{"id":5995,"date":"2011-08-16T13:13:55","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T17:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=5995"},"modified":"2011-08-16T21:08:01","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T01:08:01","slug":"arkansas-kids-join-1-million-at-world-youth-day-in-spain-keeping-in-touch-on-the-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/08\/arkansas-kids-join-1-million-at-world-youth-day-in-spain-keeping-in-touch-on-the-web","title":{"rendered":"Arkansas kids join 1 million at World Youth Day in Spain keeping in touch on the web"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 1 million Catholic kids\u00a0from across the world are converging on Madrid, Spain,\u00a0for World Youth Day 2011, and every one of them\u00a0seems to be tweeting, texting\u00a0and Facebooking home — including a group from rural Arkansas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
World Youth Day attendees from Australia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most are using their smart phones to keep up with changes in the event — and whether they’ll need an umbrella.<\/p>\n

The six-day religious youth festival, which begins Tuesday, is celebrated every three years in a different country. Pope Benedict XVI is due to arrive on Thursday to\u00a0speak to the kids.<\/p>\n

Many of this year’s participants\u00a0are members of what is being called “Generation Web 2.0,” kids for whom the Internet is as normal as breathing and finding a snack.\u00a0That’s certainly true of the 30 or so from two churches in rural Arkansas pastored by Father Shaun Wesley.<\/p>\n

Unlike years past when a traveler waited a week after returning home to get photos of the vacation, the million-plus\u00a0youngsters converging on Spain seem to be photographing everything they see — and\u00a0emailing it home. It’s no different with\u00a0Father Shaun’s\u00a0kids.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Clare Doss at the Lourdes, France, shrine (photo by Blanca Beas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Avidly keeping up with their their adventures are parents such as\u00a0Connie Doss, who stayed home while daughter Clare, 15, flew away with dad and\u00a0group chaperone\u00a0Barry Doss.<\/p>\n

Also watching with intense interest\u00a0are parents\u00a0Dr. Kevin and Pam\u00a0Richter, whose\u00a0kids Adam and Samantha\u00a0are in the group, and\u00a0the extended family of siblings Kevin and Lizet\u00a0Guerrero,\u00a0who are posting photos on Facebook sent by\u00a0group member Blanca Beas. The group’s every move is being transmitted home —\u00a0as they boarded a flight in Tulsa, waited for a connecting flight in Houston, arrived in France and visited the famous shrine at Lourdes, France.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the same thing is happening worldwide as parents wait for the latest chime on their cellphone — a new photo of their youngster dozing in the airport, mugging the camera in front of a museum or just letting Mom know that everything’s OK even if\u00a0their kid\u00a0forgot to pack clean socks.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0internet is\u00a0making attendance at such an immense\u00a0event much easier, says organizers and supporters such as 25-year-old German blogger Stephan Lesting.<\/p>\n

After all the famed Woodstock Festival attracted perhaps one fifth of the 1 million-plus kids\u00a0heading\u00a0for Madrid.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A group of attendees from Chicago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Thanks to the Internet everything will be much simpler at World Youth Day,” says Lesting. Mobile online messaging has become essential. Participants can check the World Youth Day official website via their smart phones. There’s even an “app” for the event. From iBoo Mobile, the application keeps users up-to-date with all of the events during the week and provides access to news, online TV, weather reports and the website Twitter.<\/p>\n

There’s a virtual bell that users are encouraged to activate that will\u00a0chime in unison with church bells that will herald the pope’s arrival in Madrid.<\/p>\n

The official World Youth Day website has more than 400,000 members. Facebook is hosting national World Youth Day sites in 21 different languages. There\u00a0fans who are\u00a0not able to attend the event in person\u00a0will be able to\u00a0light a virtual candle.<\/p>\n

“The whole world is online, the church and the Internet belong together,” said Lesting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Chaperone Barry Doss and Arkansas kids at a restaurant somewhere in France (photo by Blanca Beas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, the Arkansas kids’ parents are keeping up online, thanks to Connie Doss who is posting on Facebook the best photos sent home so far by Father Shaun, Blanca and group\u00a0member Ulises Rangel.<\/p>\n

“Agenda for Tuesday,”\u00a0reported Connie Tuesday morning on Facebook.\u00a0“Leave their hotel by 7 AM and travel through Spain to be in Madrid for the Opening Mass at 5:30 pm. After Mass, they’ll check into their hotel, have dinner at a restaurant about a\u00a05-minute walk away. I don’t have their menu. Sorry. I’m sure Fr. Shaun will take pics of the table\u00a0and food – YUM! Wed\/Thurs\/Fri\/Sat are all in Madrid!!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 1 million Catholic kids\u00a0from across the world are converging on Madrid, Spain,\u00a0for World Youth Day 2011, and every one of them\u00a0seems to be tweeting, texting\u00a0and Facebooking home — including a group from rural Arkansas. Most are using their smart phones to keep up with changes in the event — and whether they’ll need…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,8],"tags":[1420,1425,1426,1423,1424,1422],"class_list":["post-5995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic","category-news","tag-arkansas","tag-berryville","tag-father-shaun-wesley","tag-madrid","tag-st-annes-catholic-church","tag-world-youth-day"],"yoast_head":"\nArkansas kids join 1 million at World Youth Day in Spain keeping in touch on the web<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/08\/arkansas-kids-join-1-million-at-world-youth-day-in-spain-keeping-in-touch-on-the-web\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arkansas kids join 1 million at World Youth Day in Spain keeping in touch on the web\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than 1 million Catholic kids\u00a0from across the world are converging on Madrid, Spain,\u00a0for World Youth Day 2011, and every one of them\u00a0seems to be tweeting, texting\u00a0and Facebooking home — including a group from rural Arkansas. 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