Pope Benedict’s Packing His Bag for Madrid

Pope Benedict XVI receives the official World Youth Day 2011 backpack from Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela of Madrid during a private meeting at the Vatican in early February. The cardinal was the archbishop of Santiago de Compostela in 1989 when Pope John Paul II met young people there for World Youth Day. Spain is preparing […]

WYD Pilgrims – Faith-filled Venture for Williamsburg Youth

by Antonina Zielinska After a year and a half of spiritual preparation and fundraising, 10 young people from Transfiguration parish, Williamsburg, are less than two weeks away from joining thousands of pilgrim from throughout the world to celebrate World Youth Day in Spain. “It will be an experience of a lifetime,” said Arisleidy Maran, one […]

Brooklyn Cloister in Stitches

by Antonina Zielinska When World Youth Day pilgrims go to confession in Spain this August and kneel to kiss the stole of their confessor, they may come in contact with purple cloth hand stitched in Brooklyn. The Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará Sisters, who reside in the contemplative monastery of St. […]