Author: sjspwellesley

Monday morning we were up before the sun to start our journey back to Boston.  Having been warned that our bus would pick us (and the other pilgrims from Boston on our flight) up at 6:00am and if we missed

Sunday dawned bright and early for our pilgrims on the field, who were present for the Missioning Mass.  (Our group at the hotel was blessed to celebrate Mass with Fr. Mark and other pilgrims in the hotel chapel.) Pope Francis

After Mass with the Cardinal on Saturday morning, we returned to our hotel to rest up before beginning what we knew would be the most challenging – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – 24 hours of the pilgrimage.  The summit of

‏Saturday morning started very early. We were celebrating Mass at 8:00am with Cardinal Séan and the rest of the Boston contingent at a church just around the corner from our hotel, and we were asked to be there by 7:30am

  On Friday we began the day with prayer, and by sharing with our young pilgrims the letters that their families wrote before the trip.  We then headed to a local church for Youth Festival events with the JPII Project

(Apologies again for the late post – things are heating up here, literally and figuratively!) Thursday was probably the most exhilarating and challenging day of the pilgrimage so far. In the morning after breakfast we prepared ourselves for Mass and

Day 5 started a little later – and a lot slower – than previous days!  WYD is definitely a marathon, not a sprint, and we’re very conscious of pacing ourselves with the all the physical activity,  large crowds, and increasing

(We apologize for the delay in posting Tuesday’s update – it was a long day that didn’t end for the group leaders until very late since we do our planning after the kids are in their rooms for the night!)

After two amazing days in Fatima we packed it up this morning and traveled to Lisbon with a big crowd from the Archdiocese of Boston. The city is starting to fill up!  We noticed the crowds growing as the afternoon

This morning we headed back to the Santuario de Fatima for Mass celebrated with Cardinal Sean and concelebrated by priests, bishops, and cardinals from around the world. We had to get there early to stake out our spot, so our pilgrims spent some time writing postcards of gratitude to all our generous sponsors. Carrying our prayers for them to the sacred altar.

The more than 900 pilgrims from throughout the Archdiocese of Boston were so proud to have our Archbishop  celebrating Mass this morning. Hearing the Gospel read in 6 languages was incredible!