Youth fill cathedral in Rome to remember John Paul II & John XXIII; 500 Catholics in Papua New Guinea make 2 week pilgrimage in steps of first missionaries

(CNA/EWTN News).- The Basilica of St. John Lateran, cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, was filled Tuesday with thousands of youth who had come to learn more about the two former popes who will be canonized Sunday.

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In other pilgrimage news, Catholics in Papua New Guinea honored the evangelization, 80 years ago, of the remote interior of the nation's main island by making a pilgrimage in the steps of its first missionaries.

“After 80 years, the Catholic faithful in the Archdiocese of Mount Hagen felt it is time to say thank you and to acknowledge all the blessings from God through the missionaries,” said Paul Petrus, a social researcher and a layman of Papua New Guinea, in an April 21 interview with CNA.

Some 500 Catholics, including three priests and nine seminarians, trekked through the mountainous highlands of New Guinea from March 28 until April 13, Palm Sunday.

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Notre Dame student travels with Tekton Ministries to the Holy Land and starts blog

My Holy Land Pilgrimage

Posted on March 30, 2014 by cserena

I was blessed to have the opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with parishioners from St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Indianapolis last week, and so I would like to break from my Rome blog to share a bit about this wonderful pilgrimage.

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After 30 minutes of being questioned by the Israeli security in Rome that involved checking my emails, asking questions about my host family, my past jobs, the writing in my bible, a full search and weigh of the items in my luggage, and a wipe down of my stuff as they looked for explosive residue, I finally got through…only to meet the Italian security…who did not even bother to open my passport. I sat on the plane next to two Jews whose parents were imprisoned during the Holocaust in Germany. They talked about it for awhile with me because it related to an article in the newspaper for that day. I was struck by the obvious pain that the horrendous acts of World War II still causes them and their family today. After a while the wife sighed and said, “I just don’t understand how someone could hate us so much” and all I could say was, “Neither can I. It’s terrible.” Where can a conversation go from there?

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I was picked up at the airport by an Armenian Christian named Jack. He was very friendly and helpful and had a license plate that said, “Jack is the man”. He refused my tip and instead gave me bottled water and showed me around my hotel (which ironically was run by Italian Franciscans) and the Church of the Nativity.

I ended up spending the evening with a group of Anglicans from England. They invited me to eat dinner with them at our hotel and afterwards I went to their Night Prayer service, which was led by one of their bishops. 

To read more from Christina, visit her Holy Land blog at by clicking here.

Young Tekton Pilgrims Headed to World Youth Day

Recently, The Catholic Moment, the diocesan newspaper for the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana carried a story by Catholic News Service talking about Pope Francis' trip to Brazil in July.  Some may say, "Brazil?!? Why is he going to Brazil?"  Well, if you didn't know, you do now.  Three little words with a huge meaning- World.  Youth.  Day.

For those who may not have heard or seen anything about it in the news, and likely in the United States you didn't, these events, started by Blessed John Paul II, draw hundreds of thousands of youth.  No joke.  The largest-to-date was in the Philippines with over 5,000,000 young people.  5 mil!  In 2011, the event was hosted in Madrid and saw between 1.5-2 million pilgrims.  

What brave souls are taking young pilgrims from Indiana,Wisconsin and Missouri to this year's World Youth Day in Brazil?  Funny you ask.  Tekton Ministries is.  And we're honored to do so.  The faith of many young people these days inspire us just as it did the founder of World Youth Day.  

As a pilgrimage provider who's been around for a while, we tailor our pilgrimages to our priests and their pilgrims.  Whether it be Brazil with 2,000,00 youth or Ireland with 30 adult children of immigrant parents, Tekton works hard (and I mean really hard) to journey with you on your pilgrimage of faith.