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Please click
here
for a
larger version of this map
and here for a .pdf
If you
would like to
add your sponsorship
please make cheques
payable to
Southwark Catholic
Youth Service
with a
covering letter
marked
World
Youth Day
Fundraising -
Bishop Paul
and
send it to
John
Toryusen
Director, SCYS
St Vincent's Centre
Castle Road
Whitstable
Kent
CT5 2ED
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Bishop Paul writes:
I’d like to thank the many people who have been
promoting this initiative and seeking sponsors. Our
diocesan Youth Service have done very well in keeping
the cost per person as low as possible, but it still
leaves our young people with a considerable amount of
money to raise, one way or another. I hope that the
money raised by this walk will go some way towards
reducing the amount each individual pilgrim has to find.
As the date draws near, I wanted to give a little
personal background and to explain why I chose this
particular way of raising money.
When I was studying for the priesthood at the English
College in Rome, we used to spend a couple of weeks out
in the country, after the exams were over and before we
came back to England. We stayed (and students still do
stay) at a former monastery up in the hills, within
sight of the Pope’s summer residence of Castelgandolfo.
In my first year I happened to hear about an old custom
that was observed by some of the more energetic
students, walking a circuit of some thirty-odd miles,
through thirteen little hill towns (the Castelli Romani).
If you got up very early, it was just possible to finish
by about eight or nine o’clock in the evening.
Up till then, I hadn’t walked anything more than about
fifteen miles in a day — but you sometimes do mad things
when you’re a student and there was a group of about six
or seven people who were interested in doing it that
year. Somehow we all managed to complete the walk and,
although it was very tiring, I enjoyed it so much I did
it every year after that, as long as I was in Rome. One
year I didn’t manage to complete it and had to stop
early, but the other attempts were all successful.
Since I came back to England in the mid 1980s, I’ve
continued to do long walks from time to time, but I
always wanted to go back and do the Castelli Walk once
again — some time or other. As I thought about it over
the years, it seemed to me that it would be a good
opportunity to raise some money for some good cause or
other. Now with World Youth Day approaching, I have
something very worth while to which I can apply my
efforts.
A long walk like this is always a challenge, especially
as the years go by and middle age sets in! Still, I’ve
been doing walks of similar length from time to time —
just to convince myself I can still do it. The date I’m
aiming for is St George’s Day, 23rd April, though I’ve
also set aside the following couple of days, in case the
weather on 23rd happens to be absolutely impossible.
Normal heavy rain is something I can deal with, but a
real storm might be a problem! There’s also a
possibility that I might be able to attend the Papal
audience on 23rd and receive the blessing of the Holy
Father — in which case I’ll be doing the actual walk on
the following day.
Thanks again for your help in this venture — and please
keep looking for sponsors!
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