Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In just 26 days, thousands of young people will converge on Sydney to celebrate World Youth Day. Around 250,000 young people are expected to attend, making it the largest youth event in the world and even bigger than the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The week-long event will be attended by Pope Benedict XVI and provides an opportunity for Catholics from Australia and around the globe to celebrate with others and learn about their faith. As well as the pilgrims, the event will involve more than 8,000 volunteers, 2,000 clergy and 500 cardinals and bishops. There will be a lot of robes on show. The event combines creative outlets like music, visual arts, debates and forums, theatre and street performances. World Youth Day is also supported by official ambassadors, like Matthew Hayden, Jarred Crouch, Jimmy Little and many others.

The event was established by Pope John Paul II in 1986 as a way to reach out to the next generation of Catholics, to demonstrate confidence in them and to rejuvenate the church. I want to say how impressed I am that so many young people from Australia and all around the world have put up their hands to attend. These are people who want to learn more about their faith and explore ways to serve their church and, more importantly, to serve their community. Australian society is much better for the existence of the Catholic Church. In fact, I shudder to think what life would be like without the Catholic Church. For starters, I do not think my mum would have had 10 children. What would it be like without the great Catholic contribution to education, without the Catholic efforts to support the homeless and the indigent, without the great Catholic commitment to hospitals and to health and aged-care programs throughout our community, and obviously without priests and other counsellors who offer hope and support to millions throughout the world? People of faith can and do make a positive difference to Australian society. I hope that, as the thousands of young people get together to learn and be inspired by World Youth Day in Sydney, they will then return to their schools, their places of work and their communities and also make a difference.

I particularly want to recognise four young people from my local parish, St Brendan’s, Moorooka, who will attend World Youth Day—Phoebe Fitzpatrick and three brothers of refugee background who came to Australia from Ethiopia some years ago. They are Bay, Yimesret and Metasebia Gebrewald. All four young people are active members of my local church and are eager to make the world a better place. I especially thank the Southern Deanery for their fundraising efforts in supporting the attendance of these terrific young people at World Youth Day. There will be many events in the community, including the greeting of the pilgrims at the international airport on Thursday, 10 July; the Heart of the City event in the middle of the city on Saturday, 12 July; and masses on Sunday, 13 July. I am sure it is going to be a wonderful time.