DAYBREAK: JY Australia Newsletter Sept 2014

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JESUS YOUTH AUSTRALIA NEWSLETTER

Christ Bearers

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September2014

I would like to reflect upon a great gift given to me by my parents; my name Christopher. In the first place, devotion to St Christopher seems to be more developed in Eastern rather than Western Catholicism. This was expressed in 1970 when his com-memoration was dropped in the Roman Calendar but promoted

for local devotion. His life story is instructive of Christian truth and discipleship even today. Chris-topher was born in 250 AD, near the present day Turkey. He has become the Patron Saint of trav-ellers and transport. Even today, a little magnet of St Christopher is seen commonly in the cars of the pious.

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MissionPNG &Nauru

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I take this opportunity to thank the Lord for all His blessings on Jesus Youth Movement in Australia during the last 10 years. God has led us as he did the Israelites! (Exodus 13/ 21 – 22) “The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.”

Let’s Rejoice in Him always! All times!

Philippians 4/4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice”. Our loving Father wants us to be joyful children all the time. If we look back into our own personal lives, surely we can see lot of instances where our God journeyed with us very closely. Some-times, we may try to find out factual reasons for rejoicing. God is good all the time and the Word of God reminds us to rejoice in God during good times and bad times. God is God and he knows what’s happen-ing in our life and He is more than enough for our needs. He will lift us up in the right time. It is He who brings tomorrow

into our lives! So let’s ‘Rejoice in Him’ and have an attitude of gratitude always for His wonderful love and care for each one of us. Habakkuk 3:18-19. We have to trust God when we don’t understand everything that happens in our life. God will always be the restoring force in our lives. Nothing that we have endured is waste-ful and God will surely change things for our good. (Romans 8/28).

Renewed in Christ

Let’s Start afresh in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5/17). This is also an op-portunity to be renewed in our spiritual lives, tak-ing one more step closer to Christ at a personal level. Isaiah 30/28 – 31: “..but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint”. May this year help us to go deeper, taking a break from the peripheral or superficial experiences. That was what all the Saints did, taking the risk to spend more time with Christ, and as a result - changing their lives remarkably. “To be Saints is not a privilege for the few, but a voca-tion for everyone”. (Pope Francis).

Let’s also start afresh with a Mis-sion – Reachout with Joy

In all we do, help others to make a fresh start in Jesus. This is what Pope Francis reminds each catholic every time. Each one of us has an obliga-tion to pray and work for all those in Australia who haven’t opened their hearts to Christ. “Christians have a duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding any-one. Instead of seeming to impose new obliga-tions, they should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet.” – Pope Francis. Let’s start praying not just for people in Australia, but also for all countries in Oceania, es-pecially for Papua New Guinea and Nauru where JY Missions have started in a small way. Rejoice, Renew and Reachout. Navin ThomasNational Coordinator

Rejoice, Renew & Reachout

SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR’S CORNER

On April 30 2014, members of JY Australia National Team along with CC Joseph, the International Coordi-nator of Jesus Youth met with Arch-bishop Christopher Prowse (Arch-diocese of Canberra and Goulburn). Archbishop Prowse is the Patron Bishop of the movement in Australia and has been a spiritual guide for the ministry over the past 9 years. The meeting was aimed at updating His Grace on Jesus Youth activities both in Australia and across the globe and allow him the opportunity to provide his views and advice.

POPE FRANCIS ”“ “It is necessary to place the dignity of the human person at the centre of every pros-pect and every action. Other interests, even if legitimate, are secondary,”

Renew Retreat, Canberra

PERTH

YOUTH VIBES

Youth Vibes, Jesus Youth’ Perth’s monthly gathering took place at Queen of the Apostle Catholic Church in Riverton, WA. Around 30 enthusiastic young people joined the event. The purpose of the Jesus Youth Vibes event was to provide the youth of our community with opportunities to connect with other faith-minded young people, to reflect on the Lenten season and share the joy of the gospel. Through discussion, entertainment and games, Anita Parker (CYM Director), Lester Miranda (JY full time volunteer from Melbourne) and other Jesus Youth leaders were able to inspire and con-nect with the intelligent young minds of today.

CONNECT & CAPTURE12-15th April 2014

Four day initial retreats for Teens (Connect) and Youth (Capture) were conducted at Edmund Rice Centre, Amberley, Melbourne. More than 35 vibrant teens and Youth from Melbourne’s different schools and Universities participated in it. Fr. Bony Abraham MGL and Abhy Thomas from the UK along with JY Melbourne team led the retreat. It was a Spirit filled retreat with lots of fun and games.

DARWIN

HOURS OF GRACE 2014, DARWIN

On Saturday the 11th of May, Hours of Grace adoration started at St.Paul’s Catholic Church, Nightclif, Darwin with the 6.00 pm Holy Mass .The Holy mass was celebrated by Bishop Eugene Hurley. During Darwin’s hours of grace, there was guided adoration led by different ministries from 7-9pm. Adoration was led based on each day’s specific theme. It helped the entire community to have a great spiritual journey. HOG concluded on 19th May with a Holy Mass celebrated by Fr. Roy.

SYDNEY

ONE FAMILY MANY MISSIONS,LEADERS RETREAT

The “One Family, many missions” Sydney Leader’s Retreat was conducted at Benedict XVI Retreat Centre, Grose Vale, Sydney from 25-27 Jan 2014. Elvis Kottoor, Fr.Gabriel and Fr.Bony were the Resource Per-sons and the focus of the Retreat was in building greater mission aware-ness to address the urgency of shar-ing the Good News. There were 22 families and two young adults among the 49 participants of the retreat.The resource people played pivotal roles in helping the participants discover their inner potential to be instru-ments in the mission of the church as well as pinpoint the pitfalls one can face when they lack a solid relation-ship with God. During the retreat the children (35 of them) in two groups were taken care by families on a rotation basis. They prepared and availed small sessions for them every day.

CANBERRA

RENEW RETREAT & DIVINETWILIGHT

Nearly 25 participants (youth & fami-lies) gathered at St Benedicts Hall, Narrabundah, ACT to participate in the Renew Retreat. Sessions were led by CC Joseph and he challenged the participants to grow in their relationship with the Lord. ‘Divine Twilight’ is a bi-monthly evening programme of JY Canberra attracting nearly 30 – 40 young people on a regular basis.

ADELAIDE

YOUTH TURN

JY Adelaide organised a Youth & Teens Retreat named “Youth Turn” from May 2 – 3. Nearly 35 Youngsters participated and CC Joseph inspired everyone to give their lives com-pletely to Christ.

Youthturn, Adelaide Youth Vibes, Perth

Leaders Retreat, Sydney

MELBOURNE MEETING WITH ARCHBISHOP CHRISTOPHER PROWSE

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a Newsletter September 2014

Jesus Youth Austra

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Newsletter September 2014

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an update of Jesus Youth Australia eventsnews r ausI would like to congratulate all the members of Jesus Youth Australia as it celebrates its 10th year of existence as a vibrant movement in Australia. Since it is spread out all over Australia it has a special mission to fullfill. Over these years Jesus Youth Australia has ministered to hundreds of youth and young adults. I am so thankful to past and present leaders for their tireless efforts for the mission of the church. As family is the domestic church, we too will support families. Now Jesus Youth is also rendering their contri-bution to the overseas missions, by extending its hands to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru Island.

Jesus Youth Brisbane conducted a JY Conference for Youth, Families, Teens & Kids from 24th April to 27th April in Brisbane. The theme of the confer-ence was Rejoice, Renew, and Reach out. It was based on the Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” of the Holy Father Francis. The Pope invites us to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at the very least, an openness to letting him encounter them. He continues, “No one should think that this invitation is not to meant for him or her, no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord’. The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take towards Jesus, we come to realize that he’s already there, waiting for us with open arms. Time and time again he bears us on his shoulders. With a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew. Let us not flee from the resur-rection of Jesus, let us never give up, come what will. May nothing inspire more than his life, which impels us onwards”. What a wonderful message from Pope Francis.

This is the joy which we experience daily as the Jesus community. Every day we are asked to respond to the loving invitation of God our Father. Let us rejoice in our lord when we renew ourselves and reach out to the marginalized and deprived.

Prayerful wishes,

Fr.Thomas D.Areekuzhy M.C.B.SNational Spiritual Director,JY Australia

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Jesus Youth Australia Newsletter September 2014

Jesus Youth Australia hosted a round the clock Eucharistic Adoration, Hours of Grace – 2014 for the 4th consecutive year from 1st March to 8th June in Parishes across 8 cities in Australia. The Intentions and prayer focused on 7 areas.

As a gift to the Australian Church and in celebra-tion of Jesus Youth’s 10th Anniversary, the “Adopt a Bishop” initiative was launched- a prayer initiative to pray for our ‘Shepherds’ in Australia. Adopt-a-Bishop cards were distributed to the parishioners during Hours of grace.

This year’s Adoration began at Darwin at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Nightcliff. Parish Priest Fr. Roy O’Neill celebrated the Mass with a message about contemplating with our Lord. Bishop Eugene a great supporter of Jesus Youth Initiatives was present to celebrate Holy mass and conclude the Darwin Hours of Grace. Jesus Youths of Darwin extended their mission during this year HOG to

take Jesus to Indigenous communities by organ-izing a Night vigil with the help of MGL Brothers.

In Melbourne Adoration was held in 6 different parishes starting at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church-Milpark on 5th March and then at St. Agatha’s Catholic Church-Cranbourne, Mar Thoma Sleeha Catholic Church-Mickleham, St. Peter’s Catholic Church-Clayton, St. Peter Apostle Catholic Church-Hopper Crossing and St. Joseph Catholic Church-Northcote. In Ade-laide Adorations began on 16th March at Our Lady of the Rosary-Prospect. The Brisbane HOG took place in 5 parishes beginning at St. Joachim’s Catholic Church-Holland Park, St. Patricks Catholic Church-Beenleigh, St Joseph’s Church-North Ipswich and St. John Church at Northgate from 8th March until 7th June. In Sydney HOG-2014 was held at Sacred Heart Parish-West-mead and at Alice Springs at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish. The Perth Eucharistic Adoration was held across 7 parishes

starting at St. Jerome’s Parish-Spearwood and at St. Jude’s Church- Lang-ford, St. Joseph’s Church-Queens Park, Our Lady of Lourdes Church- Rocking-ham, Notre Dame Church-Cloverdale, Queen of Apostles Church-Riverton and St. Aloysius Church-Shenton Park. In Canberra Eucharistic Adoration was held at St. Peter Chanel’s Church which was inau-gurated by our National Patron ABp. Christopher Prowse.

The Hours of Grace-2014 was coordinated region-ally by Priya & Sojin in Darwin, Shijo & Anoob in Melbourne, Rojo & Jethin in Adelaide, Fr. Thomas Areekuzhy, Gracian and Shibu in Brisbane, Benny & Siju in Sydney, Jooby Maani & Aneesh in Alice Springs, Deepak & Kevin in Perth and Abin & Boban in Canberra. Ajesh and Ashwin James of Sydney did a wonderful job with the graphic design.

Remember young Audric in our prayers who left us for eternal life while returning home after Ado-ration in Sydney.

7 focuses of prayer

• For all Christians to grow in faith and deepen in the Word of God

• For the Church in Aus-tralia, Bishops, Priests and all Parishes

• For people who do not have access to food, shelter and education.

• For world peace and for all people who are struggling due to terror-ism and extremism.

• For the intentions of the Holy Father.

• For all Families around the world and Synod of Bishops on Pastoral Challenges to the Fam-ily.

• For all young people in Australia and all inten-tions of the Jesus Youth Movement.

Hours of Grace2015February 18th Wed - May 24th Sun 2015(Ash Wednesday till Pentecost Day)

Establishment of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy and Installation of Bishop Bosco Puthur

Round-the-clock Eucharistic Adoration (Ash Wednesday till Pentecost Day) in 24 Parishes

across 8 Cities in Australia

It wasn’t just the partici-pants who were touched by the Grace and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Most of the organisers witnessed the amazing transformation in people. Events like these are always challenging for organisers, there were issues and problems that no matter how hard you hu-manly try, seems to pop up from nowhere. However, all these issues and problems that came up every now and then seemed to just rectify or solve by itself without much effort from the organ-isers.

Family Stream

Having concurrent streams for different age groups gave married couples an interference free environ-ment to focus on their ses-sions, prayers and activities. Married couple’s stream was led by Alex Njavally and covered topics that were relevant in a family life like roles of family members, parenting, ongoing faith life, Holy Spirit and missionary call. By the final day the par-ticipants in this stream were working hand in hand with the organisers – it was hard to differentiate who was who! All parents enjoyed a great stay in the mountains and had a great time of prayer, adorations and ses-sions. Most of the families cherished the moment that they came together to pray as a family unit, holding the candle blessed by the Arch Bishop of Brisbane. On the third day, for Holy Mass we had the honour and joy to have His Grace Mark Coleridge, Arch Bishop of Brisbane as the celebrant. It was also the feast day of St.Mark and that called for a cake cutting after the Mass!

“It was a great sight to see the effort put in by Jesus Youth organisers in bringing about an event like this. I was so pleased to see my kids got the best out of those 4 days and most importantly it was a time of good fellowship.” Jom

“On the last day of the conference, a parent walked up to us and expressed his gratitude for looking after his kid. He was so proud that his daughter could recite bible verses much better than he could recall. He said the time was worth spend for him and his family!” - Dania and Diana, organisers from the VBS stream

The four days with fam-ily and friends up in the mountains praising and adoring our Lord had been a blessing for Jesus Youth in Queensland. All who attended truly rejoiced in blessings, was renewed in spirit and declared to rea-chout to the world! Nishan Mathew,JY Queensland

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One day a little child asked Christopher to take him across the river. During the crossing, the river became swollen and the child seemed intolerably heavy. Christopher could hardly make it across. Once crossed the river, Christo-pher said to the child, “You put me into the greatest of danger. I do not think the whole world could be as heavy on my shoulder as you were”. The child re-sponded, “You had on your shoulders not only the whole world, but Him who made it. I am Christ, your King, who you are serving by this work”.

So, St Christopher then became defined as the “Christ - Bearer”, the one who carries Christ, through this encounter with the Christ as child. He carried Jesus and the whole world on his shoulders, or was it really Christ who carried Christopher and the whole world by His cross and resurrection?

It is the centrality and love of Jesus that must animate everything we do. I now refer to the great words of Blessed John Paul II at the start of this millennium; “We must start afresh from Christ”. It is our first response, it is our last response.

‘Christopher’ can be a name that all of us share collectively. It can become a metaphor for mission-ary discipleship. As the year of faith and grace closes, we are focusing in Australia and in the Catholic world on Evan-gelization. Very recently, Pope Francis addressed in Rome, the leaders of the Council that coordinates the New Evangelization. He said, “every baptized

Christian is a Christopher, namely a Christ Bearer, as the Church Fathers used to say". This is our Mission-ary Identity. It will be lived out near the Calvary cross, because it is alongside the crucified saviour that mis-sionary endeavours begin and finish. Our Christopher identity will only fully understood as we hear Jesus’ words, “Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, for my yoke is easy and my burden light”.

Our burdens here in Australia at least seem to abound, don’t they? In our Families, we see growing challenges to its stabil-ity and capacity to pass on religious belief. In a Culture no more religious, but one of choice. So in these burdensome times, let the Christopher in each one of us truly believe that in Jesus alone, the yoke becomes easy and the burden light. It is not us carrying Jesus, but Jesus carrying us. Ultimately therefore, it’s a crisis of belief. Do we truly believe this? We pray, Jesus carry us home to the Father of all mercies.

We are left with a pri-mal choice found in the Gospel, when Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Put out into deep water and pay out your net for a catch. Peter was left with a choice. He could ignore and dismiss the command of Jesus for very good practical reasons and continue to mend and wash his nets. Or respond-ing in raw faith to Jesus and pay the nets for a catch in deep and unfamil-iar waters.

Most specifically, legend has it, he was a tall man. He had a confused youth but was assisted immeasurably by his talks with his spiritual director. He asked this devoted Hermit, “How could Christopher serve Christ?” The Hermit’s answer was decisive in his life. “It was by fasting and prayer”. And given Christopher’s size and strength, the Hermit suggested he could serve Christ practi-cally by assisting people to cross a nearby dangerous river. All this Christopher did with remarkable ability. But, deep down he was still restless, until an extraordinary encounter took place.

Most specifically, legend has it, he was a tall man. He had a confused youth but was assisted immeasurably by his talks with his spiritual director. He asked this devoted Hermit, “How could Christopher serve Christ?” The Hermit’s answer was decisive in his life. “It was by fasting and prayer”. And given Christopher’s size and strength, the Hermit suggested he could serve Christ practi-cally by assisting people to cross a nearby dangerous river. All this Christopher did with remarkable ability. But, deep down he was still restless, until an extraordinary encounter took place.

It is thecentrality and

love of Jesus that must animate

everythingwe do.

“Either we sit onthe shore of life and

mend and wash our fine church buildings and institu-

tions or we learn from the faith of St Peter and evan-

gelise afresh in unchartered waters, but knowing that

Christ, the fishermen of all of us commands us to a new

evangelisation.”

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AugustRefugees. That refugees, forced by violence to abandon their homes, may find a generous welcome and the protection of their rights.

Oceania. That Christians in Ocean-ia may joyfully announce the faith to all the people of that region.

SeptemberMentally disabled. That the men-tally disabled may receive the love and help they need for a dignified life.

Service to the poor. That Chris-tians, inspired by the Word of God, may serve the poor and suffering.

Well, we all know what happened. Obedience in faith led to a wonder-ful catch. Two boats were filled to sinking point with fish. We are all left I believe with a similar stack decision in our troubles sometimes, where the fish seemed to be found in other waters. Either we sit on the shore of life and mend and wash our fine church buildings and institutions or we learn from the faith of St Peter and evangelise afresh in unchartered waters, but knowing that Christ, the fishermen of all of us commands us to a new evangelisation. Let’s all respond with petrine faith. Let’s all go out with courage and hope into the deep waters to the new depths of evangelization opening up in our times. For e.g. the depths of discovery and science, the internet and social media, art and beauty, the families, es-pecially the first Australians, migrants and refugees, the search for God, the cities and rural areas, politics and economics, culture and inter-religious dialogue, the search for meaning and purpose in life. Let’s all go fishing with Christ.

So many of us were delighted to hear Pope Francis’ homily at the Chrism Mass in Rome recently. He stated that the Pastors must have the odour of sheep in them, by imitation of Jesus, the good shepherd. The Christopher’s of the future must have also the odour of fish on them

too. May be we ought to reflect on this as missionary disciples named Christopher’s. We may not smell very pleasing to a world where institutional religion seem to be nowadays no – no’s. But then again, we might find ourselves a better place pastorally to respond to today’s challenges. We will become close to the scandal of the Christ crucified. It’s at Calvary that we are truly commissioned to become Christopher’s in our world searching for God. Here we find our hope for salvation. It’s this hope that perfumes the world with the alluring fragrance of only Jesus, always Jesus, forever Jesus.

Let us pray that Mary the Mother of God and all the saints, especially St Mary MacKillop also be with us as we journey with Jesus. Let us now pray now together the Hail Mary and invoke her presence.

...................................Archbishop Christopher Prowse, The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

Thank you LesterHe is Lester from Lester, UK. He had a great encounter with Jesus through one of the Jesus Youth conferences in UK and God slowly started building him as a youth minister. In 2013, he took the courageous step to leave work his job and family and attend the Jesus Youth Inter-national fulltimership, where youth after a 40 day training will be sent to different parts of the world as a missionary for a year. Lester served Jesus Youth Australia for eight months. Living in Melbourne he travelled across Australia, catering to the differ-ent needs of the movement here.

Lester now have returned back to UK after finishing his mission. He will be missed here but on behalf of the youth that Lester inspired here, we say THANK YOU. Lester is the 4th interna-tional full timer to serve in Aus-tralia. The other 3 were Teema, Swapna and Joe all from USA.

Holy Father’s Prayer

Intentions

NEW MEDIAINITIATIVES

A NEW LOOKINGRE-DESIGNEDNATIONALWEBSITE.JY Australia website has a new look.

A 10 year celebration logo based theme and design with a focus on youth were the key visions of the re-design. It features latest and up-coming events, catholic resources and media reviews.

Check it out at www.jesusyouth.org.au.

ADOPT A BISHOPhttp://adopt.jesusyouth.org.au

Adopt a Bishop is an innovative online prayer initiative wherein one can sign up and pray for the Australian Cardinals and Bishops. Upon clicking ‘submit’, a Bishop will be randomly selected for you and you will be emailed a short bio of your chosen Bishop as well as a more detailed link. The email also contains suggestions on different ways in which you can pray for Bishops.

Adopt online today and join us in praying for our Shepherds

Jesus Youth Australia has put a lot of new media initia-tives in place this year as part of the 10 year celebra-tions. Below are some of those major initiatives.

JY AUSTRALIA ON SOCIAL MEDIAIf the Pope can do it, so can we!JY Australia has had an active presence both on Facebook and Twitter since December 2013.

Like us fb.com/JesusYouthAustralia

and follow us on twitter.com/JYAustralia

2014 is the year Jesus Youth Australia is celebrat-ing the 10th anniversary of its humble beginning in Australia in 2004. The Jesus Youth Australia 10 years celebrations logo epitomizes the theme for the year long celebrations. 10 Little Hearts represents 10 blessed years. It also represents our various min-istries, initiatives as well as the people from a multicul-tural background that form the Jesus Youth family.

Big Heart at the backdrop represents Jesus’ loving Heart. Life and commit-ment of every Jesus Youth is a response to the per-sonal experience of His compelling love.

Sandy Orange line and bright coloured Dove repre-sents the sandy landscapes of Australia, the great south land of the Holy Spirit and His refreshing presence (bright colours) in our per-sonal lives & in the life of the movement.

The logo uses a total of 7 Colours that represent the Gifts & Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Numeral 10 as a symbol of 10 year celebrations.

Growing Tree with Little Hearts repre-sents the Movement grow-ing in it’s mission, reaching out it’s branches to more areas at the service of the church and impacting lives.

Festive typography is used in the logo to emphasise an aura of celebration & thanksgiving.

JY AUSTRALIA 10TH ANNIVERSARY LOGO:

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JY FAMILIES COLUMN

Pope Francis, in one of his ser-mons said, “A Christian family is a missionary family”. The Catholic Church dedicates this year as the “Year of Families.” And in this context, we have a very courageous family from Melbourne, Australia.

This family with 6 Children, went on a 23 day pilgrimage, travelling over 12,000 kms in an 8 seater jam packed van, visiting over 30 cities and 21 Cathedrals, 40 Churches and Shrines, with one purpose – to honour God as a family and to pray for the people of Australia.

Manoj & Binnu and 6 Children in Melbourne (Joseph – 14 yrs, Tia – 12 yrs, Paul – 8 yrs, Ann – 5 yrs, Rose – 5 yrs and Little Gianna – 3 yrs) said “YES” to an adventure of a lifetime. JY Australia Media Team Member Blessy Thomas had an interview with Manoj & Binnu about their amazing journey across Australia.

Blessy: Manoj and Binnu, when most of the families decide to go on vacations to popular destinations, how come you guys chose pilgrimage? What inspired you to this pilgrim-age?

Manoj: When we came to Aus-tralia in 2003, we knew that

God was inviting and giving us the grace to witness Him in this country. When we moved to Australia, we came across a lot of families with divorced parents and children going through a tough time. Our hearts felt the need to reach out to these families. We felt inspired to visit the cathedrals and churches in Australia while we were praying for these families. My father had cultivated in me a habit of vis-iting the churches whenever we visited a new town, to pray for families. The Sale diocese had started a plan for family evangelization extending over 5 years and this year is dedi-cated to family prayer. On 8th Dec 2013, we made a pilgrim-age to St Mary’s Cathedral, Sale. Since we knew the Dean at the cathedral we discussed our pilgrimage plans with him. He encouraged us to go ahead and assured us his prayers for this journey.

Binnu: We also wanted to take time out with the family be-cause the life here is so busy and there is so much going on. And so we decided that it would be good to take some time-out where we could be with the family and with God – as a family centering around God. When we first came here, we once read a story to our children. It was titled “Are we there yet?” and

Pilgrimage onWHEELS

An amazing Spiritual Journey (Pilgrimage) of a "Jesus Youth Family" - A heart touching interview with Manoj Vechoorettu and Family in Melbourne on their Pilgrimage (April 5th – 23rd, 2014) across Australia.

it was based on the story of a family that went on a trip around Australia. Our children asked us “So when can we go on a trip like this? Will we travel around Aus-tralia?” And we said that we will do it one day. But then the babies kept coming and we kept putting it off. With Father’s blessings and with the prayer from the Jesus Youth community we felt this was the best time. We have been a part of the Jesus Youth National Family Team since 2012, and had this great desire to visit different families in Australia. There were four main intentions to which we dedicated our pilgrimage. The first inten-tion was for families to grow in love and Faith and for the Synod on Families at Vatican in October. Second, that we may have more vocations in Australia. We also prayed for Jesus Youth Missions around Australia and in PNG and Nauru Island. Our final inten-tion was for all Christians to be united, for Christian Unity in every land.

Blessy: I am sure that this Pilgrimage was not an over-night thought. So how did you plan and prepare for this pilgrimage?

Manoj: When we finally decided to go, we first col-lected all the details of the Cathedrals and the main Churches around Australia

and and started charting our daily plan. When I started charting out and prepared itinerary, I found that we could actually complete the trip around half of Australia in approximately 23 days. Each day, We planned to visit churches and Cathe-drals according to the timing for Holy mass and other Liturgical celebrations from the information provided over Internet and also ring-ing up the respective offices. From that first day when we visited Sale Cathedral on Dec 8th 2013, we dedicated our Family Rosary for this intention as well, to offer up our pilgrimage and to be guided by the Holy Spirit throughout, to be provided for and protected. With the accommodation, we have many Jesus Youth families and our relatives living many parts of Australia, who wel-comed us with open arms.

The places where we couldn’t find families, we booked for accommodation at motels online. On the financial side, I had to take a loan. But, throughout my life and especially in our mar-ried life, we never thought finance was a big issue be-cause we knew God always provides. Many families have told us, “It’s encouraging to see you live like this with just one income” because I am the only one who is working.

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Blessy: What are some of the fondest memories and challenges you had on this pilgrimage?

Manoj: For us the whole pilgrimage was memora-ble. As we entered each church we could sense and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in a very profound way. We could sense how we were called to wake up and start praying for this land, where we are blessed to be. We recited Four rosaries a day on our pilgrimage dedicating Australia to Our Lady Help of Christians. We were also praying to St. Theresa of child Jesus and in many cathedrals and churches we visited we could see her painting or statue. Seeing her we felt joyful and at peace. I thought to myself “ She is praying for us”. It was not always easy while on our journey. I was doing most of the driving but Binnu was always there to help me. Some days we felt very tired and I actually wondered 2-3 times, ‘Am I foolish to do this or not.’ Whenever we were ex-hausted God always sent a priest to bless us and guide us. The blessings of these priests uplifted us and strengthened us, even the kids.

Binnu: Throughout this journey, we received a warm welcome from priests and families where we stayed which was quiet encouraging. The welcome that we received at each town, each home strengthened us. And there was one instance when we were driving from Newcastle to Bathurst to visit the Cathedral we called up the Cathedral office and we were told that the Cathedral will close by 5:45pm. Our GPS said that we will get there only at 5.43 pm, but then we had to stop for fuel , that took away few minutes and we got there only at 5.47 pm. We worried that the Cathedral door would be closed and, we drove four hours out of the way just to visit this Cathedral. But I found the Cathedral

door opened, so even before Manoj could park the car, I got out and ran in and Holy Mass was being celebrated. And at that moment when I saw the Priest in his vestments there I realized that God is with us. He had prepared a banquet for us there. So we walked in happily and all the children were ex-cited too. After the Mass, the Priest who happened to be an indian, lived only few kilometers from our hometown back in Kerala, India. He invited us to join him for dinner and laid out another banquet for us. We felt very special and was one of our most memorable moments. As we were leaving the church after dinner one of my daughters asked me “ Was all that a drean? Did it really happen? “

Blessy: On your Pilgrimage you met a lot of families. How did your presence have an impact on the families you met?

Binnu: We did meet quite a few families on this pilgrimage and the effect, I think was more mutual. We were strengthened by their faith, their service and their openness to God as they may have been by ours. I remember one instance in Port Pirie where we met Fr Francis. When he found out that our daughter Gianna, was named after the Pro life saint, he told us about a woman who was airlifted from Port Pirie and taken to Adelaide. The doctors were advising her to have an abortion because her health was at stake and she was 6 months preg-nant. He asked us to pray and we told him that we would ask the Jesus Youth members in Adelaide to pray for the same intention. Some of the Jesus Youth families in Adelaide visited her and prayed with her. The baby was born without any problems and although it was premature, a life was saved. During the rest of the journey too, we met families who were in-spired to attend a retreat on their trip back to India.

There were other families who started prayer groups after we left them. A group of young mothers in Tenant Creek decided to start a mother’s cell group after I told them about the cell group I am part of in our parish. We hope there will be growth in faith.

Manoj: When we were in Mt Isa I spoke to our receptionist about our pilgrimage and he asked us to pray for him. He had been separated for the last 18 months and he really wanted to get that connection back. He was a Samoan man with three children. We want the family to be united. He also told us that He has been away from the church for the past 6-7 months. I advised him to never leave God. He was willing to go back to church and we are still praying for him. This was another sign from God telling us that “This is my plan, not yours”.

Blessy: Taking 6 children on a pilgrimage is not an easy task. Do you think it’s easy for every family to go about the way you did? What could be your mes-sage to the families here in Australia?

Manoj: It’s not an easy task. But if the Lord is calling you to do any-thing like this, follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, take the extra step and leave the rest in God’s hands. God will give you everything you need for the journey, so do not fear. Through-out our pilgrimage, we encountered God in a very powerful way and were blessed by His providence- this presence and providence is avail-able to all of us, each and every day of our lives. We encourage all families to be open to the Holy Spirit, and with courage take a step forward, to be His witnesses in this world. As Joshua says in the bible,” As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord”.

JY Perth participants @ ACYF

JY InCounter @ ACYF

Archbishop Prowse inaugurating Adopt a Bishop initiative

Adelaide to Host Second Austral-ian Catholic Youth Festival in 2015The second Australian Catholic Youth Festival will be held in Adelaide from 3-5 December 2015. Hosted by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) to engage and empower young people in the life of the Catholic Church, the festival is expected to draw more than 4000 participants. The theme of the Festival is ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’ (Mt 5:8). This is also the theme chosen for 2015 diocesan celebrations in advance of World Youth Day 2016. - See more at: http://mediablog.catholic.org.au/?p=31118

Jesus Youth Austra


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Jesus Youth@ ACYFJesus Youth Australia is blessed to be a part of this great Festival. JY’s registered as Participants, Group Leaders, Volunteers and Exhibitors (Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne). JY Australia was officially involved with the Youth Festival, in the following areas: • A JY Info Counter on all

3 days in Festival Park. The ACU also presented a brief summary of the

global catholic move-ment. Queries were answered by a group of JY Volunteers includ-ing Gavin, Ajesh, Anoob, Lester, Vijoy, Navin, Abin, Roby, etc

• JY Volunteers (nearly 10 JY’s) helped out in various roles during the Festival days.

• A workshop named ‘Youth2Youth Wave’ was presented by the Jesus

Youth group {at ACU Building 3rd Flr (3.87) on Dec 6th Friday at 2 pm (1 Hr)}. Fr Bony Abraham MGL & the JY Perth team presented the workshop in a new and innovative fashion. The workshop in-cluded a dance, a skit, few testimonies and a talk by Fr.Bony. With God’s grace, the group from Perth with the help of Jesus Youths from Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane and Fr.Bony successfully conducted

their first workshop as a team.

• JY Music Team led an Indian Adoration with Bhajan & Chants in ACU Chapel on Dec 7th at 3.30 pm (45 mts). It was a time of deep meditative prayer and music rooted in the authentic Indian tradition of worship.

“BE A TREND-SETTER,LEAVE A MARK”

24 youngsters joined from 4 Cities to become part of Trendsetters 2014 (Feb 9 – 16, 2014) at Salesian Retreat Centre, Goyura, Melbourne. Trendsetters participants and the rest of the volun-teers had a meeting with the amazing resource person from India, Mr George De-vassy on Day 1. We learned that day itself that George is a man who does not like

beating around the bush. We were told that there were high expectations from the trendsetters 2013 and anyone who did not choose to live up to that expectation had the freedom to go back home or join the new partici-pants. We were made aware of the conditions that we had to live up to and were inspired by the challenge placed before us.

A very simple technique wherein you write down everything that you hear inside your head and cross out all the negative thoughts and the voice of the world, what remains is God speaking to you. This was an eye opener as we realised that we required elimina-tion in order to hear and under-stand God’s voice.

The intensity of the lessons and sessions gradually increased as we were drawn closer to God. One of the major highlights of the retreat was the Mass on the hill. Early morning of day 3, we walked up to a hill in order to have the holy mass in the midst of nature. This was an eye opening experi-ence as the silence and serenity offered by the location helped us to look within ourselves and on the wider world from the top of the hill. This was a biblically significant exercise, as God always spoke to his people on top of hills and mountains, I am sure many of us got closer to God upon that hill. We were all filled with the Holy Spirit, many miracles and healings were performed during adora-tions and inner healing sessions that the program had to offer us. A few people received the gift of tongues and serious sporting injuries from the past were also healed.

We were also faced with a very ex-citing challenge towards the end of the training; all the participants were made to go out to various shopping centres and evangelise the people. Overall Trendsetters 2014 was an amazing experience which brought all of us closer to God. We became one big fam-ily and together came to know more about God, our religion and ourselves.

Tony Jojo, Brisbane.

Trendsetters 2014

Day one of Trendsetters 2014, we were told about the Purpose of Our Life and how important personal prayer and scripture reading is for a catholic. The very foundation of this training programme was built on the strength of personal prayer and scripture reading. This was an amazing session as from that moment on everyone present began having very per-sonal conversations with God through personal prayer and also took up scripture reading on a very regular basis. We were also made aware of the JY prayer book which highlighted the life of a Saint and very spe-cific prayers for each day that helped us grow closer to God.

We were joined by our very own Fr Bony MGL on day 2, who brought with him a lot of energy, humour and emotions that made sessions much more relatable for the participants. Both Fr Bony and George complimented each other’s session and a double dose of complimenting talks firmly instilled into the participants the seriousness of each topic. George taught us how to figure out when God speaks to us.

7-day national training program for youngsters

(Year 12 and first year uni-students).

Youth MinistersTraining (YMT)2013 & 2014

Youth Ministers Training (YMT) 2013 & 2014 were pilot projects initiated by the Na-tional Youth Team after visualising the need for establishing Youth min-isters with important ministry skills.

YMT 2013 (Brisbane) & 2014 (Melbourne) had over 30 participants in total from all over Australia and had CC Jo-seph (Jesus Youth – In-ternational coordinator), George Devassy and Fr Bony Abraham MGL as

key resource speakers at the program. YMT brought about a consistent and focused training addressing the needs of youth minis-ters in the Jesus Youth movement. The youth ministers themselves identified areas for self improvement and work on it over a two year term, covering vari-ous modules every six months.

Youth Ministers have visibly contributed to develop the ministry in their region and also

play a major role in min-istering to their younger brother & sisters from various youth groups and also with Trendset-ters participants. Going forward, youth ministers’ training is a program that is open for Youth Ministers across Australia who are look-ing to specialise and broaden their skills with youth ministry.

If you are interested to be involved please write to the Jesus Youth Australia office for more details.

jy kids zone

SIGN OF THE CROSS

SOURCE: http://www.brotherfrancisonline.com

CATHOLIC VBS (Vacation Bible School) – SKY VBSCATHOLIC VBS was con-ducted for kids between the ages of 5 - 12 (Year 1 to Year 8) in Brisbane in Sep-tember2013. The theme used for the VBS was SKY – Trust God, everything is possible. The entire Church (Venue) was transformed into an endless blue sky with 5 different stations (Games station, Diner Sta-tion, Bible Blue Adventure station, Imagination station and Movie station). VBS Crew Leaders allowed kids to travel in small groups to each station and guided group discussions to con-nect with the unforgettable stories in Scripture. New worship songs and classic hymns were a big hit with the kids. Nearly 100 kids sang, danced and praised Jesus at Sky VBS!

At Bible blue adventure station, daily Bible points were reinforced during every activity; ensuring kids will remember each one. Bible Memory Buddies were not only a big hit, but provided a unique way for kids to share God’s Word with family and friends after VBS.

At Diner station, kids made and served snacks, and learned the importance and joy of putting others first!

At Imagination station, they were made to build some cool science gizmo gadgets which in turn helped them to realize if we trust God anything is possible.

The movies of the chadder chipmunk shown at Movie station helped to reinforce the everyday bible verse in to the heart of kids.

At Games station, the fun games played helped the kids to connect to the everyday bible verse. They learned to help others no matter what the situation nor the kind of person.

Eventually the Sky VBS program provided the kids with actionable ways to share God’s love with one another and also helped them to trust in God no matter what!!!!! Dijo Joy, Brisbane

Before we pray we make the sign of the cross!Making the sign of the cross helps us to remember that we are coming to God to talk with Him and ask His blessing on what we do or say.

Do you know how to make the sign of the cross? Follow the drawing on the right and ask someone to help you. Don’t worry if it’s hard at first.

Soon you will be doing it right!

9



In January 2014, Rejimon Joseph, Gavin Besterwitch, Sojin Sebas-tian, Ebin Joy and Shibu Varkey, Shaan Joseph Gomez and Elvis Kottooran visited the Diocese of Mendi for two weeks. The objec-tive of the mission trip was to initiate something for the young people in Mendi, and to get a taste of real mission experience. We were overwhelmed by God’s providence throughout our mis-sion trip. Our Lord’s footprints were visible at every step of our journey. Our first stopover was at Berande, a mission station in Magarima parish.

Despite the heavy downpour, we were warmly welcomed by the parish priest, Fr. Mathew, and around 450 youth and families of the parish – in their traditional attire and dance! We lived in huts at this station. We conducted spiritual talks, adoration, skits, healing services and anointing of the Holy Spirit for around 200 youth, with Fr. Mathew who helped us with the translation to Tok Pisin (local language). After spending two days at Berande, we left for Harriba, another mission station in Magarima parish.

As Harriba is located at certain altitude, we had to walk up the

mountains for over four hours, in challenging conditions. The climb was steep, it was raining, and the track was quite wet and muddy that our feet sank into the ground at every step. There were many rocks and bridges that we had to cross by walking on logs of wood. Towards the last hour of our walk, it got extremely dark. But we reached our destination with the help of the local inhabitants, who provided us light. We were again welcomed with the traditional Houli dance. They dressed us up also in their traditional attire and painted our faces! We conducted similar sessions in Harriba as in Berande, and there were great healings by the Lord. We, on the other hand, continued to feel our resolves tested. The night before we left from Harriba, it rained throughout and we were worried about our return journey. But the Lord was with us in the form of our local friends who walked ahead of us and kept cutting the grass and placing it on the slush to prevent our feet from sinking. The next day, we visited three parishes and took sessions at each of the stations with the help of the Light House skit. We expressed our faith in a talk and an action song – God loves me and I love you.

Ebin Joy, Perth:

The PNG mission was nothing compared to what I had expected. I was 9 days into my marriage when I left for this mission,

and when I submitted to His will and made Him my priority, he took control of my life and did wonders through this mission and brought out the best in me. I really learnt

that if we take one step forward for our Lord, he will take the remaining 99 towards

us to make his plan work in and through us. I learnt of the hard-ships these youth face,

but I also saw the wonders the Holy Spirit did in their

lives, the healings, gifts and blessings that He showered upon them.

PNG Missions 2014 Jan 5th - 18th & June 27th - July 5th, 2014

During the second week of our stay in PNG, we conducted two main events – a youth retreat at Mendi, and disciple-ship training program at Komo. Elvis, Shaan, Shibu and Ebin coordinated the retreat at Mendi, attended by around 100 youth, in the presence of His Grace Bishop Donald. In the meantime, Sojin, Reji and Gavin led the retreat at Komo, attended by 25 youngsters from five par-ishes, who were chosen specially by their parish priests. These youth were led into a silent retreat for three days and disciple-

ship training for the remaining two days. Most of the youth trained were at leadership roles in their respective parishes, some of them are planning to be priests, catechist and youth co-ordinators.

Both the retreats were Spirit filling experiences for the youth. The work of the Lord was truly evident in the lives of the youth transformed before us. As a whole, our mission trip was a humbling experi-ence for each of us.

Prepared by JY AustraliaMission Team.

The young people who had experienced the ministry of the Jesus Youth team have main-tained their fervour and have not allowed the flame of faith and love to grow dim. Lives were transformed in this encounter and the Diocese of Mendi is forever grateful to our brothers of Jesus Youth who came as ambassa-dors of Jesus Christ and instruments of His Holy Spirit of love. + Donald Francis Lip-pert, OFM Cap, Bishop of Mendi

Missions 2014 From dream to realityNauru 2014

July 2nd - 7th, 2014

”

“

In June 2014 another team of Jesus Youth Australia visited PNG and carried out the second phase of mission. Read Sid’s experience of PNG mission as featured in Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle website [http://goo.gl/iTtmLU]. Sid Jose is current national youth team coordinator of JY Australia.

We reached Nauru on Wednes-day, 2nd of July, 2:00 PM. As we arrived, we received a pleasant and over-whelming surprise. There to greet us were approxi-mately 40 youngsters holding a big banner that read “Wel-come to Nauru Jesus Youth”. We started the program inside the Parish Church with music and action songs. They truly enjoyed the songs and dancing around. During the day I could really experience the power of God working through us. When one of us was conducting the sessions the other 2 would intercede for the person taking the session. Even more beautiful was the powerful intercession of our JY family back home that we could strongly feel.

The next few days were amazing and God blessed the youngsters in a great way to open their hearts and minds towards the Word of God. The young ones started coming and sharing their doubts and difficulties with us. It only took small acts of appreciation and spend-ing time with them to create a change of heart in them. During adoration on the third day, we asked them to come forward and kneel before the Blessed

Sacrament and surrender the mask as a sign of removing their past. Towards the end of the Retreat, after the session on Holy Spirit, we had the anointing of the Holy Spirit. While we were singing and leading them into a time of praise and worship, there was a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the whole church. The young ones were crying and praising our LORD. We concluded the adoration with all the participants lighting a candle and placing at the feet of the Blessed Sacrament as a sign of total surrender and the new life they have received. All of them experienced the Lord’s forgiveness and giving them a new life. We could see the joy that they experienced during the retreat. Fr Simon, Parish Priest was also happy and said that the participants made real good confessions.

On the evening on the last day, while we boarded the flight, all the participants were singing the songs that we taught them. Some of them were crying. We were also very emotionally moved by the love that they had for us.

Sachith Thomas, Melbourne

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In January 2014, Rejimon Joseph, Gavin Besterwitch, Sojin Sebas-tian, Ebin Joy and Shibu Varkey, Shaan Joseph Gomez and Elvis Kottooran visited the Diocese of Mendi for two weeks. The objec-tive of the mission trip was to initiate something for the young people in Mendi, and to get a taste of real mission experience. We were overwhelmed by God’s providence throughout our mis-sion trip. Our Lord’s footprints were visible at every step of our journey. Our first stopover was at Berande, a mission station in Magarima parish.

Despite the heavy downpour, we were warmly welcomed by the parish priest, Fr. Mathew, and around 450 youth and families of the parish – in their traditional attire and dance! We lived in huts at this station. We conducted spiritual talks, adoration, skits, healing services and anointing of the Holy Spirit for around 200 youth, with Fr. Mathew who helped us with the translation to Tok Pisin (local language). After spending two days at Berande, we left for Harriba, another mission station in Magarima parish.

As Harriba is located at certain altitude, we had to walk up the

mountains for over four hours, in challenging conditions. The climb was steep, it was raining, and the track was quite wet and muddy that our feet sank into the ground at every step. There were many rocks and bridges that we had to cross by walking on logs of wood. Towards the last hour of our walk, it got extremely dark. But we reached our destination with the help of the local inhabitants, who provided us light. We were again welcomed with the traditional Houli dance. They dressed us up also in their traditional attire and painted our faces! We conducted similar sessions in Harriba as in Berande, and there were great healings by the Lord. We, on the other hand, continued to feel our resolves tested. The night before we left from Harriba, it rained throughout and we were worried about our return journey. But the Lord was with us in the form of our local friends who walked ahead of us and kept cutting the grass and placing it on the slush to prevent our feet from sinking. The next day, we visited three parishes and took sessions at each of the stations with the help of the Light House skit. We expressed our faith in a talk and an action song – God loves me and I love you.

Ebin Joy, Perth:

The PNG mission was nothing compared to what I had expected. I was 9 days into my marriage when I left for this mission,

and when I submitted to His will and made Him my priority, he took control of my life and did wonders through this mission and brought out the best in me. I really learnt

that if we take one step forward for our Lord, he will take the remaining 99 towards

us to make his plan work in and through us. I learnt of the hard-ships these youth face,

but I also saw the wonders the Holy Spirit did in their

lives, the healings, gifts and blessings that He showered upon them.

PNG Missions 2014 Jan 5th - 18th & June 27th - July 5th, 2014

During the second week of our stay in PNG, we conducted two main events – a youth retreat at Mendi, and disciple-ship training program at Komo. Elvis, Shaan, Shibu and Ebin coordinated the retreat at Mendi, attended by around 100 youth, in the presence of His Grace Bishop Donald. In the meantime, Sojin, Reji and Gavin led the retreat at Komo, attended by 25 youngsters from five par-ishes, who were chosen specially by their parish priests. These youth were led into a silent retreat for three days and disciple-

ship training for the remaining two days. Most of the youth trained were at leadership roles in their respective parishes, some of them are planning to be priests, catechist and youth co-ordinators.

Both the retreats were Spirit filling experiences for the youth. The work of the Lord was truly evident in the lives of the youth transformed before us. As a whole, our mission trip was a humbling experi-ence for each of us.

Prepared by JY AustraliaMission Team.

Missions 2014 From dream to reality

11



Youth MinistersTraining (YMT)2013 & 2014

Youth Ministers Training (YMT) 2013 & 2014 were pilot projects initiated by the Na-tional Youth Team after visualising the need for establishing Youth min-isters with important ministry skills.

YMT 2013 (Brisbane) & 2014 (Melbourne) had over 30 participants in total from all over Australia and had CC Jo-seph (Jesus Youth – In-ternational coordinator), George Devassy and Fr Bony Abraham MGL as

key resource speakers at the program. YMT brought about a consistent and focused training addressing the needs of youth minis-ters in the Jesus Youth movement. The youth ministers themselves identified areas for self improvement and work on it over a two year term, covering vari-ous modules every six months.

Youth Ministers have visibly contributed to develop the ministry in their region and also

play a major role in min-istering to their younger brother & sisters from various youth groups and also with Trendset-ters participants. Going forward, youth ministers’ training is a program that is open for Youth Ministers across Australia who are look-ing to specialise and broaden their skills with youth ministry.

If you are interested to be involved please write to the Jesus Youth Australia office for more details.

jy kids zone

SIGN OF THE CROSS

SOURCE: http://www.brotherfrancisonline.com

CATHOLIC VBS (Vacation Bible School) – SKY VBSCATHOLIC VBS was con-ducted for kids between the ages of 5 - 12 (Year 1 to Year 8) in Brisbane in Sep-tember2013. The theme used for the VBS was SKY – Trust God, everything is possible. The entire Church (Venue) was transformed into an endless blue sky with 5 different stations (Games station, Diner Sta-tion, Bible Blue Adventure station, Imagination station and Movie station). VBS Crew Leaders allowed kids to travel in small groups to each station and guided group discussions to con-nect with the unforgettable stories in Scripture. New worship songs and classic hymns were a big hit with the kids. Nearly 100 kids sang, danced and praised Jesus at Sky VBS!

At Bible blue adventure station, daily Bible points were reinforced during every activity; ensuring kids will remember each one. Bible Memory Buddies were not only a big hit, but provided a unique way for kids to share God’s Word with family and friends after VBS.

At Diner station, kids made and served snacks, and learned the importance and joy of putting others first!

At Imagination station, they were made to build some cool science gizmo gadgets which in turn helped them to realize if we trust God anything is possible.

The movies of the chadder chipmunk shown at Movie station helped to reinforce the everyday bible verse in to the heart of kids.

At Games station, the fun games played helped the kids to connect to the everyday bible verse. They learned to help others no matter what the situation nor the kind of person.

Eventually the Sky VBS program provided the kids with actionable ways to share God’s love with one another and also helped them to trust in God no matter what!!!!! Dijo Joy, Brisbane

Before we pray we make the sign of the cross!Making the sign of the cross helps us to remember that we are coming to God to talk with Him and ask His blessing on what we do or say.

Do you know how to make the sign of the cross? Follow the drawing on the right and ask someone to help you. Don’t worry if it’s hard at first.

Soon you will be doing it right!

12

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Australian Catholic Youth Festival held at Festival Hall and Australian Catholic Uni-versity (ACU) Fitzroy cam-pus, Melbourne, was the largest national gathering of Catholics since Sydney’s World Youth Day in 2008. The theme of the inaugural Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF), ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me’ (Luke 4:18), was brought to life in Melbourne on 5–7 December 2013 when 3400 young people, clergy, religious, group leaders and those involved in youth ministry gathered at the celebration. It fea-tured workshops, liturgies, presentations and many opportunities to socialise.

Highlights of the festival included the three plenary sessions at Festival Hall, in particular the opening on Thursday afternoon at which Archbishop Paul

Gallagher, the Apostolic Nuncio in Australia, greeted the young people on behalf of Pope Francis. Bishops and lay people addressed the crowd. Archbishop Christopher Prowse called on young people to reflect on their participation in the ACYF and their individual Catholic Vocation in the light of three great ques-tions inspired by St Ignatius of Loyola: What has God done for me? What have I done for God? and What do I want to do for God in my life?

Led by speakers and musicians (Fr. Rob Galea, Tessa Ganley from Port Pi-rie, Steve Angrisano, James Edwards, Genevieve Bryant etc.) participants at the ple-nary sessions sang, waved glow sticks, danced, prayed and reflected together. The atmosphere across the three days was one of

joy and excitement, with a real sense of the pres-ence of the Holy Spirit. On Friday and Saturday nights youth representatives gave reports from the 15 discus-sion forums held during the festival. These were opportunities for the youth to dialogue with bishops and Church leaders about a range of relevant topics. More than 250 workshops and presentations through-out the three days provided information about aspects of Catholic life, Catholic so-cial teaching, social justice, politics and prayer. An expo, ‘INcounter’, set up in the ACU library for the duration of the festival, featured media interviews, organisations, representa-tives of orders and reli-gious groups, information, interactive exhibits, living statues and activities. The festival also included

an exhibition for young Catholic artists, a market for Catholic books and items, cathedral and St Mary MacKillop walking tours, and two outdoor stages for live music performances. The event wrapped up with a Vigil Mass at Festival Hall; Archbishop Denis Hart was the principal celebrant, with bishops from across Australia, and more than 50 priests concelebrating. At the conclusion of the Mass Bishop Hurley announced that the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference was establishing a National Of-fice for Youth.

Courtesy: Helena Adeloju, Fiona Power and Annaliese Ros, Kairos Catholic Journal, Thursday 30 January 2014.

“The Catholic Youth festival was a great experience for me. I was amazed at the number of young Christians that attended and how strong their faith was. It in-spired me to work and build my spiritual life too and also to bring others closer to God.” -

Rita Francis, Perth

“The ACYF was an amazing Event. I enjoyed every bit of it, the talks, the music sessions and the best bit was the Festival Band by Fr. Rob Galea. The amount of Catholic Youth attended just surprised me, I never expected that. I also had a chance to know about

a lot of other Youth Min-istries around Australia because all of them had their counter up along with our JY counter. Overall it charged me up to work more in our Youth Ministry”-

Jerin Joseph, Adelaide

JY Perth participants @ ACYF

JY InCounter @ ACYF

Archbishop Prowse inaugurating Adopt a Bishop initiative

Adelaide to Host Second Austral-ian Catholic Youth Festival in 2015The second Australian Catholic Youth Festival will be held in Adelaide from 3-5 December 2015. Hosted by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) to engage and empower young people in the life of the Catholic Church, the festival is expected to draw more than 4000 participants. The theme of the Festival is ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’ (Mt 5:8). This is also the theme chosen for 2015 diocesan celebrations in advance of World Youth Day 2016. - See more at: http://mediablog.catholic.org.au/?p=3111 13



Jesus Youth@ ACYFJesus Youth Australia is blessed to be a part of this great Festival. JY’s registered as Participants, Group Leaders, Volunteers and Exhibitors (Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne). JY Australia was officially involved with the Youth Festival, in the following areas: • A JY Info Counter on all

3 days in Festival Park. The ACU also presented a brief summary of the

global catholic move-ment. Queries were answered by a group of JY Volunteers includ-ing Gavin, Ajesh, Anoob, Lester, Vijoy, Navin, Abin, Roby, etc

• JY Volunteers (nearly 10 JY’s) helped out in various roles during the Festival days.

• A workshop named ‘Youth2Youth Wave’ was presented by the Jesus

Youth group {at ACU Building 3rd Flr (3.87) on Dec 6th Friday at 2 pm (1 Hr)}. Fr Bony Abraham MGL & the JY Perth team presented the workshop in a new and innovative fashion. The workshop in-cluded a dance, a skit, few testimonies and a talk by Fr.Bony. With God’s grace, the group from Perth with the help of Jesus Youths from Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane and Fr.Bony successfully conducted

their first workshop as a team.

• JY Music Team led an Indian Adoration with Bhajan & Chants in ACU Chapel on Dec 7th at 3.30 pm (45 mts). It was a time of deep meditative prayer and music rooted in the authentic Indian tradition of worship.

“BE A TREND-SETTER,LEAVE A MARK”

Un Dios prohibido[A God forbidden]

CRADIO

158 159

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ExploreWhat is heaven?Heaven is the endless moment of love. Nothing more separates us from God, whom our soul loves and has sought our whole life long. Together with all the angels and saints we will be able to rejoice forever in and with God.

If you have ever observed a couple looking at each other lovingly or seen a baby nursing who looks for his moth-er's eyes as though it wanted to store up every smile forever, then you have

some inkling of heaven. To be able to see God face to face - that is like one, single, never-ending moment of love.

What is purgatory?Purgatory, often imagined as a place, is actually a condition. Someone who dies in God's grace (and therefore at peace with God and men) but who still needs purification before he can see God face to face is in purgatory.

When Peter had betrayed Jesus, the Lord turned around and looked at Peter: "And Peter went out and wept bitterly"a feeling like being in purga-tory. Just such a purgatory probably awaits most of us at the moment of our death: the Lord looks at us full of love and we experience burning shame and painful remorse over our wicked or "merely" unloving behaviour. Only af-ter this purifying pain will we be capable of meeting his loving gaze in untroubled heavenly joy.

(YOUCAT 158-159)

Blessy: What are some of the fondest memories and challenges you had on this pilgrimage?

Manoj: For us the whole pilgrimage was memora-ble. As we entered each church we could sense and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in a very profound way. We could sense how we were called to wake up and start praying for this land, where we are blessed to be. We recited Four rosaries a day on our pilgrimage dedicating Australia to Our Lady Help of Christians. We were also praying to St. Theresa of child Jesus and in many cathedrals and churches we visited we could see her painting or statue. Seeing her we felt joyful and at peace. I thought to myself “ She is praying for us”. It was not always easy while on our journey. I was doing most of the driving but Binnu was always there to help me. Some days we felt very tired and I actually wondered 2-3 times, ‘Am I foolish to do this or not.’ Whenever we were ex-hausted God always sent a priest to bless us and guide us. The blessings of these priests uplifted us and strengthened us, even the kids.

Binnu: Throughout this journey, we received a warm welcome from priests and families where we stayed which was quiet encouraging. The welcome that we received at each town, each home strengthened us. And there was one instance when we were driving from Newcastle to Bathurst to visit the Cathedral we called up the Cathedral office and we were told that the Cathedral will close by 5:45pm. Our GPS said that we will get there only at 5.43 pm, but then we had to stop for fuel , that took away few minutes and we got there only at 5.47 pm. We worried that the Cathedral door would be closed and, we drove four hours out of the way just to visit this Cathedral. But I found the Cathedral

door opened, so even before Manoj could park the car, I got out and ran in and Holy Mass was being celebrated. And at that moment when I saw the Priest in his vestments there I realized that God is with us. He had prepared a banquet for us there. So we walked in happily and all the children were ex-cited too. After the Mass, the Priest who happened to be an indian, lived only few kilometers from our hometown back in Kerala, India. He invited us to join him for dinner and laid out another banquet for us. We felt very special and was one of our most memorable moments. As we were leaving the church after dinner one of my daughters asked me “ Was all that a drean? Did it really happen? “

Blessy: On your Pilgrimage you met a lot of families. How did your presence have an impact on the families you met?

Binnu: We did meet quite a few families on this pilgrimage and the effect, I think was more mutual. We were strengthened by their faith, their service and their openness to God as they may have been by ours. I remember one instance in Port Pirie where we met Fr Francis. When he found out that our daughter Gianna, was named after the Pro life saint, he told us about a woman who was airlifted from Port Pirie and taken to Adelaide. The doctors were advising her to have an abortion because her health was at stake and she was 6 months preg-nant. He asked us to pray and we told him that we would ask the Jesus Youth members in Adelaide to pray for the same intention. Some of the Jesus Youth families in Adelaide visited her and prayed with her. The baby was born without any problems and although it was premature, a life was saved. During the rest of the journey too, we met families who were in-spired to attend a retreat on their trip back to India.

There were other families who started prayer groups after we left them. A group of young mothers in Tenant Creek decided to start a mother’s cell group after I told them about the cell group I am part of in our parish. We hope there will be growth in faith.

Manoj: When we were in Mt Isa I spoke to our receptionist about our pilgrimage and he asked us to pray for him. He had been separated for the last 18 months and he really wanted to get that connection back. He was a Samoan man with three children. We want the family to be united. He also told us that He has been away from the church for the past 6-7 months. I advised him to never leave God. He was willing to go back to church and we are still praying for him. This was another sign from God telling us that “This is my plan, not yours”.

Blessy: Taking 6 children on a pilgrimage is not an easy task. Do you think it’s easy for every family to go about the way you did? What could be your mes-sage to the families here in Australia?

Manoj: It’s not an easy task. But if the Lord is calling you to do any-thing like this, follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, take the extra step and leave the rest in God’s hands. God will give you everything you need for the journey, so do not fear. Through-out our pilgrimage, we encountered God in a very powerful way and were blessed by His providence- this presence and providence is avail-able to all of us, each and every day of our lives. We encourage all families to be open to the Holy Spirit, and with courage take a step forward, to be His witnesses in this world. As Joshua says in the bible,” As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord”.

movie review

Un Dios prohibido [A God forbid-den], by Pablo Moreno (Spain) which recounts the martyrdom of 51 members of the Claretian Congrega-tion during the Spanish Civil War has recently won the award for best film for 2014 at the International Catholic Film Festival Mirabile Dictu [http://www.mirabiledictu-icff.com/] held in Vatican. The fact that narrates the film occurred on 20 July 1936 in the town of Barbastro in Zaragoza. Barbastro martyrs were beatified by John Paul II on October 25, 1992.

The director Moreno says that despite

the cinematographic adaptation, the script is faithful “almost 100 percent to the events that occurred.” Ramón Illa Novich starring Etayo Iñigo, is one of the 51 young Claretians martyred said “one of the things that struck me most is playing people who actually existed and with such strong values. It’s a huge responsibility because they were martyrs and it is difficult to keep up.

Official Website of the Movie:http://www.undiosprohibido.com.

MEDIA review

Cradio is Australia’s new Catholic media service, providing free access to a growing variety of Catholic programs, talks and music available via the 24 hour audio stream, or on-demand on the Cra-dio website and iTunes. Founded in 2010 under the guidance of its Founding Director Bishop Julian Porteous, Cradio’s mission is to ‘nourish the soul of the digital generation’, or in the words of Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, to ‘evangelise the digital continent’.

Website: http://cradio.org.au

NEW MEDIAINITIATIVES

A NEW LOOKINGRE-DESIGNEDNATIONALWEBSITE.JY Australia website has a new look.

A 10 year celebration logo based theme and design with a focus on youth were the key visions of the re-design. It features latest and up-coming events, catholic resources and media reviews.

Check it out at www.jesusyouth.org.au.

ADOPT A BISHOPhttp://adopt.jesusyouth.org.au

Adopt a Bishop is an innovative online prayer initiative wherein one can sign up and pray for the Australian Cardinals and Bishops. Upon clicking ‘submit’, a Bishop will be randomly selected for you and you will be emailed a short bio of your chosen Bishop as well as a more detailed link. The email also contains suggestions on different ways in which you can pray for Bishops.

Adopt online today and join us in praying for our Shepherds

Jesus Youth Australia has put a lot of new media initia-tives in place this year as part of the 10 year celebra-tions. Below are some of those major initiatives.

JY AUSTRALIA ON SOCIAL MEDIAIf the Pope can do it, so can we!JY Australia has had an active presence both on Facebook and Twitter since December 2013.

Like us fb.com/JesusYouthAustralia

and follow us on twitter.com/JYAustralia

2014 is the year Jesus Youth Australia is celebrat-ing the 10th anniversary of its humble beginning in Australia in 2004. The Jesus Youth Australia 10 years celebrations logo epitomizes the theme for the year long celebrations. 10 Little Hearts represents 10 blessed years. It also represents our various min-istries, initiatives as well as the people from a multicul-tural background that form the Jesus Youth family.

Big Heart at the backdrop represents Jesus’ loving Heart. Life and commit-ment of every Jesus Youth is a response to the per-sonal experience of His compelling love.

Sandy Orange line and bright coloured Dove repre-sents the sandy landscapes of Australia, the great south land of the Holy Spirit and His refreshing presence (bright colours) in our per-sonal lives & in the life of the movement.

The logo uses a total of 7 Colours that represent the Gifts & Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Numeral 10 as a symbol of 10 year celebrations.

Growing Tree with Little Hearts repre-sents the Movement grow-ing in it’s mission, reaching out it’s branches to more areas at the service of the church and impacting lives.

Festive typography is used in the logo to emphasise an aura of celebration & thanksgiving.

JY AUSTRALIA 10TH ANNIVERSARY LOGO:

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JY QueenslandConference

“Either we sit onthe shore of life and

mend and wash our fine church buildings and institu-

tions or we learn from the faith of St Peter and evan-

gelise afresh in unchartered waters, but knowing that

Christ, the fishermen of all of us commands us to a new

evangelisation.”

April 24 - 27, 2014, QCCC Tamborine, North Tamborine QLD

The picturesque setting of Mount Tambourine in South East Queensland was a perfect back drop for Jesus Youth in Queensland to celebrate the 10 year landmark. Over 100 mar-ried couples, 52 youth, 45 teens, 53 kids and a handful of toddlers came together on 24th of April for four days for a time of rejoicing, renewing and reviving their commitment and faith in Christ. This conference style event, aptly named Revive 2014 was run in 4 concurrent streams running at 4 different locations within the QCCC conference centre compound at Mount Tambourine. All 4 concurrently running streams would come together for com-mon breaks for praise & worship, Holy mass, adorations, lunch and dinner. Catholic VBS Camp for Kids

Catholic VBS is a hands-on interactive approach to teaching kids about the Bible through stories and enactments. Kids were divided into four groups. Each of these groups had a group/tribe leader. These groups were led through various pre-set stations as they took part in various activities and classes. The organizing teams had a great time being part of the story telling process and learning the message contained in each of enacted stories. A handful of youth led by Soumya Jacob made preparations and conducted a summer camp style program for the kids aged between 6 and 12 years.

“During a casual breakfast chat with a kid, I asked if he remembered the bible verse from the day before. And to my amusement, the kid’s older brother from the youth streams narrated the whole bible verse! Apparently the kid had been practicing it all night and it got stuck in his head…. Lord works in mysterious ways!” Tony Jojo, a volunteer at the kids VBS stream

“A kid from VBS stream came up to me and asked my name and when I replied she just hugged me and said thank you. Just like that….So random… I was so happy and was giggling in my mind all day” - Stephy James, Music team member

Teens Stream

Meanwhile at a parallel stream for Teens, around 45 youngsters were attending sessions led by Fr. Bony Abraham, learning and understanding about topics that were prevalent and relevant for their age. These sessions tackled topics like call, identity, social media, freedom, conversion and Holy Spirit. Various physical and class room based activity also underpinned these sessions for a more interac-tive approach. Testimonies by their compatriots and elders inspired these young adults to take up the Christian challenge and live a life of faith. A last-ing impression and a positive change – these were the expected outcome for the conference organisers.

“Few days after the conference, I met a girl who attended the Teens stream for our conference. She had shared her joy of confession with her friends from class and now she wants to be a motivational speaker!” Jasmine Santhosh

Youth Stream

Youth, on the other hand were well and truly on their way working towards their dreams. This stream, led in sessions by Jesus Youth’s interna-tional coordinator C C Joseph was put through a different pace. They were more observant and were soaking up more from what was happening around them, than what was being taught in a classroom. Most youth took up the opportunity to confess and took active participation in the adoration and praying over ministry. They were truly touched by the grace they witnessed around them and working of Holy spirit within them. For most, adoration on each night was the ultimate culmination of their learnings and experiences for each day.

“The final adoration was amazing! It was a collation time for the past days of sessions and a time of reflection. Every time when I sit in front of Jesus in adoration it’s a unique experience. The part where you would walk up to a priest and receive blessing was the highlight for me.” - Athulya

“I could clearly see the Holy Spirit working in each of us helping us to complete tasks that I thought would never finish in time. The testimonies that I was privileged to witness while having chats with young people personally helped me to strengthen my faith.” Dijo Joy

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AugustRefugees. That refugees, forced by violence to abandon their homes, may find a generous welcome and the protection of their rights.

Oceania. That Christians in Ocean-ia may joyfully announce the faith to all the people of that region.

SeptemberMentally disabled. That the men-tally disabled may receive the love and help they need for a dignified life.

Service to the poor. That Chris-tians, inspired by the Word of God, may serve the poor and suffering.

Well, we all know what happened. Obedience in faith led to a wonder-ful catch. Two boats were filled to sinking point with fish. We are all left I believe with a similar stack decision in our troubles sometimes, where the fish seemed to be found in other waters. Either we sit on the shore of life and mend and wash our fine church buildings and institutions or we learn from the faith of St Peter and evangelise afresh in unchartered waters, but knowing that Christ, the fishermen of all of us commands us to a new evangelisation. Let’s all respond with petrine faith. Let’s all go out with courage and hope into the deep waters to the new depths of evangelization opening up in our times. For e.g. the depths of discovery and science, the internet and social media, art and beauty, the families, es-pecially the first Australians, migrants and refugees, the search for God, the cities and rural areas, politics and economics, culture and inter-religious dialogue, the search for meaning and purpose in life. Let’s all go fishing with Christ.

So many of us were delighted to hear Pope Francis’ homily at the Chrism Mass in Rome recently. He stated that the Pastors must have the odour of sheep in them, by imitation of Jesus, the good shepherd. The Christopher’s of the future must have also the odour of fish on them

too. May be we ought to reflect on this as missionary disciples named Christopher’s. We may not smell very pleasing to a world where institutional religion seem to be nowadays no – no’s. But then again, we might find ourselves a better place pastorally to respond to today’s challenges. We will become close to the scandal of the Christ crucified. It’s at Calvary that we are truly commissioned to become Christopher’s in our world searching for God. Here we find our hope for salvation. It’s this hope that perfumes the world with the alluring fragrance of only Jesus, always Jesus, forever Jesus.

Let us pray that Mary the Mother of God and all the saints, especially St Mary MacKillop also be with us as we journey with Jesus. Let us now pray now together the Hail Mary and invoke her presence.

...................................Archbishop Christopher Prowse, The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

Thank you LesterHe is Lester from Lester, UK. He had a great encounter with Jesus through one of the Jesus Youth conferences in UK and God slowly started building him as a youth minister. In 2013, he took the courageous step to leave work his job and family and attend the Jesus Youth Inter-national fulltimership, where youth after a 40 day training will be sent to different parts of the world as a missionary for a year. Lester served Jesus Youth Australia for eight months. Living in Melbourne he travelled across Australia, catering to the differ-ent needs of the movement here.

Lester now have returned back to UK after finishing his mission. He will be missed here but on behalf of the youth that Lester inspired here, we say THANK YOU. Lester is the 4th interna-tional full timer to serve in Aus-tralia. The other 3 were Teema, Swapna and Joe all from USA.

Holy Father’s Prayer

Intentions

It wasn’t just the partici-pants who were touched by the Grace and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Most of the organisers witnessed the amazing transformation in people. Events like these are always challenging for organisers, there were issues and problems that no matter how hard you hu-manly try, seems to pop up from nowhere. However, all these issues and problems that came up every now and then seemed to just rectify or solve by itself without much effort from the organ-isers.

Family Stream

Having concurrent streams for different age groups gave married couples an interference free environ-ment to focus on their ses-sions, prayers and activities. Married couple’s stream was led by Alex Njavally and covered topics that were relevant in a family life like roles of family members, parenting, ongoing faith life, Holy Spirit and missionary call. By the final day the par-ticipants in this stream were working hand in hand with the organisers – it was hard to differentiate who was who! All parents enjoyed a great stay in the mountains and had a great time of prayer, adorations and ses-sions. Most of the families cherished the moment that they came together to pray as a family unit, holding the candle blessed by the Arch Bishop of Brisbane. On the third day, for Holy Mass we had the honour and joy to have His Grace Mark Coleridge, Arch Bishop of Brisbane as the celebrant. It was also the feast day of St.Mark and that called for a cake cutting after the Mass!

“It was a great sight to see the effort put in by Jesus Youth organisers in bringing about an event like this. I was so pleased to see my kids got the best out of those 4 days and most importantly it was a time of good fellowship.” Jom

“On the last day of the conference, a parent walked up to us and expressed his gratitude for looking after his kid. He was so proud that his daughter could recite bible verses much better than he could recall. He said the time was worth spend for him and his family!” - Dania and Diana, organisers from the VBS stream

The four days with fam-ily and friends up in the mountains praising and adoring our Lord had been a blessing for Jesus Youth in Queensland. All who attended truly rejoiced in blessings, was renewed in spirit and declared to rea-chout to the world! Nishan Mathew,JY Queensland

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Family groups, many in traditional Indian dress, gathered at St Patrick’s Cathedral on the evening of 25th March 2014 for the installation of the first Syro-Malabar Eparch in Australia, Bishop Bosco Puthur, and the formal establishment of the Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle in Melbourne. Special celebrants, dignitar-ies and the Syro- Malabar faithful attended from around

Australia and overseas. Fol-lowing the announcement of the new eparchy by Pope Francis in January, Melbourne and Chicago are the only two dioceses of the Syro-Malabar Church outside India. Though relatively new migrants to Australia and New Zealand, the Syro-Malabar faithful now number about 40,000.

The origins of the Syro-Malabar Catholics, who

were known as St Thomas Christians until the late 19th century, can be traced back to 52 AD when Thomas the Apostle arrived in Kodungal-lur in Kerala, India to spread Christ’s message. In his homily Cardinal Alencherry said the installa-tion of Bishop Puthur was a great blessing for the Catholic Church. “Let us be thankful to God for this gift of the new

eparchy and also for the first bishop of this eparchy, Mar Bosco Puthur. The enthusiasm of the Syro- Malabar com-munities in Melbourne and in Australia deserves special mention. ”The Mass ended with words of thanks from Bishop Puthur, especially for Pope Francis and Archbishop Gallagher.

WYD Krakow 2016OFFICIAL WEBSITE

http://www.krakow2016.com/en/ is the official website of WYD - Kraków 2016. The site was released last year not too long after Pope Francis announced the venue for the next WYD at Rio in July 2013. The site contains all the initiatives connected with WYD, information about Kraków, the hometown of John Paul II, news and updates of WYD events.

THE OFFICIAL DATES

26th-31st July 2016

THEME

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” Mt 5:7.

OFFICIAL LOGO

The image is composed of a geographical outline of Poland in which there is a Cross, the symbol of Christ who is the soul of World Youth Day. The yel-low circle marks the position of Krakow on the map of Poland and is also a symbol of youth. The flame of Divine Mercy emerges from the Cross, and its col-ours recall the image “Jesus, I trust in you”. The logo was designed by 28-year-old Monika Rybczyńska from Ostrzeszów, a small town in the mid-west of Poland. She designed the logo in the Vatican shortly after the canonisation of John Paul II in thanksgiving for the saint’s intercession in her professional life.

SUBSCRIBE TO BE A PART

Do you desire to be there in Krakow 2016? Don’t worry about the possibilities- all we ask is the DESIRE. Jesus Youth Australia will be releasing an ongoing e-newsletter to keep you updated on all you need to know in lead up to WYD 16. Please visit www.jesusyouth.org.au for more information. 3

Jesus Youth Austra


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Jesus Youth Australia hosted a round the clock Eucharistic Adoration, Hours of Grace – 2014 for the 4th consecutive year from 1st March to 8th June in Parishes across 8 cities in Australia. The Intentions and prayer focused on 7 areas.

As a gift to the Australian Church and in celebra-tion of Jesus Youth’s 10th Anniversary, the “Adopt a Bishop” initiative was launched- a prayer initiative to pray for our ‘Shepherds’ in Australia. Adopt-a-Bishop cards were distributed to the parishioners during Hours of grace.

This year’s Adoration began at Darwin at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Nightcliff. Parish Priest Fr. Roy O’Neill celebrated the Mass with a message about contemplating with our Lord. Bishop Eugene a great supporter of Jesus Youth Initiatives was present to celebrate Holy mass and conclude the Darwin Hours of Grace. Jesus Youths of Darwin extended their mission during this year HOG to

take Jesus to Indigenous communities by organ-izing a Night vigil with the help of MGL Brothers.

In Melbourne Adoration was held in 6 different parishes starting at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church-Milpark on 5th March and then at St. Agatha’s Catholic Church-Cranbourne, Mar Thoma Sleeha Catholic Church-Mickleham, St. Peter’s Catholic Church-Clayton, St. Peter Apostle Catholic Church-Hopper Crossing and St. Joseph Catholic Church-Northcote. In Ade-laide Adorations began on 16th March at Our Lady of the Rosary-Prospect. The Brisbane HOG took place in 5 parishes beginning at St. Joachim’s Catholic Church-Holland Park, St. Patricks Catholic Church-Beenleigh, St Joseph’s Church-North Ipswich and St. John Church at Northgate from 8th March until 7th June. In Sydney HOG-2014 was held at Sacred Heart Parish-West-mead and at Alice Springs at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish. The Perth Eucharistic Adoration was held across 7 parishes

starting at St. Jerome’s Parish-Spearwood and at St. Jude’s Church- Lang-ford, St. Joseph’s Church-Queens Park, Our Lady of Lourdes Church- Rocking-ham, Notre Dame Church-Cloverdale, Queen of Apostles Church-Riverton and St. Aloysius Church-Shenton Park. In Canberra Eucharistic Adoration was held at St. Peter Chanel’s Church which was inau-gurated by our National Patron ABp. Christopher Prowse.

The Hours of Grace-2014 was coordinated region-ally by Priya & Sojin in Darwin, Shijo & Anoob in Melbourne, Rojo & Jethin in Adelaide, Fr. Thomas Areekuzhy, Gracian and Shibu in Brisbane, Benny & Siju in Sydney, Jooby Maani & Aneesh in Alice Springs, Deepak & Kevin in Perth and Abin & Boban in Canberra. Ajesh and Ashwin James of Sydney did a wonderful job with the graphic design.

Remember young Audric in our prayers who left us for eternal life while returning home after Ado-ration in Sydney.

7 focuses of prayer

• For all Christians to grow in faith and deepen in the Word of God

• For the Church in Aus-tralia, Bishops, Priests and all Parishes

• For people who do not have access to food, shelter and education.

• For world peace and for all people who are struggling due to terror-ism and extremism.

• For the intentions of the Holy Father.

• For all Families around the world and Synod of Bishops on Pastoral Challenges to the Fam-ily.

• For all young people in Australia and all inten-tions of the Jesus Youth Movement.

Hours of Grace2015February 18th Wed - May 24th Sun 2015(Ash Wednesday till Pentecost Day)

Establishment of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy and Installation of Bishop Bosco Puthur

Round-the-clock Eucharistic Adoration (Ash Wednesday till Pentecost Day) in 24 Parishes

across 8 Cities in Australia

On April 30 2014, members of JY Australia National Team along with CC Joseph, the International Coordi-nator of Jesus Youth met with Arch-bishop Christopher Prowse (Arch-diocese of Canberra and Goulburn). Archbishop Prowse is the Patron Bishop of the movement in Australia and has been a spiritual guide for the ministry over the past 9 years. The meeting was aimed at updating His Grace on Jesus Youth activities both in Australia and across the globe and allow him the opportunity to provide his views and advice.

Renew Retreat, Canberra

PERTH

YOUTH VIBES

Youth Vibes, Jesus Youth’ Perth’s monthly gathering took place at Queen of the Apostle Catholic Church in Riverton, WA. Around 30 enthusiastic young people joined the event. The purpose of the Jesus Youth Vibes event was to provide the youth of our community with opportunities to connect with other faith-minded young people, to reflect on the Lenten season and share the joy of the gospel. Through discussion, entertainment and games, Anita Parker (CYM Director), Lester Miranda (JY full time volunteer from Melbourne) and other Jesus Youth leaders were able to inspire and con-nect with the intelligent young minds of today.

CONNECT & CAPTURE12-15th April 2014

Four day initial retreats for Teens (Connect) and Youth (Capture) were conducted at Edmund Rice Centre, Amberley, Melbourne. More than 35 vibrant teens and Youth from Melbourne’s different schools and Universities participated in it. Fr. Bony Abraham MGL and Abhy Thomas from the UK along with JY Melbourne team led the retreat. It was a Spirit filled retreat with lots of fun and games.

DARWIN

HOURS OF GRACE 2014, DARWIN

On Saturday the 11th of May, Hours of Grace adoration started at St.Paul’s Catholic Church, Nightclif, Darwin with the 6.00 pm Holy Mass .The Holy mass was celebrated by Bishop Eugene Hurley. During Darwin’s hours of grace, there was guided adoration led by different ministries from 7-9pm. Adoration was led based on each day’s specific theme. It helped the entire community to have a great spiritual journey. HOG concluded on 19th May with a Holy Mass celebrated by Fr. Roy.

SYDNEY

ONE FAMILY MANY MISSIONS,LEADERS RETREAT

The “One Family, many missions” Sydney Leader’s Retreat was conducted at Benedict XVI Retreat Centre, Grose Vale, Sydney from 25-27 Jan 2014. Elvis Kottoor, Fr.Gabriel and Fr.Bony were the Resource Per-sons and the focus of the Retreat was in building greater mission aware-ness to address the urgency of shar-ing the Good News. There were 22 families and two young adults among the 49 participants of the retreat.The resource people played pivotal roles in helping the participants discover their inner potential to be instru-ments in the mission of the church as well as pinpoint the pitfalls one can face when they lack a solid relation-ship with God. During the retreat the children (35 of them) in two groups were taken care by families on a rotation basis. They prepared and availed small sessions for them every day.

CANBERRA

RENEW RETREAT & DIVINETWILIGHT

Nearly 25 participants (youth & fami-lies) gathered at St Benedicts Hall, Narrabundah, ACT to participate in the Renew Retreat. Sessions were led by CC Joseph and he challenged the participants to grow in their relationship with the Lord. ‘Divine Twilight’ is a bi-monthly evening programme of JY Canberra attracting nearly 30 – 40 young people on a regular basis.

ADELAIDE

YOUTH TURN

JY Adelaide organised a Youth & Teens Retreat named “Youth Turn” from May 2 – 3. Nearly 35 Youngsters participated and CC Joseph inspired everyone to give their lives com-pletely to Christ.

Youthturn, Adelaide Youth Vibes, Perth

Leaders Retreat, Sydney

MELBOURNE MEETING WITH ARCHBISHOP CHRISTOPHER PROWSE

Jesu

s Youth Australia

Newsletter September 2014

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an update of Jesus Youth Australia eventsnews r aus

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Jesus Youth Austra


POPE FRANCIS’ PRAYER TO THE HOLY FAMILY

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,in you we contemplate the splendour of true love,to you we turn with trust. Holy Fam-ily of Nazareth,grant that our families too may be places of communion and prayer,authentic schools of the Gospel and small domestic Churches.Holy Family of Nazareth, may families never again experience violence, rejec-tion and division: may all who have been hurt or scandalizedfind ready comfort and healing. Holy Family of Nazareth,may the approaching Synod of Bishops make us once more mindful of the sacredness and inviolability of the family, and its beauty in God’s plan.Jesus, Mary and Joseph,graciously hear our prayer.

JANUARY 23rd FRI 9.00 AM – 26th MON 4.00 PM, 2015EDMUND RICE CENTRE ‘AMBERLEY’, MELBOURNE

Jesus Youth Australia

acknowledges the traditional owners and

custodians in all Australian

communities.

“Heartfelt Wishes toJY Australia for it’s

10th Year Anniversaryin Australia”

www.jesusyouth.org.au dAyBreAk

JESUS YOUTH AUSTRALIA NEWSLETTER

Christ Bearers

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Cover Story

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Upcoming events

September2014

I would like to reflect upon a great gift given to me by my parents; my name Christopher. In the first place, devotion to St Christopher seems to be more developed in Eastern rather than Western Catholicism. This was expressed in 1970 when his com-memoration was dropped in the Roman Calendar but promoted

for local devotion. His life story is instructive of Christian truth and discipleship even today. Chris-topher was born in 250 AD, near the present day Turkey. He has become the Patron Saint of trav-ellers and transport. Even today, a little magnet of St Christopher is seen commonly in the cars of the pious.

COVER STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

This newsletter is an initiative of

Jesus Youth Australia(www.jesusyouth.org.au),

produced by Jesus Youth

Australia National Team.

For any comments or suggestions contact us at [email protected]

MissionPNG &Nauru

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Pilgrimage on

Wheels

ReviveConference

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Melbourne Deeper & Higher

ConferenceDec 5 - 7, 2014

Canberra JY Family Retreat

Dec 2 - 4, 2014

Perth MILITES CHRISTI

JY Perth Conference, Oct 10 - 12, 2014

Sydney JY Teens Retreat,

Sep 21 - 24, 2014

JY Youth Retreat,Nov 28 - Dec 1, 2014

Brisbane JY Youth Formation

Programme,Sep 28 - Oct 3, 2014

Adelaide Refresh RetreatSep 26 - 28, 2014

DARWINYouth & Teens

Gathering4th October 2014

The Jesus Youth National team invites all active Jesus Youth Australia members, including those in leadership positions to join us for this impor-tant event in the Jesus Youth Australia journey.

This key event for the movement will be a con-solidation of the movement’s ministry work over the last 10 years and will be a vital launch pad for discerning the movement’s direction for the next decade.

/JesusYouthAustralia /JYAustralia

MAIN SPEAKERS

BR. FRITZ MASCARENHASDIRECTOR, ICPE INDIA

CC JOSEPHJY INTERNATIONAL COORDINATOR

MOST REV EUGENE HURLEY DD, BISHOP OF DARWIN

FR. KEN BARKER, MGL

TRENDSETTERS20157-day national training program for young-sters (Year 12 and first year uni-students).

February 8th Sun – 15th Sun, 2015

Venue: QCCC Tamborine255 Beacon Road,

North Tamborine QLD 4272

Documents

DAYBREAK: JY Australia Newsletter Sept 2014