The Journey of the WYD Cross and Icon - an Australian Odyssey

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
2 Nov 2009

From July 2007 until July 2008, Fr Chris Ryan MGL was in charge of the World Youth Day Cross and Icon, and was part of the extraordinary journey across Australia.

In a 12-month period, the Cross and Icon visited more than 400 Australian communities and were seen by more than half a million young people as Fr Ryan and his World Youth Day team criss-crossed the country. Their travels included visits to treasured landmarks such as the Barrier Reef,  Uluru and Parliament House as well as small regional towns, dusty hamlets and cities and centres in every State and Territory.

On a journey led and planned by Fr Chris, the Cross and Icon were carried by boat, road and rail. But the most common mode of transport was on the shoulders of pilgrims who proudly proclaimed their faith as they carried the Holy symbols through the streets of the towns or district where they lived.

"Wherever we went, people around Australia spoke again and again of the Cross almost as if it were a person, as if it were more than simply a piece of wood," says Fr Chris who believes this was more than merely attributing personality to an inanimate object but rather a recognition of the deep symbolism of the WYD Cross and the powerful way in which it connected young people to Jesus and to their faith.

"The Cross had an indelible impact on thousands of people around Australia and its history was definitely part of its power but there were also deeper reasons to do with faith and the heart," he says.

Now, just over a year after his incredible odyssey with the WYD Cross and Icon ended, Fr Chris has written about  his experience which not only changed the lives of thousands of young people, but changed his own life, deepening and strengthening his faith.

"In the Light of the Cross," Fr Chris's  just-published book (St Paul's Publications, rrp $29.95), vividly recounts the Cross and Icon's journey across Australia and the joy and enthusiasm with which they were greeted by young people everywhere. But Fr Chris goes further so that the book is far more than a travelogue and becomes instead a reflection on the impact of these symbols on Australia and the legacy they left behind. In addition, Fr Chris seamlessly interweaves not only the history of Australia along with the much larger history of the Church and Christianity, but the joyful outpouring of the Holy Spirit during World Youth Day and God's love in our day to day lives.

"This is Gospel writing," Archbishop Mark Coleridge of the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn says, praising the book as a "remarkable achievement."

Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, Co-ordinator of WYD08 goes even further and in his forward he wrote for the book says: "More than a collection of stories from the road and holiday snapshots, this book insightfully interweaves tales of the Cross's journey with the truths of the Catholic faith to illumine every person's pilgrimage to God."

Fr Chris's connection with the World Youth Day Cross however goes back much further than WYD08 and his travels around Australia.

"In 1992 I was 17 years old, living at home in Canberra with my family and had just completed Year 12. I was involved in the preparations for an event with a large wooden cross we were told had come from the Pope," he recalls with a smile. "It was billed as a visit of the  Papal Youth Cross and there were few other details."

The WYD Cross was on its first visit to Australia and was not yet known as the World Youth Day Cross. But it was an encounter he never forgot, particularly as the visit coincided with the ordination of the Missionary of God's Love's first priest, Fr Steve Tynan, at whose third Mass the teenage Fr Chris gave a short testimony about his own journey of faith.

Fourteen years later and now a priest of the Missionary of God's Love himself, Fr Chris found himself standing in front of St Peter's Basilica in Rome as part of the hand-over ceremony of the Cross and Icon from a delegation of young people from Germany to the group from Australia in the lead up to WYD08.

The Cross and Icon arrived in Australia several months later after travelling through Africa and other countries on its long journey Down Under. On arrival in Sydney, Fr Chris says more than 8000 people turned out in welcome.

"It was the biggest single gathering of that year," he says still thrilled by the memory and enthusiasm that greeted the start of Australia's World Youth Day celebrations.

What followed was a 12 month journey across Australia culminating with the start of WYD08 in Sydney , the arrival of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XV1, the huge outdoor Masses and the very moving Stations of the Cross through the streets of Sydney to Barangaroo.

"Like all pilgrimages of faith, the journey with the Cross and Icon was a quest for light," he says. And for all those involved, the light illuminating the way was the light of the Cross.

The Light of the Cross, by Fr Christopher Ryan, rr $29.95, St Pauls Publications, Strathfield NSW, www.stpauls.com.au.