Billings Central Seniors Attend Catholic Pilgrimage

Two Billings Central seniors attended an international Catholic youth gathering this summer in Poland.  Wyatt Roe and James Pauley joined a group from the St. Thomas Youth Ministry of Billings’ St. Thomas The Apostle Catholic Church on the trip for World Youth Day, a Catholic youth pilgrimage held every three years.

The late-July event drew an estimated 1.6 million pilgrims to Camp Misericordiae — or “Field of Mercy” — about 10 miles southeast of Krakow.  Pope Francis was also present.  Roe and Pauley wore headsets that broadcast an English translation of the pope’s words.
Cathy Day, the St. Thomas Youth Ministry director who helped organize the trip, said the pontiff’s message was one of mercy.  The group’s pilgrimage followed in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, St. Faustina, St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Theresa Benedicta.  The last two died during the Holocaust at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.