EXCLUSIVE: Perth Catholics invited to unite for Youth Festival Closing Mass
Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has this week issued an invitation to the whole Perth Catholic community to attend the Closing Mass of the 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival. Photo: Cyron Sobrevinas.
By Amanda Murthy
Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has this week issued an invitation to the whole Perth Catholic community to attend the Closing Mass of the 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival.
The once-in-a-lifetime Closing Mass, will be held at 6.30pm on Tuesday 10 December on the ovals of Trinity College, and will conclude the three day Festival.
The Mass is expected to be attended by some 5000 youth who are travelling from all over Australia to be part of the Australian Catholic Youth Festival.
Festival goers attending ACYF will commence their journey to the Mass with a 3.5km pilgrimage walk from the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, through the Perth city streets, as they head to the Mass venue.
The biennial Festival, an event of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, now less than 30 days away and will be attended by more 30 Bishops from across Australia.
Themed in conjunction with the 2020 Plenary Council – “Listen to what the Spirit is Saying” – ACYF exists with the intention to provide young people with opportunities to deepen their relationship with Jesus, be empowered to be disciples in the world today and to encounter as well as celebrate the vitality of the Church in Australia.
Throughout the festival, participants aged from Year 9 to 30 years old, will be given the opportunity to engage with more than 100 high profile Catholic local and international presenters, through the various catechesis sessions, workshops, musical performances, and prayer encounters, while forming new friendships with other like-minded youth from around the country.
Crowd favourites for the festival include Catholic rapper Joe Melendrez, who intends to bridge the gap between music and religion through his sessions titled “Feel the Power: Experience God in Music” and “Chosen: Discovering and Responding to God’s Call”; Katie Preejan McGrady plans to convince, convert and further affirm attendees in their faith with her talks “You Gotta Have Faith”, “Mary, Queen of Heaven”, and “Christ is Alive”; and Australian Priest-cum-Singer Father Rob Galea plays an important role in the festival, lending his voice to the festival’s official theme song Listen to the Spirit.
Some of the Perth representatives at the outdoor Mass for the 2017 ACYF held in Sydney. This year, Perth will host the festival from 8 to 10 December at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. Photo: Feby Plando.
The festival will also be an introduction to the Eastern Catholic Church for many, with participation by members of the Melkite-Greek Catholic Church and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.
Another exciting feature is the interactive and dynamic Encounter Expo, with more than 80 stalls participated by Catholic agencies, organisations, religious orders, ecclesial movements and all types of Catholic groups from across Western Australian and other visiting states.
Participants will be able to learn more about the work of the Church in Australia, and hopefully be inspired to take up new initiatives that will change lives.