08 Dec 2025
Pilgrims of hope! Last week, Year 10 students along with Miss Ponce attended the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Melbourne. Year 10 students: Christian, Madison, Siobhan, Peyton and Laura along with over 6,000 other young pilgrims from all over Australia gathered to come together to connect, deepen their relationship with Jesus, be empowered to live their faith in the world and experience the breadth of the Church in Australia.
It was an enriching and transforming experience that allowed us to strengthen and deepen our faith, engage in meaningful conversations and be around like minded people. We participated in praise and worship, workshops on bettering our own selves, trusting in God’s plans and loving our enemies. Pope Leo XVI also gave us blessings on our first plenary gathering, inspiring us to “be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
We endeavoured on a pilgrimage walk from St Patrick’s Cathedral to MCEC for over 2hrs with rainy weather throughout. So although weather was not on our side, we persevered. Moreover, Mass was celebrated on the final day with Archbishop Anthony Fisher announcing the next ACYF 2028 to be held in Sydney.
Alumni students Ashley D (Class of 2023) and Olivia M (Class of 2024) were also in attendance, it was great to have familiar JPII faces along with us.
Year 10 students share their experiences below:
"It was such an enriching journey that truly strengthened our connection with God. Being surrounded by so many like-minded young people made us feel supported and uplifted. Throughout the festival, we felt the Holy spirit move within us, especially during the worship, talks and moments of quiet adoration and reflection. One of the highlights for us was the vocal worship, hearing thousands of young people praising together created such a powerful atmosphere and really helped everyone connect on a deeper level. We also loved meeting new people in our pilgrim groups and sharing our faith openly in a safe space. We’ve come home feeling inspired, renewed and grateful for the chance to be part of something so meaningful.
Seeing all 6000 young people altogether inspired us to undertake the journey to fully devote our lives to Christ and become preachers of Jesus. We felt the holy spirit kindle within us and the plenaries really sparked a fire inside of us, wanting to give all of our hearts to Christ. A quote that stood out to us was “what you are is God’s gift to you and what you become is your gift to God”. In the noise of the world, ACYF reminded us to make space for God’s voice. For the first time we felt that pull towards God, and that was so enriching. Going to plenaries and expo-centres and overall hearing others' experience made us fully realise the pureness of God's love."
“Let the Holy Spirit stir your heart so deeply that you cannot return the same”. ✞