Polish Pilgrims come to Hall
14 July 2008
A party of over 100 Polish Pilgrim's arrived at St Monica's parish in Evatt on Sunday the 6th of July for the start of their celebrations for World Youth Day. As St Francis Xavier's Church is part of St Monica's many Hall residents have been involved in hosting the pilgrims. Several Hall families billeted pilgrims and many assisted in preparing meals for the busy program that the pilgrims enjoyed.
The pilgrims enjoyed the hospitality of parishioners for one week, during that time they extensively toured the Canberra region including many of our national monuments including Parliament House and the War Memorial, and an afternoon tea at the Polish Embassy.
On Thursday the 10th of July they had a busy day in the Hall District including a sheep shearing demonstration, wine tasting at Murrumbatetmen and a tour of Doonkuna Estate. On what must have been the coldest day of the year so far they had a bbq at the Hall Pavilion and a planned game of cricket turned into a game of soccer on the Hall Oval in what could only be described as sleet. As a Polish winter often exceeds -20 they did not appear to mind.
On Monday the 14th the pilgrims headed off to a Parish in Ryde for the full week of World Youth Day activities including the Papal Mass. The following couple of weeks sees the pilgrims heading north chasing the warmer weather. The group then splits into two; one exploring the NSW coast line and making their way up to Queensland, the second group taking a more direct route and flying to Cairns.
The team of hard working parishioners lead by Kay must be congratulated for their fantastic organisation of the program and provision of lunch and tea to all pilgrims for the week - no doubt a rest is in order for this devoted team. The week ran like clock work and is a credit to the organising committee and the parish.
On a personal note our family hosted two lovely young guys - Grezegorz Pimdelski, 23 who is in his final year studying Knowledge of Theatre at Warsaw University and Maurycy Pienkowski, 17 and in his final year of school in Warsaw. Both boys greatly enjoyed their stay in Hall and we as a family where delighted with their enthusiasm for life and lovely natures.
(Thanks to Gavin & Trudy Mansfield for this news item)