By Kelley Kepler
Catholic Herald

Local pilgrims share their World Youth Day stories

SUPERIOR --Bridgette Fischer, a senior at Tomahawk High School, started to get excited about World Youth Day after Kay Jarvensivu, the Youth Director at St. Mary Parish in Tomahawk, approached her about the possibility of a trip to Toronto. "It sounded like a great experience," Fischer said. "I just got confirmed, and it's an opportunity for me to explore my faith."

Fischer is one of 49 young pilgrims from the Diocese of Superior who traveled to Toronto for WYD, July 22-28. A group of twenty traveled there from Cathedral of Christ the King in Superior. Six youths from St. Mary in Tomahawk joined another ten from the Rib Lake Cluster to make the pilgrimage. Another five people from Hudson and eight from New Richmond were also among the hundreds of thousands who made it to WYD.

Another student to attend WYD was Erin Pintens, who is also a senior at Tomahawk High School. She had gone with her cousin on a mission trip to Louisiana and found it to be a positive experience. She wanted to go to WYD with St. Mary's parish in hopes that it would be as memorable as her last church trip. "I also hope that my relationship with God becomes stronger and that I become a better person," she said.

Likewise, Emily Knorn, 16, said in anticipation, "I hope to learn to be stronger in my faith and to trust in God more." Knorn, a home-schooled student from St. John the Baptist of Rib Lake, said she was also eager to make new friends from all over the world. And, "I think it would be fun to see the pope -- even from a distance," she said.

Katy Minor, a sophomore at Superior Senior High School and a member of Holy Assumption, had wanted to go to WYD for as long as she can remember. "It truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she said, stating similar reasons for wanting to go: a chance to see the pope and meet other youths with the same faith. She was the first from her family to decide to go; soon after Katy committed herself to the trip, her sister Erin, a junior, and her brother Nathan, a freshman, decided to go with her.

Erin Minor was determined to go to Toronto after "I found out we could raise most of the money through fund raisers," she said.

According to youth minister Janette Gil de Lamadrid, who organized the pilgrimage from the Cathedral in Superior, many students found creative ways to offset the cost of getting to WYD. Some students designed tee-shirts that they wore during Mass with the Pope. Everyone who gave a donation could sign a message on these shirts, she said. Students also participated in something called a "creative memories workshop." They had a party and put together a scrapbook, and Jen Motor, the organizer of this event, donated all the proceeds to the WYD fund. A series of car washes at Wal-Mart also helped raise much of the money needed to get to Toronto.

The youths from the Rib Lake Cluster also managed to raise most of the cost of their trip. According to trip organizer Ann Mahner, the students raised funds through a garage sale with items donated from the parishes, tee-shirts that the students designed and sold to parishioners, a cluster dinner and festival with children's games, a brat fry supper and a car wash.

And Jarvensivu said her group was able to earn some money by having people sponsor the youths at $2 per mile traveled for whatever distance each person wished to sponsor.

All who made donations to help these youths get to Toronto can rest assured that their money went toward a good cause. Upon returning from Toronto, the pilgrims only had good things to say about WYD.

Most of the youths said that seeing Pope John Paul II was definitely a highlight of the experience. The group from the Cathedral even managed to get pretty close to him. "When he passed by in his popemobile, he was only about 20 feet away," said Erin Minor.

"He's such a cool pope," added Meghan Gil de Lamadrid, a senior at Superior Senior High School and a member of the Cathedral. "He knows about eight different languages, and he loves the youth," she continued. "I really think that's important because we seem to be forgotten about a lot of the time," she said.

Mary Kleinshmidt, a member of St. Mary's in Tomahawk who plans on attending UW-Madison this fall, reminisced about the pope's arrival. She said that everyone had slept in a field the night before Sunday's papal Mass took place. It rained all night and throughout the morning, and everyone was drenched because tents weren't allowed. However, she said, "When the pope arrived, the clouds cleared out, and the sun started to shine."

Others who made it to World Youth Day were thrilled to have met so many young people of different backgrounds and cultures. Nathan Minor said, "I met lots of people from other countries -- from countries like Pakistan, people you'd never expect to meet."

His sister Erin recalled that her favorite WYD memory is of people from all over the world singing and dancing together. "We were having a good time regardless of race or culture," she said. Overall, "the experience helped cement my faith. It was proof that I'm not the only teenager who believes in God," she said.

Kleinschmidt said she found it moving the way everyone came together in Toronto. She described how all the pilgrims went on a seven mile hike in 90 degree weather to get to the field where the papal Mass would take place. Kleinschmidt realized that despite all of their cultural differences, "we were all suffering because we all had faith and wanted to share in this," she said. Even at the Mass itself, "You could hear people responding in about 15 different languages, but you knew that everyone was saying the same thing," she said.

Though Kleinschmidt has participated in local retreats like TEC, Christian Leadership Institure and Camp Jesus, she said WYD was unique because it allowed her to explore her faith on a more global scale. "It was a profound experience," she said, and it's one she'd like to repeat. Kleinschmidt is already planning her trip to Cologne, Germany for World Youth Day 2005.

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