More than 150 young people gathered on 29 February for Perth’s first post-Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) event, held at Newman Siena Centre in Doubleview.
The “ACYF Mission: Challenge Accepted!” event, organised by Archdiocesan agency Catholic Youth Ministry (CYM), welcomed faithful aged between 13 and 30 as CYM launched its “Bring a friend” campaign.
The Leap Day event featured local speakers and performers such as Instrumenta Dei band, Director of 24:7 Youth Ministry, Mario Borg, Somascan Brother Sheldon Burke, married couple Luke and Montana Bogoni, and UNDA course coordinator, Karl Brown.
Adeline Bock, Acting Director of CYM Perth, challenged those in attendance to join the mission of youth ministry by reaching out to other young people as they journey with Christ.
Ms Bock spoke about the importance of young people being on a mission, quoting the words of Pope Francis: “Evangelisation is the mission of the Church, not just of a few, but my, your, our mission”.
“It can sometimes be easy for us to sit back and let others do it. But this is not what we are called to do. In the hearts of young people, there is an inherent desire to change the world,” she said.
“This desire is great if directed to the right cause.”
Ms Bock shared that there are two folds in the mission, with the first being to look into the inner room, where the mission is to grow our love for Christ and the need for to spend time, share the joy and suffering with Christ.
She also encouraged the youth to get to know Christ by spending more time in prayer and letting God affirm them for who they are, beloved sons and daughters of God.
The second part of the mission is to reach out to others by inviting them to come onto “the lifeboat of eternal life after death with God although it may be daunting to extend an invite”.
Ms Bock challenged the crowd with a question: “If you have encountered Christ, will you share this with those around you?”, as each person was invited to think of three people they are planning to reach out to this year.
Those who attended are also urged to pray for the three people they’re planning to reach out to and then by a call to action – to be active in cooperation with God in journeying and inviting others to encounter Christ.
“It could be a youth event or to your youth groups and parishes,” Ms Bock said as she emphasised the importance of young people keeping each other accountable and to celebrate progress as every small step counts.
“God doesn’t require us to succeed; He only requires that you try,” Ms Bock added, quoting the words of Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
Throughout 2020, CYM Perth is committed to being on a mission to evangelise young people and invite others to do the same, joining forces for the greater mission of bringing more young people to encounter Christ.