From a desk and office covered with organized stacks of papers, folders and books, Matthew Robaszkiewicz carries out his mission as the director for the Office Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Austin.

It's his job to oversee the pastoral education of the next generation of Catholics.

His desk holds a triptych of flags: the yellow and white papal flag, the U.S. flag and a Polish flag. A collage on his wall features a "Life is Short, Pray Hard" sticker, movie ticket stubs and other inspirational trinkets. From the walls and bookshelves, religious art and statues look down at him.

His journey of ministry has taken him from Denver to Atlanta and eventually landed him in Austin.

In Denver and Atlanta he took kids to World Youth Day in Denver, Paris and Rome. World Youth Day is an event held every two years for the pope to meet with youngsters. The celebration was started by Pope John Paul II.

Robaszkiewicz led the pilgrimage of Austin teens to Toronto.

"Denver … I was a parish youth minister, So, I had much more contact and much more direct relationships with the young people that I was working with. And so there was a much stronger connection. And to experience it with them, and to process it with them, you know, both before and after, I think, was very significant," Robaszkiewicz said.

With the other trips, he lead the entire diocese delegation so he didn't have a chance to connect with the kids or follow up with them.

The event usually runs from a Wednesday through a Sunday, is almost like a festival and it is truly a blend of cultures.

"He is the most well-traveled pontiff ever and the fact that more people than ever before have had a personal experience or a close up experience with him where he's been to their country or they've been to World Youth Day and I that in and of itself by having that experience puts a whole new light on someone's faith journey. It's one thing to see someone on television or to read about them in a newspaper or magazine but to actually have the first-hand experience … It is an emotional experience because here you see a man who has traveled the world over and who is the leader of all the Catholic Christians in the world and everything that he represents. And he has made the effort," he said. "[He had] a deep regard and appreciation for the young people themselves and also for those that work with young people. He's very supportive. And every year he publishes a message to the young people of the world for World Youth Day. And so it's reassuring to know that from the very highest levels of the church, there is that support for the ministry that we're partaking in."

The pope also made an effort to use technology to reach out to young people.

"Just in the arena of communication you know this is the first papacy that has had the Web site and has been accessible to more people than ever before," he said.

Being Polish, Robaszkiewicz found an immediate connection with the newly elected pope. He said he remembers a priest running down the halls of his Catholic high school shouting, "We have a Polish pope."

Robaszkiewicz is old enough to remember the selection of John Paul I as pope and the selection John Paul II that followed just a few weeks later. But for the youngsters he leads, John Paul II is the only pope they have known. Back then, he said, there wasn't such a personal connection with the pope as youths have today.

"Any of the young folks or young adults who have had that personal experience of the pope, primarily through World Youth Day, it will certainly hit a lot closer to home or hit a lot harder than if it was, you know, Pope Paul VI who you had seen on television and that was it. And because so many of them that is the only pope they have known, it will be a huge change. But it will also be a great learning experience from a church perspective, you know, as far as teaching about a conclave and teaching about the process of selecting a pope," he said.