World Youth Day USA Guides International Pilgrimage Leaders Guide | Page 25

First and foremost, it is vital that participants

the main character makes a trip to Europe to

understand that World Youth Day is a

identify the body of his son who died making

pilgrimage, not a vacation or field trip.

the pilgrimage; initially skeptical of such a

Pilgrimages are joyful and challenging journeys.

dangerous spiritual experience, the father

Many of your participants have probably been

decides to continue the journey to honor his

on several vacations throughout their lives.

son – and soon finds his own faith illuminated

It can be tempting to approach World Youth

along the path and in the company of new

Day as one vacation or adventure among many.

friends. He is transformed.

The pilgrim journey is so much more.
In Europe and in the Middle East especially,
On a vacation, the goal is rest.

pilgrimage has a very long tradition. People go

On an excursion, the goal is adventure.

to the Holy Land to visit the Church of the

On a pilgrimage, the goal is transformation.

Nativity in Bethlehem, the Church on Mount
Tabor in Galilee, and the Church of the Holy

People in the United States are often

Sepulcher in Jerusalem, among many other

introduced to the idea of “pilgrimage” in high

important sites. Pilgrims go to Italy to pray at

school through literature classes when they read

the tombs of St. Peter, St. Paul, and great

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a fictional

martyrs in Rome, or to the Basilica of St.

collection of stories shared by people on

Francis of Assisi in Umbria. Pilgrims travel to

pilgrimage together. The idea of pilgrimage,

France to visit the Grotto at Our Lady of

then, might be seen as something old, archaic,

Lourdes, to Portugal to visit the Chapel of the

even outdated – especially in an era when

Apparitions in Fatima, and to Poland to visit

young people can find their destinations online

the Jasna Gorna Monastery to see the Black

without ever having to physically go anywhere

Madonna of Czestochowa. Europe and the

or consult a map. A more modern tale of a

Middle East are filled with countless sites that

pilgrimage can be found in the 2010

date back to the origins of Christianity. In the

independent film, The Way, about one man’s

United States, however, there are not as many

journey from the mountains of France across

pilgrimage sites primarily because, in terms of

northern Spain along the Camino de Santiago

world history, America is a relatively new

to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

country and its religious history is still being

where pilgrims have traveled to venerate the

written. Many Catholics in the United States

tomb of St. James the Apostle. In this movie,

have grown up without a significant experience
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