Markham
July 03, 2008 10:08 PM
By: Yentl Lieuw
Just call it a high school graduation present.
Markham’s Andrew Santos, 17, just finished Grade 12 at a Scarborough high school and now he’s about to step on a plane for the first time and visit the Pope in Sydney, Australia.
“My brother went to Germany’s World Youth Day (a 2005 festival feature Pope Benedict) and my mom was really involved in the one in Toronto (in 2002),” Andrew said.
“Seeing people band together to celebrate their faith in such a beautiful way inspired me to go to the one in Australia.”
Andrew works part-time at Nofrills and is a freelance writer for a Catholic magazine. His two-week trip begins July 7.
He is in the choir and serves as altar boy at his parish, Unionville’s St. Justin Martyr.
The church has been a big-time help to his trip. Between the Catholic Women’s League, Knights of Columbus and the parish as a whole, Andrew has been given $2,300 toward the trip’s $4,200 cost.
The rest has come from money he’s been saving for two years.
“It was hard to save in the first place because I like to spend,” Andrew said.
“Shopping is my guilty pleasure, but I looked at the expenses and buckled down and started saving $100 a week.
“I hope my faith can be strengthened from the experience; not that it’s down in the dumps,” Andrew said.
“Getting together with youth around the world is very important. I’m looking for this trip to also strengthen my motivation and innovation.”
You can read about his Australian experience by checking out his
catholicregister.org blog starting July 8.