A Busy Day in Portugal
World Youth Day 2023 is in the books! With over 1.5 million young people, it was a week full of encounter and moments of grace. I had a unique role as both pilgrim and speaker. What follows is a short recap of the amazing opportunities I had.
As planning would have it, all of my speaking engagements were scheduled for the same day! This lead to to 12 hours which flashed before me, yet a time I will not soon forget. It all began with the morning Rise Up session. These catechesis events formed the core teaching component of World Youth Day. I was honored to lead the session with my diocese outlining the day’s theme and central lesson. What a joy it was to be in such a beautiful church and speaking to over 600 people every morning.
Day 1 of Rise Up
From St. Catherine’s, I quickly shuffled over to the next engagement. I was tasked with coordinating the USCCB’s presentation on Journeying Together. Having been involved in this wonderful process for the last couple of years, I was excited to bring our work to an international stage.
In addition to coordinating with World Youth Day and the bishops who were on our panel conversation, I was the MC for the event. I got to share the stage with my fiancée, Carissa, who was one of our panel hosts. Perhaps the best part of the event is when our bishops wanted to go off script and field questions from the room. It lead to some wonderful, at times tough, conversations between young people and their shepherds. A special thank you to Archbishop Pérez of Philadelphia, Bishop Silva of Honolulu, and Bishop Cepeda of Detroit for being a part of the dialogue.
The Before
The final event of the night was the biggest. Carissa and I were invited to speak in front of the entire US contingent of 20,000. This was by far the largest crowd I have ever spoken to and could not have asked for a better partner at my side. It was a very fitting talk, as we shared how preparation for marriage has lead us to reflect on how our vocation to each other is also a vocation at the service of the entire Church.
Us speaking before Adoration
Standing room only attendance
The During
The large crowd who filled the park
Carissa speaking with Bishop Silva
Carissa in the spotlight
And there we have it, the busiest day of World Youth Day. I am eternally grateful for having Carissa by my side through it all. She made sure I remembered to eat, but even more importantly was my co-pilot and collaborator. This article focuses more on the work side of my trip. Future article coming on how spiritually enriching and moving my time at World Youth Day was.