Good Shepherd Kelmscott parishioner Helen Crosby went on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1985; the precursor to World Youth Day (WYD).
A year before Ms Crosby went to Rome, more than 300,000 young people responded to an invitation from Pope John Paul II to celebrate the International Jubilee of Youth on Palm Sunday in Rome.
The following year, Palm Sunday coincided with the United Nation’s International Year of Youth, so the Pope took the opportunity to once again welcome them.
On December 20, 1985, WYD was instituted and a year later the first official WYD was held.
“I went to Rome in April 1985,” Ms Crosby said. “It was also the Pallotine Jubilee Year and we went on the Pallotine Youth Pilgrimage.”
At the time Ms Crosby had a voluntary position as a house leader for two deaf girls at the Emmanuel Centre; she was also a part-time telephonist at the RAC and had recently had her marriage annulled.
Ms Crosby’s mother thought her daughter should go on the youth pilgrimage after reading about it in the Riverton parish bulletin.
The pilgrims celebrated Easter in Millgrove, Victoria before flying to Rome where they stayed in different Pallotine centres.
The Pallotines are followers of St Vincent Pallotti whose incorrupt body is enshrined in the Church of San Salvatore in Onda, Rome.
“Standing in front of Vincent Pallotti was the most moving thing I have ever done,” Ms Crosby said.
“I had never been in the presence of a saint before.”
Ms Crosby had recently returned to the Church and described her time in Rome as a journey of faith.
She has some advice for those travelling to Brazil in July for WYD.
“Really be present in each moment,” she said.