GRdirector

Suzanne Haugh directs the charitable non-profit Goodness Reigns, Inc. and has worked as a Catholic journalist for over 13 years. She lives in Louisville, KY, with her husband of 20 years and their three children.

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The young adults of the approximately 450,000 Catholics living in the Diocese of Austin are coming together for World Youth Day 2011.

The diocese felt so strongly about World Youth Day, that it decided to make it easier for individuals to attend. Parishes with large high school youth ministries will join together for fundraising and pilgrimage preparation. The Diocese of Austin will be helping the young adults in parishes that have small young adult ministries, or no young adult ministry. The diocese will help with fundraising and preparation making it easily accessible for young adults. This gives individuals who don’t belong to parish organizations an opportunity to have a community with whom to share this experience.

I am fortunate enough to know the person dubbed “Pilgrimage Expert” by Chris Bartlett, director of Youth Ministry for the diocese.

Sarah Osman is my lifelong friend and childhood travel partner. She is on the planning committee for the Diocese of Austin and is helping to market and fundraise for the trip to WYD 2011. Right now the diocese has about 50 people registered, and they are projecting that up to 200 young adults and youth will register. I am excited to follow this group of amazing Catholic young adults on their year-long preparation for their WYD pilgrimage.

Sarah not only creates promotional materials for getting people to register, but also recently shared with the group about what a pilgrimage is and about the fruits of a pilgrimage. “The pilgrimage starts now,” she says, “And that’s one thing we keep telling everyone. It starts now, start praying now, learning about it now, don’t wait until you get there.”

A lot of the information shared  with the group is from one of her favorite books on the subject, The Journey: A Guide for the Modern Pilgrim. “A physical pilgrimage to a sacred site is an outward manifestation leading toward a deeper understanding of God and a more profound awareness of his great love for us.”

Sarah grew up in a Catholic family that showed the importance of seeing faith through a pilgrimage. She remembers watching pilgrimage videos before her family’s trip to Europe in 2000, but now holds a greater understanding for what a true pilgrimage is. Although she has experienced one in her youth, she’s excited to venture on this journey as a young adult with a greater faith formation. She now holds a deeper appreciation for the lifelong journey that is a pilgrimage.

“Our whole life is a pilgrimage and this is just part of the journey,” says Sarah. “The pilgrimage almost started before we knew. The Holy Spirit knew I was going to World Youth Day before I even knew I was going to go. Now I’m just meeting God on my pilgrimage.”