Hannah Gwyther and Anna Tisi represented young people in our parish and diocese at the Westminster Cathedral Mass and Hyde Park Prayer Vigil. Here is their report.
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Hello our names our Hannah and Anna and on the 18th of September we represented the Parish along with thousands of young people from parishes all across the country. We all gathered in London to celebrate the Papal Visit and to listen to the Popes addresses.
To begin the event I attended a preparation day at St.Michaels church in Worthing. I met up with the other people going and was introduced to the leaders and organisers. We talked about the Papal Visit and what it meant to people in the UK. We also talked about the Pope's involvement in beatifying Cardinal Newman. We finished with a prayer and song service in the Church and went home really looking forward to the 18th, when we would go up to London to listen to the Pope speak to us.
On the 18th of September, after an early start at 5 in the morning. We travelled by coach up to London with other young people from our diocese, Arundel and Brighton. We started the day in the Plaza at Westminster Cathedral along with 2000 other young people. The atmosphere was incredible with the anticipation of the Mass, everyone was really excited! We were surrounded by camera crews from news channels from all around the world. We had the opportunity to watch the Pope’s Mass from just outside the Cathedral on a large screen. It was great to join in with the service and we even had the privilege of receiving communion which was brought outside to us. Once the service had finished the Pope made his way towards the Plaza to address us. At this point all 2000 of us cheered and clapped for his arrival, an extremely emotional moment for everyone. The Pope said he was thrilled to see so many young people supporting him and thanked us for his warm welcome! After our cheers had died down he addressed us talking about "Heart Speaks Unto Heart" - the theme of the Papal Visit. Pope Benedict told us to be thankful for the love which we receive from our family and friends and from God.
Next we processed to Hyde Park with banners flying and with very high spirits. Once in Hyde Park we ate lunch which had been prepared for us. Soon it was time to make our way to the golden circle to prepare for the Hyde Park Vigil. Here we were thrilled to be joined by tens of thousands of other pilgrims. We were fortunate enough to be seated directly in front of the stage, in the allocated seating area for young people. Here we were entertained by a variety of different groups through dance, music and acting. We both also helped to distribute Magnificat books to the VIP guests. Carol Voederman and writer Frank Cottral Doyce then lead us into many different testimonies from Catholics with different experiences with their faiths. The stories were truly moving and inspiring and at times reduced us to tears. After this (and a couple Mexican waves!) we started to prepare for the Popes arrival at the park.
As the sun began to set the anticipation of the Pope's arrival continued to grow. A procession containing representatives from every parish in the country then processed around the park to the sounds of hymns sung by the thousands in the crowd. The bishops came on stage and shook hands with the parish representatives. In the final hour leading up to the Pope's arrival we rejoiced by singing songs with the national orchestra who were playing on the stage. Our personal favourite was ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ which was incredible to sing along with 10,000 other people. At around 6pm the Pope started to process through London towards us. We could see his progress by the many helicopters approaching us and live footage on the screen. We have truly never experience so much joy and anticipation in our lives. The atmosphere was incredible with all of us singing hymns, making flags and chanting.
Soon the Pope made his way down the Mall and into Hyde Park before entering the golden circle in his Pope mobile. At this point everyone went crazy as the pope joined us. We even managed to wave from the front row of the crowd as he drove past us. After this he joined us in an evening prayer vigil. This involved Benediction. The Pope prayed with all of us and once again addressed us in another sermon. The service was broadcast all over the world. As the sun went down the Pope led us in prayer and celebration before waving goodbye to us all.
This truly was one of the most amazing days in our lives. We have never experienced an atmosphere quite so joyful. It really is hard to explain how wonderful the atmosphere was at that moment. We had enjoyed a fantastic day attending a service and vigil whilst also making new friends. Seeing the thousands of pilgrims who joined us on that day to join in the celebrations made us proud to be Catholics and really encouraged us to always persevere and strengthened our faiths.
It was a day that will go down in history and we know that we will never forget.
We hope to see everyone again soon in a reunion being organised.
