Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green osppe
In less than seven weeks, Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green osppe will lead a pilgrimage to Poland with forty young adults from his Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes.
The youth of Wilcannia-Forbes diocese will visit religiously significant sites throughout Poland including the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, looked after by the Order of Saint Paul of the First Hermit.
‘I am really excited about the prospect of leading a World Youth Day Pilgrimage to Poland,’ Bishop Macbeth-Green told the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference recently. ‘I have never been to a World Youth Day and it is something I always wanted to do.’
Bishop Macbeth-Green is one of 19 Australian bishops travelling to World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland from 25 – 31 July 2016.
‘Being a Bishop of an “outback diocese”, I am looking forward to taking my young people to experience the profound faith of the Polish people and to have their own faith strengthened and encouraged by the witness of so many other young people with the same faith in Jesus, lived vibrantly.’
This pilgrimage will be a unique one because the Pauline Fathers were founded in Poland, the host country for World Youth Day. ‘Belonging to a Religious Order based in Poland adds to the attraction since I will be able to share some of my own spiritual roots with the young people of my diocese,’ he said.
‘I have been to Kraków, the “City of Mercy” many times and have spent most of my priestly life preaching and teaching the “Message of Message” as given by Our Lord through St Faustina and have witnessed the power it has to change lives and bring people closer to God. I can’t wait to share that with the pilgrims.’
‘My hopes and expectations for this World Youth Day would be that we all have a deeper encounter with Jesus Christ in His Church and to deepen the knowledge that He is REAL, faith is REAL, our heavenly family with Mary and the saints is REAL and finally that God’s love for us, His Mercy poured out for us, is REAL and we all need to embrace and respond to these realities by the way we live our lives.’
People at home can follow the journey of the Wilcannia-Forbes pilgrims through their group blog at: Miss Maguire’s Blog
Pilgrims from the Wilcannia-Forbes WYD group