgrims from Ireland and Scotland.
On a more prosaic note, it is winter here in Australia. It has been quite cool, colder than usual for this location at this time of year. In the morning it was only 4 degrees (Celcius), about 40 degrees Farenheit. Quite a difference from Houston at this time of year! It was good that we had followed the advice to bring warm clothes, and that we had been given PYE sweatshirts when we arrived!
I look forward to Thursday and our first day of input.
