Margarita Bedding

MARGARITA BEDDING, 62, a parish worker in Newbridge, has organised a number of groups to travel to Pope Francis’ Mass tomorrow when the chat on the bus will be all about the memories made back in 1979. She says: ‘WE left Newbridge in the evening and travelled overnight in a bus to the youth gathering in Galway. We got off the buses in the dark at around 5am and walked to Ballybrit Racecourse. The Pope didn’t get there until the middle of the day and we were so far away from him that he was just a green speck in the far distance but I still remember that feeling of, “Gosh, we’re really part of something big here”.

I remember it rained a lot and we were tired and damp but that didn’t dull the anticipation and the excitement. It was such a huge event, it felt like a rock concert. There was this sense of us all journeying together over the 24 hours. He felt like such a different Pope in that he was young and different and outgoing and it was such an amazing feeling to be part of something so much bigger than us. He seemed to break the mould.

We’d plenty of prep done and had the sandwiches and flasks. Spiritually, we reflected on the notion of going to see him as a pilgrimage — we expected hardship getting there and, like anything worthwhile in life, it’s not all easy and the journey there was a chance to reflect.

At the time I was interested in the Church and part of a youth group and my deep faith has always stayed with me — I still work for the Church full-time.

The breaking abuse scandals is a difficult one at the moment in that people are expecting a stronger response from Pope Francis and maybe we will hear something more from him — he should be true to his beliefs.

This year, we have five buses travelling from Newbridge with 230 people and we’ll leave before 8am. It’s a mixed age group from 19 to 20-year-olds to older people who were there at John Paul and everyone is really excited, although some are understandably anxious about getting there. We will walk from Bluebell, but it’s all part of the pilgrimage. It’s a feeling you can only truly understand when you make that pilgrimage and I’m really looking forward to it.’