Andrea Bernardino ran two workshops titled “The Heart of Praise and Worship” during Veritas Youth Festival 2018 at Corpus Christi College, Bateman on 7 July. Photo: Iceberg Media.
By Matthew Lau
A guest workshop presenter at this year’s Veritas Youth Festival demonstrated how song and dance can resonate with young believers as an effective form of prayer.
Andrea Bernardino held two Veritas workshops at Corpus Christi College in Bateman on 7 July titled “The Heart of Praise and Worship”, to give an in-depth look at an alternative way of praying that captures the interest of younger generations in the modern Church.
Praise and worship is a topic close to her heart as it was the prayer method that brought her to start her journey in deepening her faith with the Catholic Church.
“This type of prayer involves music, which resonates with my being and with this, I felt closer to God,” Ms Bernardino said.
“It is a talk that I am quite passionate to share when given the opportunity because I believe it is universal and is a great tool for evangelisation, especially with the youth of today.”
Last weekend at Veritas, she covered a brief history of “praise and worship” and quashed the common misconceptions that surround it, stating that this form of prayer to complementary to and not contradictory to the Catholic faith.
“I believe that equipping the youth with the right information and approach would really help them to truly understand that this prayer-form goes beyond just hearing and being present by singing and dancing with the blaring music in front of them,” Ms Bernardino explained.
“It is really about surrender. Surrendering to the Holy Spirit, Who in spirit and truth, moves us to praise and worship Jesus.”
Andrea Bernardino is a leader of Singles for Christ Australia and is a business owner and filmmaker for both Iceberg Media and CooCoo Film Productions. Photo: Iceberg Media.
Ms Bernardino kept her workshops interactive by encouraging the attendees to participate in a closing song of prayer “with the hope that they can try putting to action what I hope they’d learn in that session”.
She would like more conferences, such as Veritas, to be held in order to subject the youthful laity to different types of prayer to suit each individual.
“Some may feel closer to God in the silent or meditative prayer like Lectio Divina or through adoration, whilst others feel closer to Him through extrovert activities such as praise and worship
“We, as Catholics, owe it to our brothers and sisters in Christ to provide [young people] exposure to these different types of prayer-forms in hope to find what they need to help strengthen their faith in Christ,” Ms Bernardino concluded.
Veritas 2018, organised by Catholic Youth Ministry (CYM), saw more than 900 people in attendance across the three-day event – a record figure for the Perth festival.
CYM Acting Director Vincent Haber said the turnout was an affirmation of the hard work put in by the archdiocesan agency in collaboration with other movements and parishes.
“It was a joyful occasion. I felt a lot of young people connected with each other and their faith.”
CYM will use the momentum gained from Veritas to prepare for the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in December 2019, to be held at Perth Convention Centre.
“We are ready to host ACYF next year,” Mr Haber firmly stated.