So we have arrived in Sydney and are happily billetted in a bayside home in Vaucluse. We stopped in Goulbourn for lunch yesterday, and three bus loads of Neocats were there too. Very lively singing, and Cathy was “evangelised”!
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We arrived late afternoon, and were just settling down when I received a message that I had to go back into the city to collect the backpacks and tickets for our “group” and hosts–which were not delivered to the parish as they should have been. But I was given the wrong street number and ended up wandering the back streets of Sydney after dark… not nice. I ran into this scruffy looking American Franciscan and asked for directions. He said that he didn’t know where the place was that I was looking for, but he would pray to St Anthony that I would find out. A few minutes later I did find the WYD homestay headquarters (it was a disused church) I saw a picture of the priest on the wall: it was Fr Stan Fortuna, a WYD star attraction… 
This morning was catechesis at Our Lady Star of the Sea at Watson’s Bay. There were South Africans, Ugandans, Welsh, English (from Nottingham with natty little robin hood hats!), Dominican High School students from Pennsylvania (plus the Nashville Sisters), Melbournians (ourselves and the Geoghegans), and from Adelaide (the Salisbury team). The Africans led the music and teaching, with Bishop Patrick Mve Mve – good stuff, especially the bongo music..JPG?w=640)
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Our Lady’s is the parish of Bishop Anthony Fisher, the World Youth Day Coordinator. It was good to see our old friend again after a couple of years since our last visit.
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We had a very enjoyable BBQ afterwards in the warm Sydney sun.
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And Bishop Anthony’s Secretary Alison and I had a good whinge about the negative reporting of World Youth Day in The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.
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Dear David,
I just want to thank you for your blogs about WYD and your work on the Interfaith Youth gathering. Thank God for the internet and all you bloggers who convey the heart and soul of this great WYD.
Fr Peter Grace, CP
Passionist Monastery
Jamaica, New York
USA
Dear Father,
I am thrilled that you have found my blog and that you have found it helpful to get a “personal” view of what is happening. Of course, my family and I are not exactly the youth demographic, but one of my intentions of coming to WYD was to be able to give a first hand report of the event from the inside. You certainly can’t trust the media, which goes for hype rather than local and particular aspects. Do you know anyone who has come to WYD? A group of Pilgrims from your area, for instance?
Dear David,
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my “comment”. I’m sure you are enjoying WYD08 and I appreciate your reports very much. I am a Passionist priest at our monastery here in New York City. One of our priests is at WYD, Fr. Lee Havey, C.P. He is a member of our parish staff here at Immaculate Conception Monastery and Parish. A young girl from Holy Family parish, Claudia Goncalves, is also in Sydney. She regularly attends our First Saturday communion breakfast.
The Passionists had a gathering of about 60 of our young priests and brothers at Templestowe. Then a meeting of our young pilgrims from various parts of the world attended the “Passionist Youth Encounter” in Melbourne.
We have an Australian Passionist here in New York, Fr. Kevin Dance, who heads the Passionist NGO at the U.N. I worked in southern India with a number of Australian Passionists: Fr Philip Smith, Fr Gary Perritt, Fr Joachim Rego. Another Passionist from Australia, Fr Jeffries Foale is a missionary in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He was here in New York recently and we celebrated his 50th anniversary as a priest.
Here are the blogsites of our pilgrims from the USA and Dublin, Ireland and the personal sites of Fr Paul Francis Spencer and Fr Gary Perritt. I also listed the addresses of the Passionists in Australia and PNG.
God bless you and your family!
Fr Peter Grace, C.P.
http://passionistpilgrims.blogspot.com/
http://mountarguswyd.wordpress.com/
http://passionistcharism.wordpress.com/
http://pfcp.wordpress.com/
Ecclesia Paroecialis
?????V. Rev. Superior, C.P.
Passionist Community
P.O. Box 5292
Marrickville, N.S.W. 2204
Australia
?????Pref. Intern.: [61]
Tel.: Com: (2) 8577 5656
Fax: Com: (2) 8577 5664
Endeavour Hills (RE)
Melbourne, 1998, St. Gabriel’s Retreat
Ecclesia Paroecialis
?????V. Rev. Superior, C.P.
St. Gabriel’s Retreat
45-47 Sydney Parkinson Ave
PO Box 95
Endeavour Hills Vic 3802
Australia
?????Pref. Intern.: [61]
Tel.: (3) 9700.0798
Fax: (3) 9700.3878
E-mail: chris.monaghan@passionists.com
Web: http://www.stpaulapostle.com.au
Glen Osmond (DE)
Adelaide, 1896, S. Paulus a Cruce
Domus Exercitiorum , Ecclesia Paroecialis
?????V. Rev. Superior, C.P.
St. Paul’s Retreat
15 Cross Road
Glen Osmond, S.A. 5064
Australia
?????Pref. Intern.: [61]
Tel.: Com: (8) 8379.3681; Dom Ex: (8) 8379.3764
Fax: (8) 8379.8751
E-mail: kchcat@stpauls.mx.com.au
Web: http://www.stpauls.mx.com.au
Hobart (DE)
Hobart, 1956, S. Ioseph
Ecclesia Paroecialis
?????V. Rev. Superior, C.P.
St. Joseph’s Retreat
65 Harrington Street
Hobart, TASMANIA 7000
Australia
?????Pref. Intern.: [61]
Tel.: (3) 6234.4866 – Fax: (3) 6234.3584
E-mail: gorwincp@passionistshobart.org.au
Web: http://www.passionistshobart.org.au
Oxley (DE)
Brisbane, 1955, S. Maria
Oratorium
?????V. Rev. Superior, C.P.
Passionist Community
PO Box 1145
Oxley, Qld. 4075
Australia
?????Pref. Intern.: [61]
Tel.: (7) 3375.4206
Fax: (7) 3375.5139
E-mail: qldpassionists@ozemail.com.au
Port Augusta (RE)
Port Augusta, 1981, Omnes Sancti
Ecclesia Paroecialis
?????V. Rev. Superior, C.P.
Passionist Community
PO Box 492
Port Augusta, S.A. 5700
Australia
?????Pref. Intern.: [61]
Tel.: (8) 8642.2847
Fax: (8) 8641.2187
E-mail: petergardiner@passionists.com
Templestowe (DE)
Melbourne, 1965, Sancta Crux
Oratorium/Domus Novitiatus , Domus Formationis / Studiorum ,
Domus Exercitiorum
?????V. Rev. Superior, C.P.
Passionist Community
207 Serpells Road
Templestowe, VIC. 3106
Australia
?????Pref. Intern.: [61]
Tel.: Com: (3) 03 9846 1622;
Office: (3) 9846 6014
Fax: Com: (3) 9846 6067;
Office: (3) 9846 7278
E-mail: hcc@passionist.org.au
Web: http://www.holycrosscentre.com/
SPIR VERB
SEDES VICARIATUS REGIONALIS
Boroko (DE)
Port Moresby, 1995, S. Gabriel a Vergine Perd.
Domus Formationis
?????V. Rev. Regional Vicar, C.P.
St. Gabriel’s Retreat
P.O. Box 7702
Boroko 111
National Capital District
Papua New Guinea
?????Pref. Intern.: [675]
Tel.: 323.0006
Fax: 323.0044
E-mail: Vic Reg: aegar@daltron.com.pg
Baro Parish (RE)
Vanimo, 1996, Sancta Crux
Ecclesia Paroecialis
?????Rev. Pastor, C.P.
Baro Parish
P.O. Box 248
Vanimo, Sandaun Province
Papua New Guinea
?????Pref. Intern.: [675]
Tel.: 857.1036 (Tovu)
Fax: 857.1274
E-mail: valensius667@hotmail.com
Mambudu (RE)
Vanimo, 1982, S. Paulus a Cruce
Domus Formationis
?????V. Rev. Master of Novices, C.P.
Paul of the Cross Novitiate
P.O. Box 248 Vanimo, Sandaun Province
Papua New Guinea
?????Pref. Intern.: [675]
Tel.: 857.1036 (Tovu) – Fax: 857.1274
Tovu (RE)
Vanimo, 1996, N.D. de Tovu
?????Rev. Superior, C.P.
Passionist Missionaries, Tovu
P.O. Box 248
Vanimo, Sandaun Province
Papua New Guinea
?????Pref. Intern.: [675]
Tel.: 857.1036
Fax: 857.1274
E-mail: valensius667@hotmail.com
OK Dave, let’s get down to the serious issue here.
No, not syncretism, evangelisation, or the marks of Antichrist on the office of the papacy — climate.
If I remember right from my days of rooming with Crocodile Dundee, it’s Winter for you guys. So where’s the snow, the heavy coats, and what’s up with green leaves on the trees?
David, thanks for the great pictures and commentary.
Oh PE,
Winter in Sydney is roughly the same as summer in England, except without the rain – during the whole week it was fine and sunny, ranging up to 17 or 19 degrees C at daytime, but down as low as 5 or 8 overnight – bitterly cold for most Aussies!
Now, as a born-and-bred Tasmanian, I can understand something of winter, having had -2 degrees C overnight, only 10 or 12 at daytime, and having even – with mine own eyes, yet – seen snow on the ground, yea, verily! Though of course snow is very rare in the lowland parts of the State; it snowed in Launceston, my birthplace, only three times last century.
My Dad remembers it snowing in Hobart *down to sea level* but that hasn’t happened again for decades.
David.. you lucky you… Green with envy here..
Thanks, Joshua — I’ve experienced Summer in England, so that puts it in experiential context.
“Crocodile Dundee” (my grad school roomie, not the movie character) was Tasmanian too, from Hobart, and moved to Melbourne for a job when he went back after his university here in the US. He used to describe going to the beach for Christmas — which, even if we had ocean beaches, ain’t gonna happen in a Midwestern US late December!
Judas H Priest with a ham and cheese sandwich, 5 or 8 C ain’t nuttin where I grew up, probably wouldn’t even switch on the furnace!
PE,
But I thought that American houses in summer are airconditioned so cold that you need to wear a jumper and trousers, while in winter they’re kept so hot that you needs shorts and a teeshirt!
Oh, and David, it was wonderful running into you at Barangaroo prior to the Pope’s arrival – we managed to push all the way to the front!
Some of them are, Joshua!
Depends on where you are (climates here range from subartic to subtropical) and how you see the whole energy thing.
Personally, I try to keep the same temp throughout the year inside. Others will a/c as little as possible and let it be as warm as they can stand in the Summer and heat as little as possible and let it be as cold as they can stand in the Winter, which means over the year inside temps will vary by 10 to 20 degrees F (C is not generally used here apart from science), which I don’t think is good.
I keep a 2 degree variance, actually: 76F Summer 74F Winter. In Nebraska, Summer weather will hit the 90s easily and over 100 is not that big a deal, whereas below freezing (defined as 0C or 32F) is pretty much the way it is in Winter, so over the course of a year the temp range will easily exceed 100 degrees F.
My papal big show was JPII in Des Moines IA. It was October, which is Fall here. The day was quite nice, temps around 60 to 65F as I recall, but in the tent the night before I thought I would shiver to death. God bless me ten times, and it was 4 October, which if memory serves is the feast of St Francis.