Joe and Diane Rybak of Morganton and four of their six children went on the diocesan pilgrimage to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families and apostolic visit of Pope Francis. Here, they pose next to a fun stand-up image of the Holy Father upon their arrival to Philadelphia. Throughout the journey, their witness was a testament to the beauty of family life, as Pope Francis preached.
"Our families, our homes, are true domestic churches. They are the right place for faith to become life, and life to become faith," Pope Francis said in his homily for the Mass closing the World Meeting of Families.
"Little gestures" of love exist daily in the lives of family and serve to carry on God's love as well. "These little gestures are those we learn at home, in the family. They get lost amid all the other things we do, yet they do make each day different. They are the quiet things done by mothers and grandmothers, by fathers and grandfathers, by children. They are little signs of tenderness, affection and compassion.”
Two buses from the Diocese of Charlotte left Charlotte and Greensboro in the early morning hours of Sept. 23, filled with pilgrims hoping to see Pope Francis and to attend Mass with him that following Sunday in Philadelphia.
The group of pilgrims with Father Michael Kottar and Deacon Jim Trombley at the Shrine of St. Katherine Drexel in Philadelphia.
The Rybaks don their yellow scarves in anticipation of going to the Festival of Families on Saturday and to see Pope Francis. All of the pilgrims received yellow scarves for the pilgrimage, and they came in very handy to be able to spot fellow pilgrims amid the sea of hundreds of thousands of people in Philadelphia.
Throughout the five-day pilgrimage to Philadelphia, Joe Rybak would lovingly carry his son Nathan from the boy's wheelchair to the bus and back. "Nathan is a blessing," mom Diane Rybak says. "Nathan is a blessing to us and he's a blessing to everyone."
Lisa’s husband got her a present, and it was a chance to go to the World Meeting of Families with her daughter.
Arial is one of the small percentage of young people among the 60-plus pilgrims who traveled to Philadelphia from North Carolina this past week.
While there were several youth tracks for the teens and preteens on the pilgrimage to send their children, Arial stayed with her mom throughout the week.
Arial acted as lector for two of the three Masses said by Father Michael Kottar at shrines in the Philadelphia area.
The Hobbs family attends St. Matthew Church in Charlotte.
Arial is interested in many aspects of her faith. She got prayer cards and booklets at the World Meeting of Families and at the shrines visited by the pilgrims.
She and her mother talk in a similar way, sometimes finishing each other’s sentences.
Before they headed to the Shrine of St. Katherine Drexel on Saturday, they told of a friend of Lisa’s in New Jersey. The friend had arranged a tour to come to the World Meeting, but the friend threw out her back.
“That’s like two to three weeks (for her) to recover,” Lisa said.
Arial explained that they went to the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, and wrote an intention asking for healing for their friend on a strip of paper, in order for “Mary, Undoer of Knots” to help.
The mother/daughter went to the cathedral earlier this week, but they heard by Saturday that her back was better and she was able to make the trip to see the pope as well.
Father Kottar reflects on the significance of St. Katherine Drexel and the #WMF2015 pilgrims from the Diocese of Charlotte visiting her shrine outside Philadelphia during the World Meeting of Families and apostolic visit of Pope Francis in September 2015.
PHILADELPHIA — Pope Francis ended his trip to the United States with a call for Catholics to keep the enthusiasm of the visit, while continuing to welcome newcomers and care for creation.
