Reflection submitted by Paul Willitts
Having had some time to reflect upon my thoughts and experiences of World Youth Day 2011, the first thing that comes to mind is our parish team—“The Dragaroos." We were such a diverse group, spanning 3 generations from high school students, to college students, to young adults, to middle aged adults, to the “old” baby boomers like me. Our daily lives back home differed so much in our work and schools, our schedules, the music we enjoy, our hobbies, and the way we like to dress.
How could our small group of a dozen people bond together as one? It wasn’t just by chance; Jesus and the Holy Spirit sent us all to WYD for a purpose, and we realized it was our faith, our Catholic faith, that was our common bond. As the week progressed in Madrid, we continued to pray and practice our faith in God, in the church, and in the church leaders. We also showed a lot of faith within our own team as we participated in each of the activities; Patty, our blogmeister; David and Paula, the chaperones; Leslee, our fearless leader, and Sean, Jeremy, and Joanne, our young adults, leading the way for our very active youth; Terrence, Matty, Vanessa, and Vandella.
On a much larger scale, I think we realized that the way we interacted in faith and prayer as a small group, two million other Catholics from around the globe came together to practice the same thing. What I brought home with me is that the practice of the Catholic faith, prayer, and persistence are so important in accomplishing goals and continuing to be “good” Catholics. I would like to thank all of our team members for helping to contribute to a very enjoyable and successful pilgrimage and helping me to keep up with the group. I would also like to thank St. George Parish and the parishioners for their continued support of the Dragaroos.
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