Honolulu Diocese preps for ‘Catholic Woodstock’

Bishop Larry Silva of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu will head a pilgrimage of more than 150 Hawaii people, most of them young adults, to attend the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, Aug. 16-21.

They will join hundreds of thousands of other Catholics from around the world for a week of prayer, liturgies, catechesis and fellowship, culminating with a Mass with Pope Benedict XVI, according to the Hawaii Catholic Herald.

Saint Francis School in Manoa is sending a group of 43 people, most of them students, who will perform at what has been described by media organizations as a "Catholic Woodstock," school spokes­man Pat Bigold said. The students, representing Hawaii at the event, will sing, dance and play musical instruments in up to 20 choreographed contemporary Christian numbers in Spain, he said.

Fundraising for the trip began two years ago to cover the cost, more than a quarter-million dollars, Bigold said. The group is scheduled to pass through Portugal and visit the Vatican and Assisi, Italy, the birthplace of their Saint Francis School’s patron saint.

World Youth Day, initiated in 1985 by Pope John Paul II, is held once every few years in various sites around the globe, the Catholic Herald said.

Silva, one of 60 bishops attending the event, said the occasion was a way for the pope to recognize the important role young people play in exemplifying Jesus’ word and values. At the 2008 World Youth Day in Sydney, Silva served as a bishop-catechist. He is expected to participate in the opening Mass Aug. 16, a vigil with the pope Aug. 20 and the papal Mass for all pilgrims Aug. 21, the Herald said.

Lisa Gomes, director of the diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, said Saint Francis is the only isle school attending the event. The rest of the Hawaii pilgrims, most between 18 and 39 years old, consist of members from several parishes on Oahu, as well as groups from Maui and the Big Island, who will be touring different cities and countries in the area. Twenty-nine parishioners from St. Michael Church in Waialua, in conjunction with Sts. Peter & Paul Mission Church in Waimea Bay, are among them, Gomes said.