Below are reflections from some Hispanic youth from The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington who will participate in World Youth Day (WYD) from Aug. 1-6 in Lisbon, Portugal:  

Ivonne

“I am very happy and anxious to have this encounter with Jesus and Mary,” said Ivonne Elizabeth Correa (17), who suffers from spina bifida, has had 27 surgeries and is wheelchair-bound. 

Spina bifida is a congenital defect that occurs when the spinal column and spinal cord do not form properly. Her condition has not been an impediment to fulfilling her dream of joining in WYD with other young Catholics from around the world who share her faith and seeing Pope Francis. 

“It is a miracle that the Lord gives me the opportunity to go. Likewise, I am very grateful to God for being in a community of faith in which they encourage me to go on these pilgrimages and help me a lot on a daily basis with my cross,” added Ivonne, who is a parishioner of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Ivonne left for Europe on Friday, July 28th and is one of approximately 500 young people from the Neocatechumenal Way in the Washington Metropolitan area who are participating in WYD.

She traveled with catechists and priests of the Camino, which is a Catholic formation itinerary that “is lived within the existing parish structure and in communion with the bishop, in small (diverse) communities... It is a group of people who want to rediscover and live the Christian life in all its fullness,” according to its founders Kiko Argüello and Carmen Hernández.

“Blessed be God! My daughter has been part of this community since she was 13 years old and it is wonderful to see how the young people of the Camino, catechists and seminarians help her with her wheelchair every time she goes on pilgrimage. Only God’s love can do that,” says her mother Andrea Diaz. 

Darian

“Today, young people live in a world surrounded by temptations that have flourished thanks to technology. They see the world with a tremendous depression because of fear, whether it be of climate change, violence or war. It is a fear that flourishes with technology,” says the young parishioner of St. Michael the Archangel Church, Darian Garcia (25), who traveled on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 to Portugal.

He criticizes social networks because they urge young people to ask themselves if they are attractive, if they are important, what gender they belong to - in search of identity.

“Today’s young people are in a place where they have never been in the history of the world,” said Darían convinced that “the medicine for this disease is the same one that has lasted since the first centuries, a pilgrimage” as WYD.  

He says this from experience, since this trip is his seventh international pilgrimage and his fifth WYD.

These experiences fill him spiritually and give him the possibility to find his way in life. “In these pilgrimages I have had the possibility to discern my vocation. I discovered that I wanted to serve the Church and go on mission,” he said.

On a recent mission trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico, he met his Dominican-born girlfriend, discovered his vocation to marriage and will marry next December.

He is already in Portugal and says: “I am very happy to arrive at this pilgrimage with new questions in my heart for the Lord and the opportunity to meet Pope Francis”.

Darian, of Cuban descent, describes the pilgrimage as the journey in which one can rediscover that God has made us perfect and loves us. “It is where you can leave the phone behind and talk about your story, your cross, your sufferings, your complexes. There the Lord comes with a word of Good News to save you,” he said very happy. 

He considers that the joy of the road is what the Lord wants to give us every day.

Gabriela

Gabriela Cardoza (15) is going to Portugal with three of her six siblings. She admits that she has doubts, since she is the middle child and it is difficult for her, “I am going on this pilgrimage to discover who I am, what God is calling me to, what He wants to do in my life,” said the teenager who traveled on Friday, July 28.

In her Church and at home she has been taught that her first vocation is to be a daughter of God. “It is very difficult to be a Catholic. In the world there is so much suffering and anxiety. And so, it is very easy to lose the meaning of life,” she confessed before traveling.

“Society doesn’t want you to be successful and Christian. That’s why these pilgrimages are so important. We will be two weeks without phones or Netflix or distractions.  There we will only listen to the word of God, sing and live with all the young people a moment of great joy.” 

She, her siblings and most of the area youth traveling to WYD, have had to mobilize for several months to raise funds for the trip 

“I want to thank all the people who helped me to go to Portugal. We sold paellas, cookies, empanadas, clothes, tickets and worked on a play Les Misérables to raise funds. I am very grateful and I will pray for them on the pilgrimage,” said Gabriela who has mobilized every weekend since March 2023 to raise funds for this purpose.

 More young people

The archdiocesan group of 50 people is led by Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjívar. They departed from Dulles Airport in Virginia last Wednesday, July 26. On Thursday they arrived in Spain and one of the first places they visited was the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Burgos.

They will walk a seven-mile stretch of the Camino de Santiago in Santiago de Compostela, then travel by bus to France, where they will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. They will stay in a hotel in Fatima, Portugal, and each day a bus will pick them up to take them 1 hour and a half to Lisbon, where WYD will take place.

The group is made up of 26 youth, seven young adults, a priest and several parish and archdiocesan leaders representing St. Andrew Kim Parish in Olney, Maryland; Mother Seton Parish in Germantown, Maryland; St. Edward the Confessor Parish in Bowie, Maryland; and St. Mary Parish in Landover Hills, Maryland. It is a multicultural experience as about 10 Hispanic youth are participating, as well as Korean Americans, African Americans and others. 

Also participating in WYD will be a group of about 20 young people from the archdiocesan charismatic movement’s Tira la Red group.