By Ali Biddiscombe
The energy and sharing of experiences of youth who attended World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon continued to ignite fire and passion for Christ in a successful UNITE Rally in Fremantle on Friday, 25 August.
More than 500 people aged five to 70 packed the Drill Hall at the University of Notre Dame Australia Fremantle Campus in the spirit of WYD as celebrations across the world wind down.
Organised by the Catholic Youth Ministry (CYM) the crowd were treated to an evening of music, interviews, drama, fellowship and dance!
Special guest Father Rob Galea headlined on centre stage as well as The House Band, a hip hop dance crew and a drama by the youth mission team.
On a side stage young pilgrims shared their memories and joy of participating in a pilgrimage, where youth from all over the world and cultures came together, in a series of interviews.
Fr Rob, as he is affectionately known, told The Record that music is a universal language and he considers himself an evangelist at heart.
“I just want to impact people; for them to have the same experience I have of loving and knowing Jesus,” Fr Rob said.
“This is my vocation to proclaim Jesus in word and in sacrament and there is no more powerful way than proclaiming the word through music!”
Fr Rob continued by saying the enthusiasm and the joy at the UNITE Rally event was unbelievable and he was struck that for a youth event there were people of all ages participating in the event.
“The minute you play music there is an instant connection. People are connected. I also believe music has something in connection to heaven.
“We know through the Book of Revelation that music is present in heaven and this is the same thing that happened in Perth – there was an instant connection with the music.
“I used worship music, even secular music and pop music. It is about speaking to the hearts of people through the language of the heart and I left feeling extremely encouraged and also so happy about what is happening in youth ministry in Perth. They are doing work that is impacting lives of all generations, not just the young!”
CYM Director Adam Phillips said the aim of the event was for the pilgrims to come back from WYD and share their experience with the Archdiocese, to recapture the excitement they had experienced in a final evening of celebration.
“Providing an event like this is a rallying call to bring young people together, to say hey, you’re not alone, there are other young people in our Archdiocese and that faith is important to and it’s giving them that space and place to belong,” Mr Phillips said.
“This event can’t stand in isolation, and as an agency we want to start looking at more of this style of event – we’re definitely planning to run another one next year; maybe another two.
“It is for lighting the fire in our parish spaces. It has to help support grass roots ministry. For those youth groups that are battling it out in their parishes and need that little bit of a spark, they can come along, feel part of a larger collective, have a great night and share their faith in a safe space and take that spark and energy back to their parishes,” he said.
“We hope people will share the story of their night– because this is about sharing our faith and what that means.”
