Olivia D'OnofrioVOLUNTEER IN PROFILEWhat school are you from? Star of the Sea, Brighton Secondary School What is your involvement with WYD Melbourne Office? I did a week of work experience with the WYD Melbourne office as part of my school's work placement program. What can you tell us about the types of things you did whilst you were here? I did lots of different things. I worked in the Pilgrim Services Team, helping with school visits and data entry. I also assisted with design briefs for the Marketing Department. I got to attend a lot of different types of meetings, visited enthusiastic schools and found the work really interesting. What did you enjoy about your time with us? I enjoyed having lots of different jobs and learning about the different areas of WYD Melbourne office. I really like the people and I really enjoyed going to meetings as that is where I gained the most insight into the preparation for Days in the Dioceses. Do you know many people who are hoping to be involved in WYD? Yes. A lot of my friends at school are excited about it and thinking of attending. Are you looking forward to WYD 2008? Why/why not? Yes. I had fun working with WYD Melbourne office so I am excited. I know more about what is happening and that it won't be just a ‘churchy' thing – there are lots of faith activities and art events, etc. happening too. My friends all know about it now so they are getting more excited the more they learn about it. |
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Welcome from the CEODear Friends, Register NOW... with only 322 days to go until DID08, it all starts HERE, it all starts with YOU. WYD is all about youth coming together with other like-minded people of a similar age from all around the world and witnessing the experience of the Holy Spirit. And it's time to register NOW! Our Now is the time to reach out to young people close to you. Take the initiative. Let's connect and reconnect with young people in our schools, parishes and with university students and young people in the workplace. Soon we will be making official links between every Catholic secondary school and the numerous overseas groups of young people that are already registering with us. But we can't stop there. I encourage you to act locally to take bold imaginative initiatives to invite young people to go on pilgrimage with us. If each of us was able to make effective contact with a few very specific young people that we know the goal can be reached. Reach out to neighbours, friends and relatives! Make a personal commitment today to invite a few young people to go online to register on the official Sydney website It all starts here in Melbourne - DID08 10 - 14 July 2008. Br. Mark O'Connor Parish Profile
Thank you to Fr Peter Hansen and his community for being so enthusiastic and planning for WYD so thoroughly. Well done to the team at Our Lady's! If your parish, school or community has a story to share please email us on info@did08.com |
International UpdateG'day,
I speak to many young people around the world who are excited about staying with you and experiencing all aspects of life in Melbourne. That has meant quite a few trips quite recently to talk to young people in cities all over the world. My trips have been diverse, visiting cities from all over Las Vegas, Rome, Seoul, Vienna, London, Zagreb and Manila to Toronto! It has had a huge impact to see so much energy and enthusiasm being generated by international pilgrims to visit Australia for WYD. A highlight of my pilgrimages was my recent visit to Durban South Africa. There I met with Cardinal Wilfrid Napier and some of his fantastic young people who were key players in the Journey of the WYD Cross and Icon throughout Southern Africa. I really admired their passion and dedication! And it's great they'll be joining us in Melbourne for DID08. Whatever the differences, I speak to many young people and they are all excited about staying with you and experiencing all aspects of life in Melbourne. I'm just about to fly out for Italy, the Czech Republic, England, USA, Mexico and Chile. Tough job! Stay tuned for reports from around the globe of young people preparing for this adventure of their lives to World Youth Day. Catch you soon! |
1 Year to Go Celebrations
The Mass was an opportunity to bring together our Key Contacts who were commissioned as the official WYD and Days in the Dioceses Pilgrim Team. Bishop Prowse presided over the Mass and then invited parishioners to join him at the Cardinal Knox Centre to continue celebrations. The function centre was overflowing with parishioners vying for a glimpse of the 1 Year to Go official Papal address. The Pope gave a poignant and timely message to Australian’s calling for the local community to enthusiastically receive pilgrims and prepare them through diocesan events. Days in the Dioceses Melbourne will be the largest diocesan celebration in Australia and the address given by the Pope gave the crowd a sense of renewed passion to make the event a major success for Melbourne. Bishop Prowse gave tribute to the youth involved in the event inviting Tristan Mungatopi from the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry Melbourne, to talk to the crowd about his experiences with the local community and his pride in representing the Catholic Aboriginal Youth of Melbourne. “It’s my hope and prayer that stemming and growing from World Youth Day and the pilgrimage to Sydney, Aboriginal Youth Ministry may support the great work that is already being done by the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry here in Melbourne” said Tristan. Bishop Prowse was proud to see so many parishioners attend the Mass and was overjoyed to have over 35 local priests concelebrate with him on this momentous occasion. “The cathedral was full and the atmosphere was most prayful – I was touched by the level of support we see in the community… it is a clear demonstration of how an event of this magnitude can bring together the Catholic community for a Mass of this size and significance.” To top off a fabulous night, parishes throughout Melbourne continued to commemorate this occasion by dedicating their Sunday 22 July Mass to WYD and Days in the Dioceses Melbourne. To all those who celebrated with us on Friday night, the WYD office in Melbourne extends our warmest thanks and appreciation to attendees for making the 1 Year to Go celebrations such a resounding success. |
JCI Arrives in Australia
In Melbourne, planning is well underway for the 26 April 2008 arrival of the JCI. On the 8 August this month every parish in Melbourne was invited to apply to be a Key Hosting Parish for the Cross and Icon. What this will mean is when the Cross and Icon arrives in Melbourne it will spend three nights in each region of Melbourne at selected Key Hosting Parishes. All other parishes surrounding the Key Hosting Parish will be invited to come along and participate in the event. The selection of the Key Hosting Parish is expected to be completed in late September, and is a great initiative for inviting parish involvement, on the local level. We look forward to welcoming the JCI to Melbourne and seeing it journey through our local parishes. |
Pilgrim Services - What's New?
Groups and individuals from Australia and around the world are encouraged to register early. Official registration brings with it a number of benefits. These include passes for WYD08 celebrations, papal events and Catechesis, and free transport for the 15-20 July 2008. Early registration helps organisers adequately plan the transport and accommodation arrangements. Pilgrim groups can sign up now and pay later. There is no obligation to make immediate payment. Why not start a savings plan to cover the pilgrimage costs? Group registrations can be made on www.wyd2008.org under Register Now. Once a group booking is made, individuals can register as part of that group. A comprehensive Group Leader handbook is available on the site that answers questions and shares ideas for planning the pilgrimage. Questions regarding registration should be made to the WYD Sydney Office
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Training Corner
If you were unable to make the training, you can download the Pilgrim Services Manual from our website: www.did08.com The next training is for parish and school Key Contacts and Formation Coordinators and also for parish Melbourne Stay (Billeting) and Events Coordinators. The training topics will include; Melbourne Stay Program, Journey of the Cross and Icon Events, Harvest Online booking and the WYD Formation Program. We will provide a number of sessions so you can attend the most convenient time and date. Invitations will be emailed out with session details in the coming weeks. |
Melbourne Archdiocesan´ goal is to encourage 25,000 of our local young people to be part of the amazing week-long lead up to WYD our Days in the Dioceses Melbourne and then go on pilgrimage to Sydney.What a fantastic opportunity for young people! Please see yourself as a DID08 advocate who can help in achieving this goal!
Each month we hope to share stories of Days in the Dioceses and WYD preparations from around the Archdiocese of Melbourne. This month we travel to Craigieburn where Fr Peter Hansen and the Our Lady's, Craigieburn Parish WYD team have begun an energetic campaign of promoting and celebrating WYD08, in anticipation of next year's event in Sydney. They have established a six-person coordinating committee who meet on a monthly basis to brainstorm ideas for events to promote WYD. The parish has also constructed a WYD Notice Board giving out important information about parish and central events; developed a weekly WYD feature in the parish newsletter; promote WYD and Melbourne's Days in the Dioceses at every Mass; sent a letter of invitation to every 14 to 22 year old in the parish inviting them to attend WYD with an offer of financial support; held fundraising events (and are planning more!!!); produced plans for parish events during Days in the Dioceses; started liaising with local schools and parishes within their deanery and have started approaching families for the billeting of international pilgrims. 
My name is Tim Davis and I am the International Liaison Officer for Melbourne's DID08.
What a night it was! WYD celebrations were in full swing on 20 July where Melbourne’s Days in the Dioceses attracted over 1200 parishioners to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the Friday night Mass.
The WYD Cross and Icon landed in Australia on 1 July 2007, to the applause of many young people and high-profile guests. It was met at the Qantas Hangar of Sydney Airport with great expectation by young people from all over Australia. One of the most prominent guests was the welcome given by the PM John Howard. He joined a contingent of over 40 young Australians who welcomed the Cross and Icon from across the Tasman. This event launched the nation wide pilgrimage of the Cross and Icon which will complete its journey when it arrives at WYD in SYD next year. 
The focus of the Pilgrim Services Team right now is encouraging our local and international contacts to register for WYD 2008. Pilgrim Services are a suite of services that represents the programs, resources and communications designed to support international and local pilgrims. Our message for August is ‘now is the time to register!' 
Thank you to all Parish, School and Community Key Contacts who attended our Training in June and July. Over 300 people came along to hear the latest information about DID08 and WYD. We really enjoyed meeting so many of you!