“Chris will be spending the next year of his life serving with NET Ministries Ireland … and he hopes to meet the Pope.”
Those were the words of my vice principal at my graduation in June 2018, which where followed by a good chuckle. Little did we know they would come true 368 days later.
My name is Christopher Van Vugt. I am 19 years old and the second oldest of nine. My family members have been parishioners at St. Joseph’s in Langley for the last 20 years.
After graduating from St. John Brebeuf Regional Secondary School, I was blessed to spend one of the best years of my life in Ireland serving as a missionary with the National Evangelization Teams in Ireland.
NET is an organization that started in Minnesota in 1981 and has spread across the world, evangelizing to young people. We evangelize with the goal of encouraging youth to encounter Jesus and embrace the life of the Church.
After finishing my year with NET, I went on to Rome, where I met Pope Francis and served Mass for him on Pentecost in St. Peter’s Square.
How does someone altar serve for the Pope? Funny enough, I had been asking that question in February 2018 when I found out I was going to Ireland and would be attending a papal Mass in Dublin.
Immediately I started contacting organizers and asking if I could serve at the Mass. Altar serving has been a passion of mine since I received my First Communion in 2008, and this seemed like a great opportunity.
Unfortunately I consistently got the same response: you had to be Irish in order to serve for the Mass in Dublin. I was a little dejected, but I did get to see the Pope. Little did I know that nine months later I would get my wish, as well as shake the Pope’s hand.
In Ireland I was based in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal a town of about 20,000 about half an hour west of Derry. Our home parish was the Cathedral of Sts. Eunan and Columba, in the diocese of Raphoe. My team and I were blessed to be surrounded by great priests of the diocese, who continually supported us in all our ministry.
One of the priests we grew in relationship with over the year was Msgr. Kevin Gillespie, the administrator of the cathedral and a great man of God. He has spent nine of his past 11 years as part of the congregation for liturgy in Rome, and over his time he also became a papal emcee, meaning during his time in Rome he assisted with papal liturgies. The guys on my team had a running joke with him: “When are you going to introduce us to your friend, the Pope?”
In January, Msgr. Gillespie asked us if we were serious about meeting the Pope and whether we would be able to get to Rome on June 9. With little hesitation, four of the six members of my team jumped at the opportunity and bought plane tickets.
Over the next several months, we gathered quite a group of people who would be in Rome at the same time we were. My parents decided to come over for their first vacation on their own since their honeymoon.
I arrived in Rome June 3 with Ben Rose-Fish, one of the members of my team. Ben and I spent the first couple of days on our own, exploring the city before Msgr. Gillespie and most of the group arrived June 5.
One of the first things we did as a group was have Mass in the Clementine chapel in St. Peter’s, which backs directly onto St. Peter’s tomb. That was the beginning of what I can only describe as a VIP experience of Rome.
On June 7, my parents, who had arrived the night before, met us early in the morning for Mass in the Irish chapel in St. Peter’s. From there Msgr. Gillespie took us on a tour of the Apostolic Palace, where the Pope lives.
We entered the Vatican through St. Anne’s gate and took a series of elevators and hallways to end up in the room where papal conclaves meet before processing into the Sistine Chapel.
Something not many people know is there is another chapel next to the Sistine Chapel, the Pauline Chapel, which was also in large part decorated by Michelangelo. We had the opportunity to spend time in silent prayer there before heading into the much noisier Sistine Chapel, which we passed through quickly into a smaller room.
There we met the papal sacristan who explained the room is called the “Room of Tears,” where newly elected popes first vest before making their first public appearance. There is a certain momentousness to the room at the thought of how many men have taken on the emotional weight of becoming the Vicar of Christ.
A short flight of stairs then brought us to the Papal Sacristy, where I had this overwhelming sense of, “How did I ever end up here?” I felt like I’d already experienced a lifetime of wonders and beauty, and I hadn’t even made it to the main event.
The papal Mass really began a day earlier with a rehearsal, where we met the other altar servers and emcees. We were lucky enough to be serving with seminarians from the English College in Rome, so we had plenty of translators. It was great getting to know the seminarians as we reviewed the parts of the liturgy, giving me my first real inkling of how big an undertaking this Mass would be.
Pentecost Sunday began with a meeting at St. Peter’s Basilica at 8:30 a.m. Msgr. Gillespie escorted us to the entrance of the church. That was my first memorable experience of the day – entering a completely empty St. Peter’s.
We made our way over to the Chapel of the Pieta, where we vested for Mass. As we waited patiently for the emcees, we admired the grandeur of the building while trying to figure out which cardinal was which in the next chapel.
Soon were were in line, holding papal rosaries, and waiting as the Pope entered the room and began to greet the servers individually. That time spent waiting for the Pope to get to me was the most nerve wracking period of the entire trip.
Eventually there I was, shaking the Pope’s hand. It was striking to note the strength with which he carried himself.
All too quickly the moment was over and we were assembling for the start of Mass. The opening procession is one of my favourite aspects of serving Mass, when we enter the church and lead the congregation toward the most important prayer in our faith.
As we processed out, however, the first thing that hit me on this day was the intense heat of the square.
The Mass began and proceeded quite normally. I’m not sure if that’s the best way to describe, since it was anything but normal, but that’s how it felt to me, which ties into what Msgr. Marini (the head of the papal emcees) said at our rehearsal. He told us that the Pope and other important people will be at Mass, but in the end we are here for Christ.
I was at a large, important Mass, but in reality that Mass was just as important as the one happening back home at St. Joseph’s. That was the big reality I took home: no matter how grand the ceremonies surrounding the Mass can be, the importance still lies in the Eucharist, “the source and summit of our faith.”
After Mass, everyone scattered and we ended up talking to a few cardinals on our way out of the basilica. They were interested in our work in Ireland, as well as how we ended up serving at the Mass, since we were not seminarians.
From Rome, I continued on to France and the Home of the Mother, where I join the Servant Priests and Brothers on a pilgrimage through France and Spain before returning home at the end of June.
I have had lots of time to reflect on my year in Europe. I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to serve as a missionary in another country and to have met such amazing people on the way. I am so grateful for the generosity Msgr. Gillespie showed us throughout the year in Letterkenny and afterward during our week in Rome.
You may be wondering what I am doing now. I am happy to say I have been accepted to continue with ministry through NET Australia. I will be leaving in January to spend a year either in Australia or South Africa, evangelizing to youth in the southern hemisphere.
I ask you to keep me in your prayers, as the majority of our mission is accomplished through prayer. NET also requires us to fundraise approximately $6,000 for our year. If you feel called to partner with me or would like to know more about what I have been doing, feel free to contact me at cvanvugt000310@gmail.com.
Praise be to Jesus!
