Fr Roy Pereira, originally from Kuala Lumpur, has been in youth ministry for 35 years.
Since his ordination to the priesthood in Albany in 1998 for the diocese of Bunbury he has been to three WYDs and is conscious that many young people in Perth “have not come to terms” with the fact that it is very expensive to go to Madrid for WYD in 2011.
“They should have started fundraising yesterday in their parish, not today or tomorrow,” he said.
Fr Roy has voluntarily “taken on responsibility for all the young people” who can’t afford to go, including country youth.
The young people have to do their own parish fundraising, but he is offering scholarships to help them out, he said.
By organising fundraising events with the newly formed multi-ethnic Malayasian-Singaporean Catholic Community of Australia (MSCCA), Fr Roy hopes to be able to subsidise the WYD costs for over 50 young people.
Bishop Donald Sproxton blessed the MSCCA in February this year, and since then the community has organised two fundraising events.
The community’s first event, held in July, drew a crowd of 650 for an event that catered for 500 and raised $18,000.
The Spring Dance, their second event, was held at Victoria Park on 15 October.
It drew together 600 people from the Perth Archdiocese including Malaysian Consul-General Puan Hamidah Ashari.
Local entertainment was provided by John Paul Youth Ministry who performed an Indian dance.
Country music duo, Virgil and Colleen Reutens also performed as did retro band, Loose Connections.
Their third MSCCA WYD event is planned for July 2011 at the Perth Convention Centre.
Fr Roy, one of 25 committee members who coordinate these events, hopes to invite 1,000 people mostly from the mining industry and corporate companies to the next event in July 2011 at the Perth Convention Centre.
Local postgraduate software engineering student, Collin Nunis, 24, from Malaysia is a Melkite Catholic and responsible for coordinating the recipients of the MSCCA WYD scholarships.
He said that for Malaysians, going to WYD is a “distant dream”.
“People couldn’t afford to go to past WYDs in Canada and Germany and the diocesan youth ministry didn’t coordinate anything in Malaysia,” he said.
This is why the community in Australia is motivated to send people to WYD, he said.
“Now that a lot of us are in Australia, we’re trying to make that dream a reality for people who have migrated here, for locals and to support some indigenous Australians as well,” Collin said.
Applications are still open for the MSCCA WYD subsidy. If anyone would like to apply, applications close early next year. To apply contact MSCCA chairperson, Soma 0403 536 805 or for more information, visit: www.mscca.org.au.