SEVEN young adults from Perth are taking on leadership roles in their parish as part of an initiative that will help them travel to Brazil for World Youth Day in July.
The Knights of the Southern Cross WA are contributing to the pilgrims’ airfares, provided they contribute to their parish’s youth ministry over the next 12 months.
Youth director for the Archdiocese of Perth, Anita Parker, said the program has been successful so far.
“It’s a great initiative which has seen some new leaders step into roles prior to WYD and an increase in youth ministry in the local parishes,” she said.
Sheldon Burke, who is part of the Divine Mercy youth group in Maddington, said he was pleased to be a part of the program.
“You have to do a certain amount of hours per week within your parish,” he said.
Mr Burke said he filled his allocated parish hours by taking part in a variety of parish work, events, and devotions.
He added that he has always “loved being part of the Church” and believes that his experience at WYD in Sydney in 2008 inspired him to become involved in youth leadership.
“I really liked the idea of the youth scene, because a lot of the youth were falling away, the people I grew up with stopped coming to Church so it saddened me a bit,” he said.
“When I went to WYD I really realised that there is a need for groups with the same ideas and faith to journey together so none of us get left behind and we keep each other on track.”
Twenty-three year old Matt Tuson agreed the program was an excellent initiative that encouraged him to become more involved in his parish of St Luke’s in Woodvale.
“I’ve started up a youth group in my parish because we didn’t have one for older young adults,” he said.
Like Mr Burke, Mr Tuson said his previous experience at WYD was highly beneficial to his faith.
“We moved over here from Zimbabwe about nine years ago, and, as I finished school and went to university, I struggled to get into events or spending time with young Catholic people until I went to WYD in Spain … that kick-started things for me,” he explained.
Another member of the program is Kudzai Kwaramba, who runs a youth group that travels to different parishes around Perth.
“Every month we have a youth gathering where we do a bit of formation, teaching each other about the faith … trying to teach about the Eucharist, the Catechism, and the Bible,” he said.
“We’re trying to get youth in the local community to actually participate in their parishes on a more spiritual level.”
The 28 year old said his own faith has grown steadily since high school. “It got to a point where I understood to a greater extent what my faith was about and I was interested in it, and it just grew from there,” he said.
Each of the leaders is preparing for WYD in earnest.
“I’m trying to get my mindset into that WYD spirit, to increase the number of times I pray, to go to more Masses if I can … and to fulfill my duties as a youth leader,” Mr Kwaramba said.
Mr Burke said CYM Perth was providing the pilgrims with some practical tips prior to the July event.
“We learn a bit of Portuguese, and … we also have a formation day for all the pilgrims going to WYD which will prepare us for all the walking we have to do there too,” he said.
“We’re not tourists when we go there, we’re pilgrims, so we have to prepare our spiritual side as well.”
State executive officer of the Knights of the Southern Cross, Rod McAtee, said it was essential to have youth involved in the life of the Church.
“If they don’t have a burning desire to be part of the Church, we’re shot to pieces, we haven’t got a future as a Church, so we felt it was one of those essential things that the Knights needed to get involved in,” he said.
“We recruited these young people on the basis that if they allowed us to mentor them for the period leading up to WYD and they satisfied us that they were genuine in their endeavours to assist the parish with youth help, then we would contribute largely towards their fares.
“It’s been very successful and we’re very pleased with the outcome.”
Mr McAtee said it was part of the Knights’ mission to be involved in similar activities and programs.
“The results that WYD produces are quite astronomical when you look at it; the kids come back and they’re all very enthusiastic, and that’s great to see, we need some of that,” he said.
“We’re always on the look out for projects where we can come in with a few bob and perhaps some expertise and give the young people a hand.”