Local youths embark on Italian pilgrimage

By David M. Friel
Special to The CS&T

In the 10 days leading up to their parish feast day this past summer, 43 members of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Doylestown, made a pilgrimage to Rome and several other religious sites in Italy. These pilgrims were not just any parishioners. They were active teenage members of the growing parish youth group.
Set to trace the trails of several saints, the young pilgrims began their journey in Florence, home of the famous Duomo cathedral and the Chiesa di Santa Croce.
After visiting Michelangelo’s David there, they continued south toward the medieval town of Assisi, one of the Italian gems most remembered by tourists and pilgrims. Assisi’s beauty and appeal probably derive from its embracing quiet and hilltop panoramas. Many of its buildings and streets — which have remained nearly untouched since the days of St. Francis and St. Clare — were eagerly explored by the Mt. Carmel group. The pilgrims visited everything from the numinous Basilica of St. Francis to the numerous religious shops and gelaterias (Italian ice cream parlors).
The pilgrims then traveled to Rome. Fittingly, their first activity in the Eternal City was the timeless sacrifice of the Mass. At 7 a.m. on Saturday, the teenagers met with Archbishop John P. Foley, and shared the Eucharist in the mother church of the universal Church. Archbishop Foley, a past editor-in-chief of The Catholic Standard & Times who has spent two decades serving the Vatican as President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, led the pilgrims, literally, into the basilica through the back door.
In their remaining time in Rome, the Mt. Carmel youths grew familiar with Roman buses, trains and sidewalks as they made their way to famous sites that included the catacombs, the Appian Way, the Colosseum, the Forum, Michelangelo’s Pieta and the Sistine Chapel.
Having been exposed to the heart of ancient and modern Catholicism, the pilgrims left Rome for the ruins of Pompeii, the sights of Sorrento and the Isle of Capri.
The youth group returned to its home parish just in time to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, confident that the Blessed Lady guarded the pilgrims on their journey and will continue to guide their ministry program.

David M. Friel is a second college seminarian at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary and a parishioner at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Doylestown.