Terry Kruger
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 16/01) - Ask Clayton Morrell to describe what it's like to walk across St. Peter's Square and attend mass over the bones of St. Peter and you will likely hear a deep sigh.
"There is no way to describe it," said the 23-year-old. "This was the most welcoming place I've ever been in."
Just back from a whirlwind trip to the Vatican in Rome, the sights and sounds of a pilgrimage to one of the Catholicism's most holy places are still fresh for Morrell.
"I'd look out my window and there would be the columns (of St. Peter's Square)," he said.
Ask him about meeting Pope John Paul II, and he'll talk about the Holy Father's presence.
"He's the best. When I saw him I couldn't take my eyes off him."
Morrell presented the Pope a pair of made-in-the-NWT moccasins as a gift.
The majesty of the Vatican was simply breathtaking.
"How could anyone, 400 years ago, build something this big, this complex and this amazing out of solid rock without having some kind of divine inspiration?" he mused aloud.
Viewing the art that graces Vatican walls and halls was a spiritual experience.
"Everywhere you look there are these giant angels ... you're so humbled," he said.
Michelangelo's Pieta brought home Jesus' sacrifice.
"I wanted to see this statue," said Morrell. "It's Michelangelo's best," Christ draped across Mary's lap after he was taken down from the cross.
"When you look at her face, you feel how crushed she is to hold her dead son. I felt so shamed. I thought, 'What did we do?'"
His April 5-9 trip was as part of a delegation of 44 young people from across Canada, including six throat singers and drummers from Arviat. The Canadians traveled to the Vatican to accept the 14-foot, 144-pound wooden cross that signifies Canada's right to host the July 2002 World Youth Day gathering in Toronto.
Morrell was the lone representative from the NWT on the trip and will lead efforts to send a large delegation from here to the Toronto event, host young pilgrims from around the world in the NWT and bring the cross to the NWT for at least five days this fall.
A lifelong Catholic, the trip has helped deepen his faith.
He has a degree in environmental studies and professed the mysteries of faith were sometimes puzzling.
"Maybe it was luck, maybe it was something else," but an infection that had made him ill on the plane to Rome went away as he walked into St. Peters.
He came to understand how the saints aren't "people put in our way."
"They're members of our family. These are the spiritual heroes of faith."
The trip included taking part in Palm Sunday Mass.
Morrell carried the Canadian flag during a procession and recalled the impact the Arviat group had on John Paul and the 200,000 people in St. Peter's Square.
"He was so happy when heard the Inuit drummers and throat singers. He sat up and smiled. His smile lit up the whole plaza."
As the drummers drummed, the worshippers clapped in rhythm.
"That was something to hear, 200,000 people totally into native music," he said.
Spiritual journey
