This event is becoming bigger each year as the yearning for true Catholicism becomes stronger in Australia. In a time where the Church and her modern liturgy is being asked to stand up and be counted (lack of vocations and bums in pews), the obvious thing that is lacking is substance. The Traditional Liturgy, on the other-hand, is chock full of substance (and Vocations and bums on pews) and therefore often cops the brunt of fellow Catholics who have more of a 'lack of education' (to put it nicely) in regards to the Church and it's practices. Whats even more encouraging is that those who have peddled the banal 'stuff' we've been putting up with for nearly 40 years will all very soon be pushing up daisies and leave the youth of today to clean up what really shouldn't have been messed up in the first place! And where are the Youth? On the Pilgrimage of course!! 180 out of the 400 pilgrims this year were under the age of 18!! Marvelous effort all round!

what wonderful news ! Catholicism is returning ! Viva il Papa Benedict !

Van Knacular (very witty!) makes some good points and I am happy to be corrected by him, but surely 'Catholic' means 'universal'. All Catholics should stay united, whether we attend post-Vatican II Rite Masses or the 'traditional' Latin Rite. 'Staying united' does not mean disobeying the Pope or the local Archbishop or Bishop. Some Masses that I have attended have been schmaltzy or as Van Knacular asserts, banal: my pet dislike is excessive guitar-playing as a substitute for the more traditional church organ accompanying parishioners as we try to be tuneful in hymn-singing - the latter not easy for those males among us with gravelly, monotonal voices. Van Knacular may have more knowledge of the subject but I believe that some Catholic Archbishops and Bishops have welcomed the return of the Traditional form of Mass after what many perceived as its virtual disappearence during the 1970s to perhaps the early 1990s. It is great to see the 'Addy' attracting online viewers and presumably readers with the specialist knowledge that individuals like Van Knacular possess. We learn something!

It's about time a Victorian won the hill race (morning of the 3rd day of the Pilgrimage, at Lockwood South, just outside Bendigo).