Australian Catholic Youth Festival

On November 28, eight students accompanied by Mrs Lia Mailes and Mr Joachim Rymarz travelled to the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Melbourne.  The trip was being made with two other MSC schools, Daramalan College, Canberra, and Chevalier College, Bowral, NSW, and it provided an opportunity for Years 10 and 11 students who expressed interest to be exposed to a vibrant meeting of thousands of young Catholics from around the country over 3 days of plenaries, workshops, and talks at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre in Southbank.

Our group left Hamilton on Friday afternoon and arrived at our accommodation at CYC Hostel on Collins Street after a minor disruption and train replacement bus incident at Ballarat.  The group then got an opportunity to meet the other MSC students who had driven down to Melbourne: thirteen other students led by Chevalier College Director of Mission, Mr Sandy Abbey, along with four other teachers from the other two schools.  On Saturday, we took the train out to the MSC parish, St Thomas the Apostle in Blackburn, where the students had an opportunity to engage in a reflection day similar to our Monivae school retreats.  Here, they also had to chance to meet and ask questions to our new school chaplain, Fr Shane Carr MSC, along with Fr Mark Hanns MSC and professed MSC brother, Daniel Magadia, who would attend the festival with us too.  Dinner and Mass finished the day, and we travelled back into the city.

On Sunday, we had a bit of free time to wander the city and do some shopping until the festival kicked off in earnest officially at St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne, in the afternoon where we would begin out pilgrimage to the Convention Centre.  Unfortunately, rain and protests in the city slowed us down but this was an opportunity to witness the power of the gathered pilgrims from around the country marching together behind the World Youth Day cross which was one of the symbols of the festival.

I think that I would not be remiss to point out that the real highlight and talking point of the festival, from both teachers and students, were the plenary sessions that were held on Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday.  These sessions were marked by high intensity praise and worship music performed by energetic and exciting musicians and bands which got the students (and teachers) out of their seats to fully engage.  Interspersed among these performances were highly impactful talks from prominent Catholics who spoke of the strength of their faith and knowledge of God’s love for them through tough times in their lives.  From Cardinal Mykola Bychok’s description of his experiences growing up in the state-imposed atheist regime of Soviet Ukraine, to Australia’s very own Sister Mary Grace’s powerful testimony about how her vocation from God took her from Olympic hopeful surfing on the beaches of Bondi and Sydney to vowed religious sister living in the Bronx, New York, with other women dedicated to God.  There were many highlights from these days, including talks and opportunities to load up on some Christmas shopping in the expo – something which the teachers, including Mrs Mailes, needed no extra encouraging in availing themselves of the opportunity to do so.

The festival concluded with a beautifully orchestra-accompanied Mass presided by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Commensoli, before we were sent on our way as missionary disciples back to our communities.  We arrived back in Hamilton on Wednesday afternoon tired but treasuring the valuable memories and experiences that we had all made while on the trip.  I think that everyone, no matter their faith background, got something out of these few days and it was a fantastic chance to experience the future of the Catholic church in Australia.

Mr Joachim Rymarz

Teacher - Humanities and Religious Education