Dances to the beet of her own drum

Our little town has been honoured to be part of the World Youth Day journey with the visit of the WYD cross, icon and message stick. I took a HEAP of photo’s as I wanted to document the occasion for my children.

Our journey with the cross started at our town’s civic centre, also the home of Australia’s World Peace Bell where the cross, icon and message stick were welcomed by a local Wiradjuri elder. The aboriginal people were honoured throughout the day and referred to as the original custodians of the land, a very appropriate gesture given events earlier this week.  Two local youths rang the peace bell and then all present were invited to process with the cross down the main street to the church and school.

The first people to touch the cross during the welcoming ceremony were the Wiradjuri elder (in the red top) and our local priest (in the hat next to her).

The peace bell was rung. A recurrent theme of the day was the hope and peace that Jesus brings through his work on the cross.

The local Koori children led the procession of the cross from the civic centre to the school.

I don’t have photo’s from the liturgy at the school as my camera went flat (grrr). But it was lovely. A group  of local Koori children performed two traditional dances to welcome everyone,  then the school children and visiting adults were invited to touch the cross.

Afterwards the cross was taken up to the site of the POW camp.

We were back at the church for mass. It was jam packed. I have never seen the church so full. We couldn’t get a park and ended up having to drive up behind the back of the church and park on the basketball court in the school yard.

After mass, the Cross and Icon were taken out and down to a local park.

The local youth group members carried the cross from the church.

The start of the procession saw my daughter holding a flag and leading the way (in the middle in the pink shirt).

As we made our way to the park, the procession was stopped a few times to allow different people to move in to help carry the cross. That’s me in the green shirt.

This is all the people gathered at the park as part of the celebrations. A few different people from the  groups travelling with the cross talked about their experiences and how their journey with the cross has helped strengthen their faith.

Local youth group members acted out parts of the way of the cross. It was a very simple liturgy using poses rather than action, but beautiful in it’s simplicity.

Afterwards parishioners were given the opportunity to pray, touch or just look at the cross and icon.  We also had tea at the park. The church put on a  sausage sizzle (yes despite it being a Friday during lent - even the bishop had a sausage!) and drinks for everyone and games for the kids. And then it was time to move the cross again.

TJ thought the message stick that has accompanied the cross and icon was “really cool”.

The icon is enclosed is a massive case. It’s really heavy.

TJ was honoured to carry one of the flags during the final leg of the cross and icons journey through our town.

Many hands reaching to carry the cross.

CJ helped carry the cross as it left the park to make it’s way to the river to be handed over to the next diocese to host the cross on it’s journey.

TJ leading as the procession started again.

The crowd of people walking with the cross and icon were singing hymns as they made their way down to the river.

CJ was helping carry the icon as we approached the river. Only those who were carrying flags, the cross or the icon were allowed onto the bridge for the handover. Everyone else was asked to watch from the banks for safety reasons, so my children both ended up in the thick of the handover ceremony while I had to watch from the edge of the bridge. The cross, icon and message stick were passed on to the next host and our day of celebration was complete.

We had an awesome day. It is an event that will most likely be once in a lifetime, so I hope that the kids give this day a special place in their memories.

We are going to try to make it to Sydney for some of the WYD celebrations in July as that will be a once in a lifetime event too.