Hi:
I’m a convert from Lutheranism (virtually my whole family’s Lutheran, but that’s another story). Interesting sidenote, my godparents are Catholic. Anyways, my first WYD was Sydney too, and OMG, amazing is putting it mildly. I went with a parish out east (Stratford, Ont.) and we had 5 priests + 5 nuns (all of them young, from a vibrant community SOLI}). The organizer-priest was orthodox, as well as most of the others (I doubt we would’ve gone if it had been otherwise). Interesting, I found out later that he’s Opus Dei; enuf said. We also had a priest who was maybe 1-2 years into the priesthood, and it was so fun to see someone who was so in love of the Lord. It went by soo fast, but I’ll never ever forget it. I got within 5 metres (3 feet) of the Pope in the Popemobile before the Opening Mass. I couldn’t stop crying, but in a good way. I would like to go to Madrid (when they announced it, the Spaniards went crazy, naturally), but I doubt any other group would compare with the initial one, At least it’s a lot cheaper to get there than Sydney. Oh, but gotta love those accents and the outgoing nature of the Aussies. Nothing like it.
Chantal
