Michelle Samartino | The Michigan Catholic

Young adults on World Youth Day: ‘Everything stopped for the pope’

DETROIT — Because of Detroit’s large Polish population, and Blessed Pope John Paul II’s visit here in 1987, there are many people in the area who have personal connections with the late pontiff.

But when it comes to Pope Benedict XVI, perhaps those in Metro Detroit who have the deepest connection with him are the young among us.

One only need listen to the stories about World Youth Day from anyone who went to Madrid for the gathering in 2011.

There was a wave of spirituality that washed over Spencer Barcewicz and the rest of the young adult crowd when he first laid eyes on Pope Benedict XVI at World Youth Day.

Now a junior at St. Mary’s Preparatory in Orchard Lake, Spencer said the announcement of the pope’s retirement met him with some reluctance.

“To hear of his resignation, I agreed with his decision because of health reasons and that his body is too far gone that he can’t lead … I’m reluctant and half-glad that he is doing this because of his health,” he said.

Spencer, a member of Our Lady of Refuge Parish in Orchard Lake, said he will never forget his experience in Madrid when he and tens of thousands of others witnessed such a strong presence of their faith among so many others young adults like themselves.

“I was really excited for the chance to see how many other young Catholics there were around the world and in our diocese,” he recalled. “Going there was just an amazing experience, taking the tours of churches that are older than our country and then seeing how excited people would get to see Pope Benedict in Madrid.

“It opened my eyes to the faith … to actually see other people just like you who love the Church as much as you do, it makes you want more.”

Though Spencer saw him from a distance, it was a spiritual moment for him, and also one of excitement. “To see the pope was different than when you look at a star athlete … it was like that but so much more than that.

“Everything stopped for the pope.”

Cynthia Obia, 17, a senior at Mumford High School in Detroit, agreed. A member of Corpus Christi Parish, she went with a group of young adults from St. Colette Parish in Livonia.

“I talked to some other people who had experienced World Youth Day and found it interesting,” she recalled. After attending all the meetings leading up to the event, she discovered that not only did she want to go for the experience, but to also find a way to deepen her faith.

“I wanted to go the extra mile both literally and physically,” Cynthia said.

“I wanted to be a part of a group of people from so many areas of the world, and I wanted to grow deeper in my faith and to hear from other people about their faith.”

There were bumps in the road on the way to Madrid, however. “On the pilgrimage on the way there, people got sick and had to turn back,” she said. But being able to finally see the pope made it all worth it.

“When we joined together for Mass given by the pope it was such a wonderful experience,” she recalled.

“World Youth Day was a good way for young people to become active in their faith pilgrimage, meeting others from all around the world who saw and shared from different places and different languages, but at the end of day it was all of us being as one.”

Perhaps the highlight of her trip was seeing Pope Benedict the day he arrived in Madrid. “I was able to get a video of him, and he was probably a yard away riding in his popemobile,” she said and laughed. “I’m pretty sure we had waited for five hours in over 100 degrees outside. It was crazy, definitely.”

Cynthia said she can relate with the pope, knowing of his efforts to embrace social media. “I thought that was a pretty good way for him to connect with younger people nowadays, to see he is all on Twitter,” she said. “They are making an attempt to get back and focus on teens like me and with so much information available, we were able to find out about his resignation.”

It was through Twitter that she found out about it Feb. 11.

“I was just a little confused,” she said. “I had heard he was the first pope to resign in 600 years so it was just kind of surprising … I understand why, that he is not in the best health and that shows that he is putting the care of the people before himself so we can have a better faith experience.”

Spencer said using social media can be twofold. “It is good, because this way we can keep the good words of the Catholic faith online and it brings awareness to corruption in our world, and it can bring forth ways that the pope can begin to prevent these things from happening.”

“However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are a lot of things that don’t belong on these websites that I would like the pope to not see because he deserves to see the world in the best possible form that it can be in,” he said.

Sam Serra, a junior at De La Salle Collegiate in Warren, said he learned a lot about Pope Benedict through the Internet, as well as through his religion classes at school. “Learning about the pope has allowed my faith to mature,” he said.

Serra added he hopes the next pope will be just as captivating: “I hope it’s someone who can carry on the same mission as this pope, to help us grow further in our faith.”

Spencer agreed, and has high expectations for the next pope. “I just want someone who can do as well as this pope has done.”

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Michelle Samartino is a freelance writer from Rochester.