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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — July 20, 2:00 p.m. I mentioned several days ago that one of the pilgrims turned 21 in the land down under. I also mentioned that more birthdays would be announced later. Little did I know then that so many pilgrims would celebrate their birthdays during our journey. So rather than repeating the [...]

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — JULY 20, 9:20 a.m. Although relieved to have conquered our two and-a-half-hour walk to Randwick Racecourse for the vigil and Mass with the pope yesterday, I think we were all disappointed to find that the altar was so far away we could barely see it. Some of us noticed the wide racetrack [...]

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — JULY 19, 2:00 p.m. As we settled into our temporary home at Randwick Racecourse earlier today, some of us couldn’t help but think about the logistics of setting up the forthcoming evening vigil and Mass for 400,000 Catholics. Luckily, between thumbing through the Qantas magazine on the plane ride over the Pacific [...]

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — July 19, 12:15 p.m. We finally made our 10K walk from near the north Sydney train station, across the bridge, around Darling Habour and into Randwick Racecourse for an evening vigil and World Youth Day’s final Mass with the pope. We had to be ready at 5 a.m. for the 2.5-hour trek [...]

 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — JULY18, 11:45 p.m. We’re getting pretty used to public transportation. The bulk of the World Youth Day events — with the exception of a Matt Maher concert and a few other festivities on Bondi Beach — is a 15-minute bus ride followed by a 15-minute train ride away.  We’ve been lucky though. [...]