Saint William Youth would like to thank Msgr. John Kenneally and the CCW for supporting them on their trip to see the Pope in New York April 18 through 21, 2008.

The Youth left on Friday, April the18th, driving from Saint William to Port Wentworth (near Savannah) where they gathered together with other youth groups in the diocese to participate together in this Papal pilgrimage.

After a long, long bus ride, which took a little more time than anticipated, the Youth finally arrived around midnight in Elizabeth, New Jersey, We were all awake by 6:30 am the next morning, ate  breakfast and got ready to leave by 8:00am for our trip into Yonkers, New York.  Yonkers is the site of St. Joseph's Seminary where Pope Benedict hosted the Youth Rally.

The security was very strict for vehicles and people coming into the area of Yonkers. We were bussed into the Yonkers Race Track parking area to wait for FBI buses to shuttle us into St. Joseph's Seminary, almost a mile away.  The youth were stunned to find that they could see FBI snipers equipped with assault weapons up on hills and behind other guarded places, alert and ready to react on a split second, It was reassuring to know that Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, and his followers were safe.

We had a long wait before being shuttled in to St. Joseph’s because there were thousands upon thousands waiting to move in the same direction.  We finally entered the Seminary and were amazed at the number of pilgrims in attendance, tens of thousands.  Nuns of every order, seminarians, priests and youths from other states and countries were in attendance. It was just amazing to see so many people there, all hoping to catch a glimpse of our loving Pope Benedict.  Our thoughts ran to one question as we watched in anticipation and amazement:  Is there anyone else on the Earth who could command the respect, love, and world wide presence that our Pope Benedict did?

It was a very long wait in the Youth Rally area, but luckily we were blessed with beautiful weather for our wait.  Our youth scattered, but stayed in their small groups in the rally areas to try to get as close as they could to get a good viewing point for when Pope Benedict arrived on the stage area.

Finally close to an hour before his arrival, we were locked into the rally area.  No one was allowed in or out for security reasons.  Some of our group were locked out of the main rally area because they were waiting in lines in the food areas. Cell  phone texting became very popular among our group since it was the only way we could communicate with each other – that is, when  the messages would go through.  Our young people who were locked out out were not very happy, but later came to realize that they had an advantage.  They had food, shade and a wonderful seminarian among them. When Pope Benedict did arrive in his Popemobile, they were able to see him clearly and got some wonderful pictures. They were able to participate in the seminary's confessionals that were beautifully staged throughout St. Joseph's landscape.  The crowds welcomed Pope Benedict with loud cheers and waving of the white and yellows kerchiefs that were supplied in the welcome bags we received at the entrance of St. Joseph’s Seminary.

Mass.  Instead of waiting additional hours for the shuttle back to Yonkers Raceway parking lot where our bus waited patiently for us to return, our group chose to walk back through the neighborhood and businesses of Yonkers.  The walk turned out to be a wonderful experience as the residents of the neighborhood were outside in lawn chairs or on balconies watching our venture and cheering us on as we walked past their houses. 

Our bus was a very welcome site.  We were all tired, hungry and weary after our 12 hour event, but our evening was not finished yet.   As we travelled through New York City on our way back to Elizabeth, New Jersey (which was just across the Hudson River from New York City) we marveled at the lights of the City. 

The next morning came early.  We packed our belongings, boarded the bus, and proceeded on our tour of New York City.  The weather was threatening with rain and thunderstorms just west of the City but the Lord stopped the drizzling and graced us with sunny skies the whole day through. Our first stop was in Harlem and we were able to shop and bargain at a shopping market. 

We all gathered back on the bus and then took a tour of the beautifully blooming Central Park.  Some of us could not resist buying a famous "New York Hotdog" and "Pretzel".  We then took a walk to see one of the hundreds of statues there called "Balto".  Our guide told us that the security in the Park was more than it has ever been with cameras positioned everywhere throughout to hinder crime.

 We moved on to RockefellerCenter where everyone was able to shop and sight see before Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral at 1:00pm.

Mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral was a very blessed event for our group.  Not only were we able to attend Mass at the Cathedral, but during Mass the Church ushers came up to our youth members Tim Keane, Alex Moran, Lawrence deSola, and Heath McNally and asked them to help with the offertory collection.  Wow, what a gift that was for the St. William group!

New York's finest made their headquarters during 911.  It was filled with memorabilia and was also the church which housed the bench and pew that George Washington used. 

We then came to our last stop on the tour which was "ChinaTown" and "Little Italy".  This was a stop as interesting as it was delicious.  We left there to begin our trip back to Georgia.

Our trip home seemed to be longer than the trip to New York.  Even though fatigue was slowly creeping into our bodies, we were still excited about our experience, so very few were able to catch a little sleep.  By the time we reached Port Wentworth at around 10:00am the next morning, we were all ready to go home to St. Simons.  What an adventure, what a trip and what a Blessing to us all!