Wurundjeri Ngurungaeta Murrundindi will meet with youth and share the creation story from an Aboriginal perspective, at Healesville Sanctuary on World Youth Day.By Kath Gannaway
LILYDALE’S St Patrick’s Parish will host 200 pilgrims from Spain and Germany for a day as part of World Youth Day.
The visitors, along with 120 local young people, will visit Healesville Sanctuary on 11 July as part of the WYD Days in the Diocese activities, which is a lead up to the main event in Sydney.
At the Sanctuary, Wurundjeri Ngurungaeta Murrundindi will meet with the youth and share the Aboriginal perspective on the creation story.
St Brigid’s Parish, members will then host a lunch for the group at their parish hall.
“It is going to be an iconic Australian lunch with things such as sausage rolls, soup and perhaps even lamingtons,” said World Youth Day representative Andrea Houlihan of Healesville.
St Brigid’s is not a big parish but we have all ladies putting together a meal to feed 300 kids.”
Following the lunch the more than 300 youth representatives will travel by bus into Telstra Dome where a huge Mass will take place.
Students from Mount Lilydale Mercy College in Lilydale, Marter Christi in Belgrave and St Joseph’s College in Ferntree Gully are among the many hundreds of students from around the region who will take part in World Youth Day in Sydney.
Ms Houlihan said pilgrims from around Melbourne will gather together to celebrate Mass prior to their pilgrimage to Sydney for the official World Youth Day events which commence on 15 July.
Major events in Sydney include the opening Mass with the Archbishop of Melbourne Cardinal George Pell on 15 July, the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in a Papal boat-a-cade on Thursday 17 July, and the motorcade through the Sydney CBD.
On the Friday a Stations of the Cross will be held, re-enacting the last moments of Jesus’ life played out over six sites.
On Saturday evening there will be an evening vigil and the final Mass will be held on Sunday.
The Holy Father will do a fly-over in a helicopter of Centennial Park and Randwick Racecourse at 9am on the Sunday, then return for a Papal motorcade through Centennial Park and Randwick so everyone can have a Papal encounter.
For Catholic youth, and others of many faiths, World Youth Day will be a lifetime experience.
