WYD in Australia with my daughter in 2008

I found out that a priest we know has said that he wants to bring a big group of youth to the next World Youth Day in Australia in 2008 and when my daughter found this out, she started jumping and saying I want to go to Australia. So hopefully if she can raise enough money for the both of us, we will go. I have always wanted to go to Australia and another good thing is that everyone speaks my one and only language, English. My daughter has never been out of the country so this would be a great experience for her as well. She is very excited.

World Youth Day watching

I have been watching a lot of the World Youth Day coverage from Germany through EWTN and I have been impressed both with Pope Benedict's role in WYD and with the number of young people that have come to WYD. I have loved the Pope's smile and his wave of recognition when the young have called out his name. He also has looked like the Head of the Catholic Church when he has given his speeches and homilies. I am amazed at how many people have been to the events of WYD. The Pope's arrival on the boat and with the thousand and thousands of people on the shore was wonderful to see. The crowd at Marienfeld has been unbelievable, so many people at one place to share their Catholic faith together. I loved the altar area that was created for the vigil and closing Mass (which I am watching on EWTN as I type this ) - I heard on EWTN that the hill was to represent the going to the mountain top scriptures like the transfiguration and Moses with the Ten Commandments and that the structure covering the altar was done to look like a cloud (It was very cool to see when it was all lit up last night for the vigil service) which also represented the transfiguration and Moses. I am so happy that the WYD was a great success, it is estimated that 1 million people are at the closing Mass. Amy Welborn's blog site has a list of all the bloggers that are at the WYD events, some are journalist and some are youth pilgrims. I have a link to Amy Welborn's web page in my links list.

Sorry about not blogging more regularly

I guess I am not the blogging type of guy, I have not been very good at blogging these last few weeks, I have lost the meditations file for the last 2 weeks so I am sorry I didn't blog those. My daughter asked me if I was going to blog and I said no, but then I thought, I should since I haven't for awhile. I have been reading the blogs from Germany and I am excited about this World Youth Day, the first for Pope Benedict - I think it will be a big success. I have been thinking this week about my daughter maybe going in 6 years to the World Youth Day after Australia's in 2008. I wonder where the 2011 World Youth day would be, maybe South America or possibly even Africa, though Africa may have a hard time logistically. So maybe Brazil would be a good place - especially since August in Brazil is their winter so it may not be as hot as it would be.

Pope visits his brother

I don't know about you, but I find it heartwarming that the Pope went to see his brother, it really does show a more human side of him. I pray that his brother may fully recover from his surgery. Here is the Link to the news:
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=59225