A new world

Gathering a life-changing event for local Catholic youth

Sometimes there comes a pivotal point in a young life, a point when fundamental truths crystallize and all else fades away.

For Rachael Bernt, it was Saturday, Aug. 20, 2005.

Thats when, worshiping in the midst of 1.2 million fellow Catholics listening to an address by newly chosen Pope Benedict XVI, she understood the enormity of the 20th annual World Youth Day gathering in Cologne, Germany.

It changes how you look at the world, the way you picture it, the homeschooled senior from Kalispell said.

To realize your family is worldwide and to be part of that, Cody Carter tried to find words for his own epiphany. To be in a crowd where everyone believes the same thing

He and Carter Fredenberg had marked their 2005 Flathead High School graduation and the pending start of fall classes at Flathead Valley Community College by backpacking in Belgium before hooking up with the rest of the 44-member Flathead Valley contingent bound for the international Catholic assembly.

As they made their pilgrimage to the faith-shaping event, held Aug. 16-22, the trek was being replicated around the globe.

Its hard for people in Kalispell to understand they are part of a faith language that is spoken all over the world, Doug Tooke said. We were at the center of that, and it has to change you.

As director of the Catholic Youth Rural Outreach office in Pope John Paul II Catholic Church in Bigfork, Tooke and his wife, Becky, led the Flathead Valley pilgrimage.

The sheer mass of 1.2 million people in one place, unified in one purpose, left a big imprint on the Flathead teens.

And thats one-thousandth of our faith, Tooke said. There are a billion worldwide.

The World Youth Day gatherings are planned once every two or three years. In 2002, one was held in Toronto; in 2000, it was Rome. In 2008, the faithful will travel to Sydney, Australia.

Tooke and youth from parishes from Ronan to Columbia Falls began fund-raising for Cologne two years ago. It wasnt easy, but their history of cooperative, area-wide programming under Catholic Youth Rural Outreach (www.catholicweb.com), helped 44 youths and adults raise the cash.

On Aug. 2, their pilgrimage began.

They started with four days in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, with its breathtaking cathedrals and the burial place of 19th-century composer Antonin Dvorak.

Prague turned out to be everybodys favorite stop a mass in Czechoslovakian, a performance of Mozarts Don Giovanni in the opera house in which it debuted more than 200 years ago, the first of a running series of ultimate Frisbee games played in every city they visited.

Next came two days in Vienna, Austria, with a half-day trip to Salzburg, home of lush gardens and castles and concert halls.

For two days in Munich, Germany, they took part in a Days of the Diocese preliminary event to World Youth Day. Munich also brought refreshment in its Hofbrauhaus and a sobering visit to Dachau, where Nazis put to death well over 200,000 Jews.

At last, it was time for a full seven days in Cologne. Accommodations were set up in Bonn and Dusseldorf as the influx spilled beyond Colognes capacity to hold them all.

The Flathead contingent was one of only two United States groups to pitch their tents in the encampment on the banks of the Rhine, enshrouded by an ever-present fog.

There, they made significant connections with pilgrims from several nations the official delegation from Ghana, was just one.

Late-night prayer and rosaries forged deep bonds.

Carter recounted a 2 a.m. session with two others, their Montana flag still flying as the sole banner over a slumbering sea of people.

We were the only ones left. As far as you could see, there were sleeping bags and lanterns in the fog, Carter said.

The Sisters of Charity from Calcutta, Mother Teresas order, offered a quiet respite at a chapel they hosted in Dusseldorf for all seven days. Their reverent, singing entry during one Eucharistic adoration left a sweet memory.

On Saturday, the Holy Father celebrated Mass and spoke to the assembly. He paid high tribute to the late Pope John Paul II. He took European Catholics to task for forsaking attendance at Mass. He cautioned the United States against a church for sale, particularly by means of televangelism.

We were at mass with 1.2 million people in a field, Amanda Dudis recalled with amazement. There were 1,800 Eucharistic ministers, with Pope Benedict saying mass.

The Flathead High senior turned 18 years old as the Pope was speaking to the assembly.

The day before, fellow pilgrim John Butts turned 17 and came to a deeper understanding of his faith.

We are one church, the universal church thats what Catholic means, the Bigfork High junior said. There were people in every direction. Everyone was celebrating the same thing You could go out and meet people, and you were praying with them. There was a lot of unity of spirit.

That unity showed itself in the form of candlelight for Fredenberg. On the day the Pope spoke, he said, a candle was handed out in each participants lunch box.

The Pope told everyone to light their candles. They started doing it one by one, Fredenberg recalled. Then you turn around and it just lights up the night. It makes you realize how many people were there, and the unity of the whole group in the faith.

Much more than a great trip, the group said this was the catalyst for changed lives.

Fredenberg had traveled to the last World Youth Day in Toronto, and has watched himself become more of a servant as he helps with youth groups and other activities.

Butts sees a change in the way I worship, the way I look at the world, he said.

Theres a face to it now, Bernt added. She sees herself getting more involved in the church, and encouraging the same from her two younger brothers.

Carter, who said he used to lay out the truth of the Gospel and challenge people to step up to it, has a gentler focus.

Now Im still big on theology, but Ive gotten more into spreading the love, he said. Like St. Francis of Assisi said, Preach the gospel. Use words if necessary.

World Youth Day 2005 is a benchmark in these young lives. But the mix involves much more, Tooke said.

Its one part of the puzzle. It shouldnt be your sole source of spirituality, he said.

It affirmed what we already believed as a church. We all left with a better foothold, a better perspective.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com