The Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) is the largest gathering of Catholic youth in our country. It has been held in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney, and in 2019 it was hosted by Western Australia in Perth. For many attendees, this is an opportunity to experience the universal Church in ways they may have never seen within their smaller parish communities, and to encounter Christ anew.
From 5-11th December 2019, around 60 youth, leaders and Salvatorians from NSW and WA came together, both to attend ACYF and also to have a Salvatorian pre-festival experience based at the Community House in Currambine. This pre-festival program included workshops with various Salvatorian priests, talks, sightseeing, evening prayer at the beach, and Mass followed by Praise and Worship at Balcatta Parish with other pilgrims from the local area and Broken Bay Diocese in NSW. After this time of formation and fellowship with the Salvatorian charism, pilgrims joined with almost 6000 other young Catholics at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre for the festival for worship, music, prayer, plenaries, expo and more based on the theme “Listen to what the Spirit is saying.” (Rev 2:7) In addition, our pilgrims were visited by the apostolic nuncio and had opportunities for a special Mass celebrated by him at the Community House.
The fruits of this event are already starting to show in our pilgrims, and it will be a joy to see how their journey continues in time.
Fr Francis Jordan, fostering the faith of youth, pray for us.