Pilgrims prepare for World Youth Day with excitement, daily prayer, contemplation
Earlier this summer, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin gave a special blessing to more than 40 young men and women who will travel to Lisbon, Portugal for World Youth Day in August as representatives from the Archdiocese of Newark. Along the way, the pilgrims will stop at famous pilgrimage sites including Fatima, Portugal, where the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three shepherd children in 1917; Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the alleged burial site of the Biblical apostle St. James; and the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga in Portugal. They also will spend time with Pope Francis.
The pilgrims, who total 43 in number and come from parishes across Union, Hudson, Essex, and Bergen counties, have been eagerly preparing for their journey with monthly meetings, prayer, and faith formation.
Father Kevin Kilgore, the pastor of St. Pius X Church in Old Tappan, is leading the pilgrimage along with Ricardo Casimiro, the Campus Minister at Montclair State University.
The pilgrims have been attending monthly meetings at St. Pius, which have included social activities such as a barbeque and a formal dinner, as well as talks on catechism, faith sharing, a lecture on Our Lady of Fatima, and a visit from the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima during its archdiocesan tour April 28 through June 10.
“I received my vocation to the priesthood while I was at World Youth Day 12 years ago,” Father Kilgore said. Now, he sees leading this pilgrimage as “paying forward” for the gift of discernment he received during his previous pilgrimage.
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“We believe that God is doing something in each of [the pilgrims’] lives,” he said. “There is an invitation from the Holy Spirit, and these are the ones who have accepted the Holy Spirit into their lives. World Youth Day is a kind of doorway… and they will form each other and grow together.”
Several of the pilgrims who spoke to Jersey Catholic said they are hoping that the experience will inspire a new fervor for their faith and bring them closer in relationship to God.
Kean University student Christopher Tamay, 21, said that he is hoping the experience will help him discern God’s plan for his life.
“Spiritually and mentally, I want God to help me,” Tamay said.
He is currently a volunteer youth leader at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Orange and said that he has been praying in preparation for the August pilgrimage but seeks a deeper prayerful life. He hopes the pilgrimage and the experience of meeting other pilgrims from across the world will help him “to find a better understanding of my life path and get closer to God.”
Recent Montclair State University graduate Dominic Pereira, 22, said that he hopes the pilgrimage will help him return to his faith.
“Towards the end of my senior year of college, my faith journey started to slow down a bit,” he said. Previously, Pereira was involved with campus ministry at his alma mater and even served as president of the university’s Newman Catholic Club. “I became extremely busy with trying to graduate and get a job right out of college… my faith took a bit of a back seat during that time.”
When he heard about the World Youth Day pilgrimage from Montclair State’s campus minister Ricardo Casimiro, he thought it would be the perfect opportunity to reignite his passion for his faith.
Seeking personal growth
Most of the Archdiocese of Newark pilgrims will be going to Portugal on scholarship. The pilgrims who spoke to Jersey Catholic said they sought out the scholarships inspired to grow their personal journeys of faith.
Claire Shubeck, who attends Mass and adoration regularly at Saint Helen Church in Westfield, was inspired to apply for the pilgrimage due to her experience attending SEEK, a national Catholic conference for young people led by FOCUS, a Catholic outreach organization that shares the hope and joy of the Gospel with the world.
Shubeck began answering the call to the Gospel mission shortly before she matriculated at Columbia University in 2019. Shubeck has remained determined to bear witness to her faith while attending a secular university. She reflected, “I was worried I did not know enough about my faith to answer people’s questions.”
Within months of being at Columbia, she was “planning [her] day around daily Mass” and facilitating Bible studies for fellow students.
She looks forward to deepening her faith and devotion to Jesus during the trip and experiencing the “universality of the Church” at World Youth Day.
“I was eager to continue answering God’s call to follow him, this time to Lisbon,” she said. “I am very excited to experience this journey with young adults from the Archdiocese, and I can’t wait to pray with young Catholics from all around the world.”
Marian Hervias, an intern in the Office of Priestly Vocations at the Archdiocese of Newark and a parishioner at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Ridgewood, said that she was unsure at first if she should apply for the pilgrimage. Although she has a deep love for her faith and even leads a women’s Bible study on her college campus, Hervias was not sure at first if now was the right time for her to take the pilgrimage due to her studies at Seton Hall University.
“My family encouraged me to apply… my friends in the office, in ministry, and others also motivated me to apply and be open to God’s plan for me,” she said. “I believe this pilgrimage will enrich my faith and help me to rise up and run with haste to meet the Lord.”
Preparing with prayer, contemplation
Hervias said that she has been preparing for the trip with daily prayer and by attending Eucharistic adoration. “I am praying that I may enter into intimate, quiet conversation with Him but most importantly, that I may serve others with unconditional love,” she said.
James McElroy, a parishioner at St. James the Apostle Church in Springfield and a first-year seminarian in the Archdiocese of Newark, said that he has been preparing for the pilgrimage by committing to a more rigorous prayer routine.
“My prayer has relied greatly upon a growing devotion to the Blessed Mother, and her appearance at Fatima is of great interest to me,” he said.
McElroy anticipates that the pilgrimage will give him a “greater appreciation for the universal aspect of our Church” and a fuller understanding of the Catholic Church’s global mission. “Leaving the country only to see the same Body and Blood in the same Sacrifice of the Mass will be a moving experience, as will being in places where saints have stood.”
Bringing their experience back to Newark
Shubeck, whose involvement with young adult ministry heavily inspired her to embark on this journey, is motivated to bring her experiences at World Youth Day back home with her.
“I’m hoping that praying through this pilgrimage will lead me to a deeper understanding of the role of young adults in the Church,” she said. “I desire that this trip provides some inspiration as to how I can foster more young adult involvement in my home parish when I return.”
Hervias also said that she plans to bring her experiences back home with her and hopes they will shape how she lives out her life vocation. “I hope I can still serve [in ministry] when coming back from the pilgrimage and incorporate it into my vocation as a woman and as a future nurse.”
Featured image: Young adults have been preparing for the trip to Portugal. (Photo courtesy Father Kevin Kilgore)
