World Youth Day USA Guides International Pilgrimage Leaders Guide | Page 11

world: in the communion of saints united

international pilgrim and the stateside pilgrim

with the Triune God.

are united under one mission – and both can
truly be part of the story of World Youth Day

In the Church, pilgrimage and community are

and be transformed in the process. Everyone,

inseparable. Not only is the community the

then, can be a pilgrim on this journey.

backdrop against which the pilgrim’s journey
to World Youth Day takes place, but it is an

Understanding the young people on this

experience for the entire community. Those

journey – and the community from which

who cannot go are also invited to participate

they come (and to where they will be going

with the same sense of corporate identity that is

next) – is key to better appreciating the people

found in the Judeo-Christian notion of a

that God has put into the leader’s care. The

festival/pilgrimage and fulfilled in the

tasks of the trip, even the most seemingly

Eucharist. They are invited to a solidarity that

important logistical details, are all secondary

is meaningful, not marginal. In this way, the

to the pilgrims themselves.

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