We don't say "goodbye" we say see you again.

We have had some lovely tour guides on this trip (Yanni, Melina, Aret and Paola) and have become quite attached to them. They travel with us, eat with us, amaze us with their knowledge, joke with us and teach us some of their language. But they never say "good bye" when we move on and they never call us "tourists". They always say "see you again" and we have been regarded as "guests" in their countries.
Sadly, I am heading home early following the passing of my father-in-law Bob Stoddart. It's time to be with my family and pass on the beautiful support that I have received at this time from my wonderful fellow pilgrims. I'd like to thank them for their friendship, companionship, knowledge, sense of spirit, humour and open hearts, and could not have asked for a better group of people to journey with. A special thanks goes to Dr Dan White for his vision in making this pilgrimage possible. It's a wonderful initiative where a group of people can travel spiritually together regardless of workplace or the positions that we hold. We were simply all pilgrims on the same journey. I highly recommend it if the opportunity becomes available again. Thank you also to Cardinal Pell. It had been an absolute privilege to have come to know him and learn from him. Each day when we celebrated mass the readings and homilies built on each other, giving us a real sense of what St Paul was on about and discerning what really is important. I'd like to mention Deacon Sam who is also a wealth of knowledge and very willing to share his insights as well as support the Cardinal throughout this journey. I wish him all the best for his ordination in August. Any parish would be lucky to have him! Chris from "Harvest" has been the man behind the scenes and has travelled with us with patience, kindness and friendship. I'd especially like to thank him for his concern and efforts to get me home quickly and safely.
I hope that this blog has given you a small insight into the life of St Paul and might encourage you to find out a little more about him. He was the first true evangelist and was a superb model of faith, courage and persistence.
At the end of this trip I have been thinking about what the all encompassing Message for me has been and I think it is this: our Catholic faith and tradition is very special and very real. There have been many people throughout history who have made it their life's work to grow and preserve it. Many of them have been martyred in their attempts to do so.We are lucky in Australia that we are free to practice our religion openly and should do all we can to treasure it so that it will always be possible. There's no denying that numbers in our church are on the decline and we are called to be brave like St Paul and spread the message of one true God and His Son Jesus.

If you want to see how the other pilgrims finish up please visit: www.footstepsstpaulceo2012.posterous.com
Highlights will include: Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel and Assisi.

Signing off,
Rachel x

In the Footsteps of Another - St Mary of the Cross Mackillop

Content to come

Footsteps, flights and buses.........to Roma!

A day of travel with a very special home at the end. We bussed it from Cappadocia to Kayseri Airport, flew to Istanbul, another plane to Rome and then a bus to Domus Australia (with a few footsteps in between). A long day with a very happy ending. Upon arrival we were welcomed into the most beautiful church that is the central part of the pilgrim house that was completed last year. We sat in awe and had this overwhelming sense that we had come home. Of course, being guests of the Cardinal did mean that we were absolutely looked after. If you ever choose to stay in Rome, this accommodation comes highly recommended. It has a special spirit and was a apt way to begin the last leg of our journey.

St Paul - Larger than life

The Romans certainty knew how to built a church and how to create a monument. They are all do beautiful and larger than life! Our first stop today was with St Paul at the 'Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls'. This place gives honour tithe Church's greatest evangelist and in my opinion has done him justice. We enjoyed mass one of the chapels of the Basilica and marvelled at the scale of this place.
Onwards, we visited the ancient catacombs that served asunder ground burial tunnels for early Christians Nd Jews.

Our Home Away From Home

Anyone for Hide 'n Seek?

Cappadocia would have to be one of the most interesting landscapes that I have ever visited. Volcanic deposits from ancient volcanoes are now homes to people, restaurants, churches and early Christian underground cities. St Paul did travelled here and established its first Christian community. However, it was quite dangerous practicing Christianity openly and today we were able to visit one of these underground hideouts. At times we had to reduce ourselves to the size of a 6 year old to fit through the small tunnels that connected various rooms. We all agreed that we knew Early Christians had to gather in secret but didn't truly have a sense for what these people really went through. It must have been so hard and scary for them. It made me reflect on something that a lovely priest said to us at the 'House of Mother Mary' a few days ago. He was a priest who had recently lost his Bishop in an assassination by his driver. He explained to us how lucky we were that we could openly worship and share our faith and that it is something that we should never take for granted. He said that he would pray that this would never change for us. I think it's easy for us to be believers in our Australian context and find it hard to imagine what it would have been like for those who today are still tested with their lives and for those who lived in hiding in early AD times.
Our day today also involved a visit to Goreme, an open air museum holding the earliest churches that were in huge volcanic rocks and filled with amazing Byzantine frescos. I felt my high school Art History lessons coming to life.
The highlight however, would have been the mass that we celebrated in a small chapel that was built into the mountains by the early Christians in Avanos. It was just big enough to fit the 40 of us and reminded us of our origins - very special and very beautiful.

The Church of Many Faiths

Our last day in Istanbul had us visit the Byzantine Hippodrome where chariot horse races took place in times gone by. Next was the Blue Mosque- probably the most famous mosque in the city. It's walls we're lined with hand painted tiles and it was hard to imagine the amount of work that had gone into creating this place of worship.
Our final stop before travelling was quite an interesting one - Hagia Sophia (meaning Holy Wisdom). Built in 548 AD, Hagia Sophia was the greatest church in Christendom until 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire. It was then turned into a mosque, as has happened to many former churches in Turkey. The government has now taken control of Hagia Sophia and there is much debate about whether it should be permanently a mosque or a church as there are many features of both religions there. However, the government has decided to leave it as it is so that Hagia Sophia is opened to everyone.
The afternoon saw us catching a flight from Istanbul to Kayseri and then a bus ride to Cappadocia.

Palatial Istanbul

We started our day with a leisurely river cruise along the Bosphorus where we saw Ottoman Palaces, Byzantine Fortresses and many Mosques. The boat trip was much calmer and relaxed than our last.
Mass today was celebrated in the early church of St Peter and St Paul. It became really obvious to us the struggle that the Catholic Church has had in this part of the world. Any Catholic Priests that we saw were very excited to have us there. A city of 15 million and only 2000 Catholics still here today.
Next was the 6th century Basilica Cistern. I wasn't sure what to expect here but was blown away by this underground water system that lived beneath the city. It was dimly lit, a little cold and held an eery peacefulness.
Onward bound to Topkapi Palace. Here we got a true sense of the wealth of the Ottoman Era. Amongst the collection of jewels(and there were many) was an 86 carat diamond. We decided that without getting too greedy we all could have one carat in each ear and still leave some for the collection. Other interesting items at the palace included the robes of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, the staff of Moses and the head dress of Abraham.
The afternoon brought the event that we were all waiting for - the Grand Bazzar. 4000 shops and stalls all ready for us to negotiate with. We were advised to start at one third and work our way up. I didn't buy much but had fun eating Turkish Delight and watching others haggle for leather jackets and carpets.
Dinner was on the rooftop Restaurant of our hotel. An amazing view as the sun went down. I keep reflecting on the bravery of St Paul as though his struggle was one of the past, but am becoming to realize that there are others who continue to struggle in much the same way here.

Gallipoli - Lest we forget

What an amazing experience! Left our hotel at 10:45pm and made our way to the ferry that would take us and our bus to Gallipoli. We were advised to layer up and that's exactly what we did - I had 7 layers. Having Cardinal Pell travelling with us, we became official guests and had reserved seating at all the events. Very, very, lucky! We rocked into our seats at 2:30am to see all of the sleeping bag brigade who had already been camped out for hours. We were excited, cold and tired all at once. There was to be no sleep tonight. Our seats were right next to Gallipoli Cove and the water was eerily lit by blue lights. The ceremony was one to treasure and it was amazing to see so many people come together in unity, so respectfully and peacefully, as the sunrise greeted the morning. We took a few photos and munched on our prepacked breakfast before heading to Lone Pine. By this time it was warming up and 3 layers of clothing were lost on the 3 km trek up the mountain. Reserved seating near the front again- yippee!! Another beautiful ceremony, with this one being geared towards the Australians that were there. A few pilgrims had photos with Julia Gillard as she visited the crowd prior to her address. Thanks again to our VIP status, we caught a bus from the top of Lone Pine and watched as all the crowd walked the 3 km down the mountain and then the other few towards the bus parking. By this time it was quite hot and only one layer of clothing was required. It sure pays to have the Cardinal traveling with you!
The day ended with a 5 hour bus drive on our way towards Istanbul. Very, very tired pilgrims and lots of sleepers on the bus.

Many, many footsteps

We began with a beautiful outdoor mass at Alexandria Tros, the landing place for St Paul as he headed to the old Macedonia. We were escorted there by a security guard on motor bike as we wove through tiny Turkish streets avoiding the goats and cows who were so carefully looked after by their shepherds. St Paul walked from this ancient port to the city of Assos where the temple if Athena stood at its highest point. Of course, we took over an hour to drive there but St Paul used many, many footsteps and sheer determination instead. As we made our way to the top we walked through a quaint village (up hill) and admired the handy works of many little Turkish women who were keen to sell their wares. The view from the top was stunning! We took the pilgrim route to the bottom which was quite cross country but well worth the effort.
At the bottom we feasted on Gozleme before heading to Troy. Sadly Brad Pitt was not there today but the legendary replica of the wooden horse and more impressive ruins awaited us.
We are all now sitting in the foyer of our hotel awaiting for the departure of our bus for Gallipoli. A 10:45pm departure and a seat waiting for us as special guests. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Will be bitterly cold but extremely proud. Lest we forget.

Ancient Ephesus

An ancient Roman town of Ephesus came to like today on a big scale. It was easy to see the lay out of the area and imagine the hustle and bustle of its people. St Paul addressed the Ephesians here, as recorded in Acts 19. The people of his time had quite mixed attitudes to what he had to say and there was fear of rioting. Of course, Paul spoke anyway.

We also travelled to the final home of Our Lady, where she is said to have stayed with St John for some time. This area was to be the venue for todays Mass. It's amazing to see not only Christians visiting this site on mass but also Muslims. Mary has a special place in their religion and it is thought that she may be the cornerstone that will unite many different religions some day.

By the way, if you ever want some "Genuine fake watches" Turkey is the place to go. A bit of an oxymoron really.

Not quite shipwrecked

It's well known that St Paul was shipwrecked during his travels. This is how he came to stay in Malta for 3 months. Well...... we didn't quite get shipwrecked but we did sail for 4 hours on the Aegean Sea from Patmos to Greece and a quarter of our pilgrims were victims of sea sickness. But as true pilgrims do, no one gave up! In Turkey we visited the ancient town of Miletus where St Paul delivered a farewell address predicting his death. The ruins in Miletus are superbly kept and you really got a feeling for what the ancient town would have been like in times before Christ.
A long day today, with many people still struggling to find their land legs.

Revelations

"If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to what the Spirit is saying."

Today Deacon Sam spoke to us about the importance of not being 'lukewarm' in our faith (Revelation 3) in a mass that was set in a mountainous ampitheatre that looked over the Aegean sea. Stunning! This was close to the cave where St John the Evangelist stayed and dictated the gospels.

I would have to say that the top of Patmos Island would have to be the most beautiful place that I have ever been. Typical blue and white buildings of Greece with water views to die for! A bit of time for shopping and some goat for dinner. Apparently the goat was roaming the mountains yesterday and was named Sean. Tasted much like lamb.

Off to Turkey tomorrow and am hoping that no one feels sick on this 4 hour trip in a smallish chartered boat.

Hillbilly Landing

We had 2 very rocky flights on our way to the great islands. Cardinal Pell told that he has flown with many different airlines but has never experienced 2 "hillbilly" landings like this!
But was it worth it? Yes! A beautiful mass in the only Catholic church of Kos and a visit to the home of Hippocrates. Amazing blue water hues that are typical of the Greek islands and some Zorba dancing over dinner. This followed by a late boat ride to our next island of Patmos - arriving at our hotel at 12am. Time to hit the road again and explore some more.