The Saturday Vigil Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral had a decidedly larger and younger congregation this evening as hundreds of Australian Catholic Youth Festival delegates joined regular parishioners to pray together.
The festival officially opens on Sunday morning (8 December) at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, where 5500 young people will come together to celebrate the Catholic faith.
On Saturday evening, though, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB warmly welcomed hundreds of Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) attendees to Perth’s cathedral. Most of those young people were from Western Australia, and Archbishop Costelloe urged them to know their important place in the life of the local Church.
“You are one of the ways in which the Lord is calling to the Church in Perth, calling to us, and encouraging us to have hope, both for the future and for the present,” he said.
“As Christians we can – together and relying wholly on the Lord’s grace, rather than on our own talents and abilities – be builders of a different world, a new world where, in the words of the psalm this evening, justice will flourish and so will fullness of peace for ever.”
Archbishop Costelloe said the festival should be a time of “celebration and joy”.
“May you discover the joy of the Gospel, the excitement of sharing your faith with each other and the adventure of saying ‘yes’ to the Lord’s call to you in your lives, whatever that call might be,” he told the young people.
“We will be praying for you over these days. Please pray also for us.”
Hundreds of pilgrims, mostly from Melbourne Archdiocese, were also due to celebrate a special ACYF Mass on Saturday evening at 7.45pm.
Find out more about the 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival at www.acyf.org.au