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John P. Hittinger, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (Houston)

 Rev. Leonard A. Kennedy, C.S.B., Ph.D.
Former President, Assumption College of the University of Windsor, and St. Thomas More College of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Rev. Joseph W. Koterski, S.J., S.T.L., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University

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Swetland, S.T.D.
Vice President for Catholic Identity and Mission,
Mount St. Mary’s University

Hon. Kenneth D. Whitehead, Ph.D.
Former Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education; author

 

To follow up on The Center’s coverage of World Youth Day, we asked representatives of Campion College, Australia’s only Catholic liberal arts college, to describe how the college participated in the events of WYD 2008 and indeed shaped some of the words and images for people across Australia and the world.


Thoughts From Campion College

Pope Benedict has left our shores, at the ends of the earth as it were, but he left behind a generation filled with a passion for Christ. Everywhere Benedict went, crowds of young happy pilgrims hung on his every word. A media hostile to his visit before his arrival were turned around in one week.

Why? Not solely due to the personal charisma of the Holy Father, although he played a major part. Also significant was the enormous good will generated by happy pilgrims who reveled in their faith. On buses and trains and in the streets, pilgrims sang and chanted, leaving a lasting impression on Sydneysiders.

Campion College students participated fully in the events of World Youth Day, including the live Stations of the Cross, the spectacular candlelight Vigil, and the final Mass with Pope Benedict that was also attended by 500,000 other WYD participants. The Holy Father spoke to an attentive audience about deliverance from shallowness and apathy and called youth to be prophets of a new age and to serve the Church. His message entrusting to their care the environment where there are “scars which mark the surface of the earth, erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world’s mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption,” also struck home to a young audience.

Some examples of how Campion College students were involved in WYD include:

  • Ruth Russell, our first year student, was in the media on three of the five days discussing chastity. Ruth appeared nationwide on “Good Morning Australia” as well as other programs, including some hostile interviews where the interviewer tried to paint her as somehow deviant because she did not support pre-marital sex.
  • Our schola, made up of both staff and students, joined the choirs in all of the events, with Bernard Kirkpatrick, Campion’s musical director, serving as the official organist.
  • Student Stephen Woodnutt was shown live to a world wide TV audience playing the part of a Roman soldier leading Jesus to his death. Camillus O’Kane, a former Campion student, played an apostle at the Last Supper in the Stations of the Cross.
  • Our debating team won the Papal Plate Debating competition, beating a team of Oxford University pilgrims by taking the negative to the topic “That God is dead.” The Papal Plate soccer and debating competitions were sponsored by Campion College as was Carnivale Christi, the gathering of university students at WYD.
  • Campion College President Rev. Dr. John Fleming recorded a series of 13 episodes for EWTN called “Catholic Lives” which showcases the lives of Australians who publicly embraced their Faith. The series will air in the United States and internationally in April 2009.
  • Other Campion pilgrims assisted at the vocations expo, encouraging young people to take up vocations and live a Catholic life, as well as inviting them to consider Campion College.
  • Students Symeon Thompson, Jeremy Klysz and Campion’s Boston student Molly Healy were featured in an article in “The Australian” reporting on the Mass and Vigil.
  • One year old Claire Hill, sister of Campion student Sarah, was singled out for a blessing and kiss by His Holiness. The Hills have 11 children. Sarah appeared with Claire on the nightly news across Australia and in newspapers the next day.
  • Our American college students who have been at Campion on a summer school and on study abroad have made the most of their time in Australia. Even though some do not come from orthodox Catholic colleges, their exposure to the faith at Campion and during WYD has been a revelation to them.

But most of all, pilgrims were struck by the Holy Father’s messages of hope and joy, and that translated into joyful partying and well behaved crowds. Police officers commented that despite 500,000 people partying in Sydney, they had nothing to do. What an example to the world of the young of the Catholic Faith.

In the words of the Holy Father, “Our hearts and minds are yearning for a vision of life where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth and where identity is found in respectful communion. Let this be the message you bring from Sydney to the world.”

By Paul Abela, Development Manager at Campion College Australia. Mr. Abela also was a member of the WYD Sydney 2008 Education Committee.
Campion College Follow-Up on WYD
Copyright 2010 by The Cardinal Newman Society