17 young people from the Diocese of Dunkeld attended World Youth Day in Sydney 2008. We spent the first week in the diocese of Wollongong in a place called Shellharbour. This was called “Days in the diocese”. During this time, we were paired up with another member from our group and stayed with host families. The families could not do enough to help us and were so hospitable we really did feel at home despite being on the other side of the world. The first organised event was called “Living Justly” where
thousands of pilgrims from all over the world participated in the prayers, music and talks about ecological issues. Throughout the week we also participated in social events such as a rugby match at the WIN stadium, Everything Aussie Festival and of course sight‐seeing around the beautiful beaches of Shellharbour. The main event during this week was a Mass attended by approximately four thousand pilgrims from all over the world in the WIN stadium. This was concelebrated by priests and bishops from all over the world including our very own Father Jim Walls. We then went on to Sydney to participate in the celebrations of World Youth Day week. Each day began with Catechesis in the parish of St. Brendan’s, Annandale. This was a very educational experience where a different cardinal or archbishop spoke for approximately half an hour about the world youth day theme “You will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). This was followed with an opportunity for questions. A favourite, I think of everyone was the talk given by Cardinal Schonborn of Vienna concerning evolution, creationism and the Church. After Catechesis, we went on to the organised Youth Festival events throughout the city. On Saturday, we began our 10km walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, through Darling Harbour and onto Randwick Racecourse for the overnight vigil. This was the beginning of the main World Youth Day event. Once at Randwick, we organised our sleeping bags and participated in the Youth Festival events until the Evening Vigil celebrated by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. The next day saw early morning Mass sung by the Benedictine monks, followed by the final Mass of World Youth Day celebrated by Pope Benedict and concelebrated by hundreds of cardinals, bishops and priests, and of course Mgr Ken McCaffrey. This was a fantastic, awe‐inspiring experience, which we will never forget. The whole event exceeded all my expectations and I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate in such a worthy experience. We will be holding a reunion in September, which we hope you will all come to in SS. Peter and Paul’s, where we will talk in greater detail about our experiences.

Thank you all for your support.

Shelly Findlater