Dons' Summer Highlights - Ben Gunderson '24 | News

August 24th 2023

☀️Dons’ Summer Highlights☀️ To wrap up our series, we're highlighting Ben Gunderson '24 and some Dons Alumni, including Ben's older brothers, who attended World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal earlier this month.

Ben traveled to Lisbon for World Youth Day (WYD), which began on August 1 and concluded on August 6, with a group that was organized by his parish, St. James - St. Leo. Ben's group was led by Eudist priests, which are missionary priests who serve all over the world. Ben shares, "The group that I traveled with consisted of 150 people coming from all over the world. There were people from Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, South Africa, Madagascar, Lebanon, France, Pakistan and the United States."

For those who do not know what World Youth Day is, Ben shares more about the event and what participants did while in Lisbon: "WYD is an international event for people aged 15-30 organized by the Pope. Every day there was an itinerary of WYD events happening around the city of Lisbon and our group would pick and choose which ones to go to. Most of the events consisted of Mass or Eucharistic Adoration in the churches of Lisbon, but the major ones involved appearances of the Pope. The final event of WYD is the Field of Millions event where everyone participating in WYD treks to a massive open area and sleeps on the ground overnight in anticipation for the Pope to say Mass the following morning."

Those who attend WYD find it incredibly moving to be surrounded by so many fellow Catholics from around the world. On what stood out to him, Ben says, "I think the thing that impacted me the most was the friendships I made. I keep in contact with all of them, and many have offered to welcome me into their homes if I ever visit. Looking back, I am stunned at how quickly we were all able to bond so closely with complete strangers in just two weeks (Ben's group visited France for a week prior to arriving in Lisbon). My favorite memory was when the organizers put on a 'cultural night' where every group from each country cooked a dish native to their country. After dinner, each group performed a cultural dance."

Our Dons are blessed to have such opportunities to deepen their Catholic faith! As mentioned above, many Dons Alumni were also in attendance at World Youth Day. Our dear Fr. Martin Latiff led a trip organized by the Miles Christi priests for college-aged youth to attend WYD. Of the thirty-three in their group, there were nine Dons Alumni: Jack Breen '23, Lewis Case '23, Brendan Delaney '23, Thomas Fleming '23, Cary Kordas '23, Andrew Gunderson '22, Jacob Gunderson '20, Grace Lovaas '19 and Julia Lovaas '15. While in Lisbon, Fr. Martin's group was also joined by two current Dons, Jared '25 and Blake '24 Edwards, and the rest of their family. On experiencing WYD with some of our Dons Alumni, Fr. Martin shares, “Our pilgrimage to Rome, Fatima and World Youth Day in Lisbon with our Cathedral Catholic Alumni has been one of the best ways for me to accompany these Dons in their encounter with Christ and growth in friendship with Him!” Jack Breen '23, one of these Dons who was blessed to attend WYD with Fr. Martin's group, shares, "It was so eye-opening to see literally millions of other Catholics my age. It showed me that the Catholic Church really is universal." These are just the experiences of a few of many Dons who were blessed to attend WYD! We love seeing current and former Dons living the call and building the kingdom out in the world.