We need you!!!

Being a catechists is one of the most rewarding opportunities that we have as Catholics. A Catechist is someone who is entrusted with teaching of the Faith to others. As Catholics we are all called to evangelize and share our faith daily and being a Religious Education Catechist is a fantastic way to help. Please email us at youth@stabcs.org if you are interested in helping out as a catechist in whatever capacity with Cornerstone or STAY (If you want to be involved K-6th contact Shannon Cashion at scashion@stabcs.org). Thanks for your help.

Traveling to Madrid! and Madrid Day One

This was supposed to be posted two days ago but we could not because of internet issues.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Howdy From Madrid!

Traveling to Madrid 
After a 7 hour bus ride we finally arrived at our Hotel at Madrid yesterday around 4:30 pm. These pictures are from our travels.

Win!

We stopped at a little road side station for Lunch - I had a meat empanada - it was fantastic.

Katie and Hannah in a position that makes my neck hurt just looking at it. (Credit to Raul and Kade for bringing this to my attention)

Our friends from Ireland that we met at the gas station on the road to Madrid. 

This Morning we set out to explore the city of Madrid: 
We actually ended up getting a little more than we bargained for and will be making sure that we bring more water and snacks for our future expeditions to the city's center. ( You can ask Kade and Raul about their nauseating experiences if you want more details).  We had originally planned on heading into see the Prado art museum in the center of Madrid but by the time we navigated the Metro ( subway) system and got our bearing and walked to the entrance the line was too long for us to get in before we had to return in order to go to the Mass this evening. The opening Mass was celebrated by the Cardinal-archbishop of Madrid and concelebrated by thousands of priests and bishops from throughout the world who made the journey to Madrid. After Mass we had dinner and came back to the hotel - as it was nearly Midnight by the time we returned. Here are some pictures:

Leaving Portugal and Santiago de Compestela

This was supposed to be posted yesterday but because of the lack of good internet we could not post it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hola Folks, we are on our on our way to Santiago de Compostela from Leiria this morning.  Our visit to Lisbon was great, the people were very warm and welcoming as it was the birth places of St. Anthony of Padua.  We visited the Church of his birth that is located next to the Cathedral, which was amazing itself.  Yesterday, in Fatima, I had the opportunity to pray after the mass we attended with over 20,000 pilgrims before the sit where the Virgin appeared to the shepherds.  In thanksgiving for her protection of my life and vocations as I journey deeper into the depths of Christ’s love and his priesthood, as I lay aside my selfish ways to serve him and his people more fully.  Until next time.

• Fr. Wade

Back to back we had three days of great spiritually uplifting moments, First St Anthony of Padua's birthplace in Lisboa, then Our Lady of Fatima and today, the tomb of St James the apostle. Seeing the beautiful architecture surrounding these three places was absolutely fantastic. Another thing that hit me was the two masses I attended in Portuguese yesterday and today. I could follow it because of the familiarity with the mass parts, but most importantly, He was recognized in the Eucharist! Which makes me super proud of being Catholic.

                                                                                                                                                 - Dcn Ron

Potrtugal Day 3 - Fatima

Hey from Leiria, Portugal.

Some of our pilgrims wrote about some of their experiences today and the past few days. We traveled to the Holy Shrine at Fatima today.
From James -

JMJ!!! Greetings from Leiria, Portugal! We're 4 days in to our WYD 2011 journey and Portugal has been wonderful to us. We've traveled from Lisbon to Leiria today via Fatima. Today being August 13^th (our lady appeared on the 13^th of each month from May to October, 1917), and with WYD 2011 only 4 days away, Fatima nearly burst at the seems with people from all over the world. An estimated 20,000 Catholics from all over the world celebrated Holy Mass with us today. I personally heard “Peace be with you,” in 7 different languages. It was certainly the highlight of my day.

As we moved away from the crowd and into Leiria, we eagerly settled into this scenic, quiet city for dinner, food and some much needed prayer, sharing and reflection time. We are growing in faith and excitement despite the hectic schedule and sore feet. Please continue to pray for us as we journey. We hold your intentions and love in our hearts and we will continue to pray for you and our parish as well!

Pax tecum,

James

From Kade -

Well as our 4^th day comes to an end in Leiria, Portugal, there is only one thing that I can say about Europe. EUROPE = AMAAZAZING! The culture of Europe has been amazing to experience and as we traveled to Fatima, things only got ten times better! The mass in Fatima, was truly a once in a lifetime experience, and I don't think I've ever gotten the opportunity to see so many flags from different countries all at once. God does truly work in mysterious ways! The food has been VERY interesting, consisting from Indian dishes to just plain old pizza. If this is only Portugal, what else is in store, as we travel to spain?

And to all my family back home, Mom, Dad, Seth, Trace, and the squirrel (Izzy :D), I just want to thank ya'll so much for praying for me and preparing me for this journey. I love each of ya'll very much, and don't worry I'm taking plenty of pictures. I hold each one of ya'll in my prayers, and I can't wait to see yall soon!

Peace and Love!

Kade

From Lauren -

Today has been such a spiritual journey in the city of Fatima, Portugal. We traveled on the bus for two hours and encountered an extremely large group of people. Even though the conditions outside were challenging, the experience was humbling and beyond beautiful. The mass touched my heart in many ways and the joyful atmosphere was very special. We saw a dedicated statue of Blessed John Paul II and his loyalty and love for the people of this world is so amazing. My favorite part of the mass was how people from all over come together to celebrate their faith, as we all have unity through our one and only God! It was a wonderful experience and this trip has been a learning experience!

God Bless!

Love, Lauren

From Elizabeth -

This morning we loaded a bus to travel to Fatima. The visit exceeded all my expectations! When we arrived a mass was about to begin. Nearly 20,000 people all garnered together in the plaza to honor and celebrated the apparitions of Mary and receive the Eucharist as one family from different nations. Although most the mass was in a different language it was beautiful to observe all different all different people attending the same mass. The most touching part was watching people of all ages form young to old walking on their knees towards the Chapel that was built on the site that Mary appeared to the three children. The devotion and dedication was indescribable . A small group was able to observe the actual tombs of the three children. The day concluded with a bus ride to Liera where we will stay overnight. We will be traveling to Santiago de Composteias tomorrow. We will be keeping everyone home in our prayers.

Love,

Elizabeth

From Jaime -

Yesterday we ate breakfast at a little cafe that overlooked the city of Lisbon. Afterwords we went to the hotel to rest up and catch up on sleep. We then took a stroll in the park which was absolutely gorgeous. The trees were huge, the flowers were bright and the statues along the garden were beautiful. The awesome windy weather topped it all off. After a long walk we ended up at Hard Rock Cafe. The waiter was super precious and super sweet. He was very inquisitive about America and Texas. He asked if we rode horses to school and went around shooting people, but he was very friendly and very helpful. He knew all of our names and let me try some Portuguese soda for free. We then took a stroll through a park again and relaxed and people watched. So far the trip is absolutely amazing. I've met lots of new friends and have really enjoyed everything about the trip.

Love,

Jamie

Pictures of today 

St. Thomas and St. Helen's on the steps of the Old Basilica at the Shrine of Fatima

The Crucifix on the plaza at Fatima

The Procession of Our Lady of Fatima from Mass

The Statue of Our Lord at the plaza at Fatima

More to come tomorrow as we travel to Santiago de Compestella in Spain.
Peace

Will and the group

Portugal Day 2 - Exploring Lisbon 8-12-11

Today was a free day for us to do what we pleased. We gathered for Mass at 10 AM at St. Sebastian's ( I think it was based on the Latin I read on the walls. The Church is absolutely incredible ( the first time I saw it I remember thinking that it was out of a story book ). Here is a picture of the Main Altar.

Our Church for Mass

After Mass STA split into two groups - one that was headed to the Castle St. George and one that was going to stay closer to the Hotel - ( I was with the group that was making our way through Lisbon to the Castle. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a writer blog about what the other group did).

The St. George Group took off towards Liberte Avenue the main road through the heart of Lisbon's cultural district. As we walked we enjoyed the incredibly pleasant Portuguese weather. After about 20 to 30 minutes of walking we stopped and had lunch at a little Indian/Italian place ( I have a picture of the name but it was on Hannah S.'s Camera and I haven't downloaded those yet). The food was great. Most of the Youth got a Pizza and most the Chaperons had some type of Curry.

mmmm.. Food

After Lunch we set out at a brisk pace headed by Fr. Wade with, Kade and Raul being pushed forwards by the rearguard of Dcn Ron, towards the Catherdral of Lisbon and the Church (located across the road from it) that sits on the birth place of St. Anthony.

Raul giving Kade the lowdown on how to look cool in Portugal

This the knave of the Cathedral of Lisbon, St. Maria Major, this was taken from the Choir Loft

This is a Statue of St. Anthony of Padua who was born in Lisbon. The Church of His birthplace was to the right about 10 yards.

After revisiting the Cathedral and St. Anthony's Church - we made our way up the steep hills to our final destination of St. George's Castle.After finding out that our tickets were free ( normally 7 Euros) we made our way to the Castle grounds and all the guys wanted to reenact the battle of Helms Deep from Lord of the Rings. This was not the ruins of a Castle - this was the real deal right out of all the books that many of us read as kids.

Why? yes I am on a Castle!

They climbed those stairs, one step at a time. These were the front towers.

After leaving the castle at about 5:45 PM we meandered our way down the hill stopping at several stores on the way down. Then we made our our way down to the main square (see picture below) ( I don't remember the actual name, working on it though) and through another cultural area of Lisbon with many Cafes and shops to browse. We decided to split into a couple of groups and to wander the streets and arranged to meet back together at a specified time. When the group came back together we made our way back to the hotel and to a well earned night's rest.

This is the Main Square of Lisbon located on the edge of the river ( I really need to learn the names of these places)
 

More to come - Leaving the hotel at 8 AM for Fatima tomorrow. We will be praying for you all.

God Bless

Will

PS - Sorry for the sparse details we are leaving early tomorrow and since its almost 2AM here already I need to go to bed.  8-13-11 1:57 AM

Portugal Day 1 Pictures

As promised here are some picture of today's adventures - there are more on the STAY Facebook page - here.

r

This is a fort ( I cannot remember the name) that sits in the river that divides Lisbon from its suburbs.

Where some of STA Youth and Chaperones Had Lunch after Mass

Most of the Diocese of Austin Group in Front of  Lisbon's St. Maria Cathedral

Crucifix inside the convent of St. Jerome.

James and Angela in the Atlantic

Good Night!

Will

London/ Day 1 Portugual

1:53 PM 8/10/11

London's Heathrow Airport:

We've just completed our long flight from Houston to Heathrow and we are now sitting in terminal 3 of the airport. It was a 9 hour flight from Houston to here. We had a choice of chicken curry and rice or veggie pasta on the plane ride with a salad, roll, and cheesecake. When we arrived in London, we took a bus/tram to terminal 3 and were told that we could go anywhere in the airport and were to meet at 5:30 pm at the F lounge. So we are waiting.

4:45 PM 8/11/11 

Hotel Real, Lisbon, Portugal

We had an much shorter flight on a much smaller aircraft from Heathrow to Lisbon last night and arrived at approximately 10:35 PM local time. After clearing Immigration and Customs – extremely easy from my point of view at least we got our first view of the City of Seven Hills (as many locals refer to it). We had a short – 10 minute – bus ride to the hotel where we were assigned rooms. ( On a personal note I lost my water bottle on the bus because it fell out of my backpack at some point. Sad Day) Once we arrived at our rooms (which are pretty awesome) we showered (I am assuming that everyone did this, I hope) and hit the hay. This morning after a scrumptious breakfast buffet at the hotel (included with our room), we boarded a Coach for a 4 hour tour of the City. We stopped at several places along the way including the local Cathedral (St. Mary's), the birthplace of St. Anthony of Padua, and Jeronimos Monastery. The architecture is simply incredible and very different from what I am used to. After the tour we had Mass as a group in a Church near the hotel whose decoration and architecture were absolutely magnificent. Most of the group then ate at Antonio's Restaurant a local hole in the wall. (I had the fish and rice which was AWESOME.) The guy who owned the place (we think) waited on us and reminded James and I of Mr. G from the Pizza place in Bryan.

Its been great so far – looking forward to some free time this afternoon and evening.

Pictures to come ( have to recharge camera batteries)

Will

STA Youth leaving for World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid, Spain! May God bless you and keep you!

America

It is the ninth of August at 12:46 PM. We are sitting in James's office at STA and currently talking about power adapters  We are thinking of new ways to show the Texas pride in London, Portugal, and Spain. Caitlin is enjoying her Sonic Cranberry Limeade extra Cranberry one last time. It's a very bitter/sweet moment for her. Rosalia, Jamie, and Jackie are going to Adoration one last time at STA before the trip for about ten minutes at the moment. Other pilgrims are mingling in the Youth Room munching on chips and talking about their excitement of going to Spain. Well that's all for now folks, see you all when we get back to 'MERICA!!!

-Caitlin, Rosalia, Jamie, Jackie

The New Roman Missal

A great video on the New Roman Missal which will be implemented starting Advent 2011. We will be discussing the changes throughout the fall semester this year at Cornerstone and STAY.

Word for Word [Parents] from Life Teen on Vimeo.

More on this later!

Youth Blog

Howdy Parents and Youth of STA Youth,

We've started this blog to keep you informed of happenings surrounding the youth program and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish. From time to time we will also be posting reflections, lessons, new, and/or other informational materials as we find them or as needed. Additionally this blog will serve as the source for information surrounding the World Youth Day 2011 pilgrimage to Spain. We will be allowing youth who are making that trip to post stories on this blog as we have internet available and as they desire - we will as let you know where you can find pictures and other media of the trip as it becomes available online.

In Christ,

Will, James, and Thomas

PS - Here is an awesome video about World Youth Day!