THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. – Imagine an open field at sunset filled with 1.5 million people, a hush coming over the immense crowd as the vicar of Christ leads them in prayer, all kneeling before Jesus in the Eucharistic host.
For Misty Mehrkens, it’s no dream, but one of the most impressionable moments of her time in Lisbon, Portugal, earlier this month at her first World Youth Day experience on Aug. 1-6; a vigil prayer service led by Pope Francis to conclude the worldwide gathering of Christians.
“The power of Christ was overwhelming in every single pilgrim that night. It just stopped us in our tracks,” Mehrkens says. “You could literally hear the crickets over so many people.”
Now of the Crookston Diocese, Mehrkens grew up in Rugby in the Fargo Diocese. Her trip to Portugal came about through her work as youth minister for her parish of St. Bernard’s and pastoral associate for her diocese.
“When I realized (World Youth Day 2023) would be in Lisbon, and that I could visit Fátima as well, it was a no-brainer to go,” she says, noting that her two youngest children, Kendra, 17, and Kaleb, 15, joined her.
Though the worldwide event which typically takes place every couple years is geared toward young people, anyone can attend. World Youth Day was instituted in 1985 by Pope John Paul II to fortify the faith of youth.
Fátima, Mehrkens explains, is the site of a Church-approved Marian apparition, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three young visionaries, conveying the urgency of returning to Jesus. “She reached out to those young children in their innocence, relying on them to spread this news and this important announcement,” rather than adults, she says.
Huge, yet unknown
This year’s pilgrimage was the second for Eric Lahlum, Marion, North Dakota, who also attended the 2016 event in Krakow, Poland, with his oldest two children. After his wife, Suzie, experienced World Youth Day in Denver in 1993, she was determined that their children—eventually numbering six—would have the same experience, but that her husband should be the one to take them.
“She’s not much of a traveler, and I just try to remember, ‘Do whatever your wife says,’ and it usually turns out pretty good,” Eric chuckles. Their sons, Alex, 17, and Zach, 20, accompanied him this time around.
Along with the planned World Youth Day events, pilgrims experience the culture of the area, especially through “Days in the Diocese,” when travelers intermingle with local Christians.
“We were in the Leiria-Fátima Diocese in Portugal for that, and it was like small-town North Dakota, but with mountains and trees,” Eric says. They attended Mass at Saint Marta chapel, built in the 1600s, which happened to be having its annual festival celebrating its patroness, St. Mary Magdalene.
Another highlight was visiting the Church of Nazaré, he says, where they beheld an ancient, fifth-century icon of Mary breastfeeding Jesus.
Lahlum marvels at the enormity of the World Youth Day events, which, comparative to their size, seem to receive little news coverage. “It’s the largest gathering in the world that nobody knows about.”
He’ll likely participate again in 2027 with his youngest two children, this time in Seoul, Korea—the future location announced by Pope Francis on the final day.
Making friends
Alex Lahlum also hopes for another World Youth Day experience, though on his own dime this time, his dad says, especially after having made friends from Korea in Lisbon.
Instead of staying with host families, the North Dakota group ended up in a large gym each evening with other pilgrims, including a large contingent from Korea. “I’ve always been interested in that part of the world and the (Asian) cultures,” Alex says, noting their ancient and rich history. “They’re very polite—like crazy polite. They’re shy, but also talkative.”
Every night of their time together, the youth would stay up late conversing, “about faith, and our own lives,” he says. “I really did learn a lot—not just about the faith, but about other cultures.”
Unlike here, where the Christian faith seems to have plateaued or is declining, Alex observes, that part of the world seems to be experiencing a surge.
experiencing a surge.
He also enjoyed the Portuguese culture, and just being in another country for the first time, hearing languages from all over. “Here, we just get used to everyone speaking English,” he says. “The world is a lot bigger than that.”
Message to the youth
Though he doesn’t recall everything the pope said, Alex says his messages seemed to center around offering hope for young people, and how prayer should become “part of our breathing.”
So many of his peers are depressed or down, he says, thinking they’re all alone, but it’s not true. “When you go to an event like this, you get to talking, and people become open. You hear about other people’s struggles…and find people you can relate to.”
Perspective is also what Angie Gapp, Fargo, took from her World Youth Day experience in 2002. That year, the gathering convened in Toronto, Canada. Her daughter, Mandy, 16 at the time, accompanied her and others from the Fargo Diocese.
“What other things in our world happen where people come from all over the world—primarily youth and young adults—in a kind of community to spend time together, see the pope, and learn more about the Church?” she asks. “That really was impressed upon me. And then the Mass, which was at an old airfield, with 800,000 people!”
Then-Fargo Bishop Samuel Aquila also offered a Mass in Toronto, specifically for pilgrims from our area, she says, recalling his admonition that, “You will never be truly happy unless you follow the will of God,” a message she has taken to heart. “It all boils down to that.”
Hope for the future
Mehrkens says despite statistics showing that the Christian church is dying, with young people leaving it in droves, World Youth Day 2023 brought hope to her, and, she senses, the young people in attendance.
“Seeing all of these people kneeling in front of the Eucharist and just encountering Jesus, I thought, ‘If we could take this back to our homes and continue to light the fires there, our faith, our Church, will continue to grow.”
Mehrkens says she feels that what happened in the souls of people in Lisbon will spread outward in time. “Sometimes I think the youth get a bad rap, but when you see these kids that were there—and they’ve got such huge promises being answered, prayers being answered—it might be those kids that lead the rest back to the Church.”
She especially appreciated what the pope said on one of the final days, that “the only time we should be looking down at someone is when we’re reaching down to help them back up.”
“Everyone is welcomed, and we pick each other up when we fall,” she says. “It’s a journey we’re all taking together.”
[For the sake of having a repository for my newspaper columns and articles, I reprint them here, with permission, a week after their run date. The preceding ran in The Forum newspaper on August 25, 2023.]
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