Going Popeing at the World Meeting of Families

Guest Blogger, Jim Devlin, Sadlier’s educational consultant for Ohio and Kentucky, is attending the World Meeting of Families this week with his wife and three of their nine children. He’s joining We Believe and Share this week to share what his family is seeing and doing in Philadelphia, offering a family’s eye-view of this extraordinary event. Kathy Hendricks, who is presenting at World Meeting of Families, will share her experiences when she returns.

What started out as a dream in March is turning into a reality in just a day or two. For more than six months, my wife, Maggie, and I have been planning the trip to the World Meeting of Families (WMOF) in Philadelphia. And it’s finally here.

We see it a great gathering of 15,000+ people all focused on the same goal: strengthening our families. It’s the eighth time for the meeting, which was created in 1994 by Saint Pope John Paul II and has been held every three years since. This is the first time it comes to America and is by far, the largest gathering yet.

But when asked about the trip, our eight-year-old’s response is, “We’re going Popeing!” It’s all about perspective.

Devlin-Family-World-Meeting-Of-Families-2015

From the parents’ perspective, this is the trip of a lifetime, of our family’s lifetime, and it couldn’t come at a better time.

Maggie and I have both crested 50 and our 31^st wedding anniversary is looming. Three of our adult children are living on their own, two daughters are at college, and we are left at home with four boys ranging from 17 years to 8 involved in high school band, scouts, soccer, choir, piano, etc. Plus the dog. And a cat. It’s all very chaotic some days. As the kids would say, “first-world problems.”

Still, I know that God has blessed us in more ways than we can count, and our struggles are nothing compared to those less fortunate. But we feel like this is an opportunity to learn from the pros in our Church what it means to be a Catholic family geared up for the New Evangelization. And it’s also great chance to learn from other families from around the world.

“Not only would I say that the family is important for the evangelization of the new world. The family is important, and it is necessary for the survival of humanity. Without the family, the cultural survival of the human race would be at risk. The family, whether we like it or not, is the foundation,” Pope Francis said in an interview during 2013’s World Youth Day.

By its nature, our family is very malleable. You learn to be flexible when everything has to stretch for 11 people. When all the kids were younger, we earned the nickname “The Flying Devlin Family Circus,” arriving in a 15-passenger van with kids pouring out of every door. And the noise, noise, noise. We were the singing Whos in Whooville to our extended family’s Grinches.

Over the years we’ve tried to instill faith in the children.

Paragraphs 1653-1656 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church gave us our marching orders: “Believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith. Parents are ‘by word and example... the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children.’ “ CCC1656

Church on Sundays, celebrate the sacraments, pray before meals and at bedtime, help others, forgive everyone, and most importantly, know that God loves you. And so do your Mother and I. Seems easy. But life got in the way and we are by no means perfect parents.

So that’s why Monday morning, we’ll point the minivan east with our three youngest boys, Luke, 13; Nathaniel, 10; and Blane, 8; to head to Philadelphia for four days at the WMOF. See ya, Cincinnati, Ohio! Hello, Philadelphia!

But what really has the boys buzzing is the two days Pope Francis will be there, next Saturday and Sunday. We’ve talked with them about the number of people who will be there, and they are ready. All three are used to big Catholic crowds – they have been to the March for Life in Washington D.C. a couple times, and we are happy to be trading January’s chill for September’s warmth. And adding several hundred thousand more people.

As for emotions, we are excited, nervous, excited, hopeful, and really excited.

And now, it’s time to start packing.

Please pray for our family, and all those making the trek. Pray for the conference presenters and all those helping and protecting. And most importantly, pray for our Holy Father as he makes his historic first trip to America.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.