Young and faithful: Cape Girardeau sisters attend World Youth Day

Being young and Catholic isn't always seen as cool, Catherine Meyer acknowledges.

But for a week this summer she was surrounded by people with the same beliefs and values, even if they didn't speak the same language. She and her sister, Tara, attended World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia. The event attracts hundreds of thousands of Catholics from around the globe.

Catherine, a junior at Truman State University, and Tara, a junior at Notre Dame Regional High School, saw Pope Benedict XVI and the "Popemobile," witnessed a three-hour re-enactment of Jesus' final days, and camped out with around 200,000 other youths for an evening vigil.

"The whole point is to make people future leaders of the church," Tara said.

One of the most memorable events for the girls was the evening vigil and final Mass.

"We started on one side of a huge bridge in Sydney, and walked a little over a 14K. It was long and hard. We had our backpacks on with our sleeping bags. We ended up in Randwick Racecourse, where we set up camp," Catherine said.

It was winter in Sydney, so the girls were cold, and barely slept because of people cheering. In the morning, the pope led a final worship.

"Just sitting there we heard five languages being spoken around us. ... It didn't matter whether you cried because everyone was doing the same thing and felt the same way," Catherine said.

Before Australia, the girls traveled to Tauranga, New Zealand, where another sister lives. They made the pilgrimage to World Youth Day with a group of people from her church. In Australia, they split up to stay with various host families until camping out for the evening vigil.

After the event, the sisters visited attractions in Australia and New Zealand, including the Sydney Opera House and Bondi Beach. They were abroad three weeks, returning Monday.

Tara said the experience helped her learn more about her faith. "It put things in perspective seeing people from other cultures celebrating the same thing," she said.

The next World Youth Day will be held in Madrid, Spain, in 2011.

lbavolek@semissourian.com

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