2028 Congress

Like I said the conference was just AWESOME! I don't have time to write anything myself right this very second BUT I thought I would put up an article by Br Barry Coldrey who went to the conference and his impressions. It's long I know but I think it gives you a good idea what it was like! (Thanks to Daniel Kenny for the Photo!!)

Australian Catholic Students Association (ACSA)
Conference, Canberra, 6-8 July 2007

There are older Catholics concerned at the empty pews

they observe in many churches and the few younger

Catholics who appear to practice their faith. The

'corrosive message of the secular society and the

uncertain - lowest common denominator - focus of much

'Catholic' education have wrought havoc with Catholic

practice.

However, there was no sign of this numbing malaise at

the Abbey Function Centre, Gold Creek, on the edge of

Canberra on the weekend of 6-8 July. Three hundred

young men and women, from all states of Australia,

tertiary students and workers, gathered to pray,

inspire and celebrate their faith. They were cool and

confident, ardent and enthusiastic, untroubled by the

'a la Carte' belief patterns, agnostic prayer,

unorthodox liturgies and sterile, soft-Left political

correctness of so many 'Catholic' meetings and

conferences.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, Colorado, a

Capuchin friar, gave the keynote address: 'I am

neither liberal nor conservative' he said,'I am

Catholic. I teach the life and message of Jesus Christ

and His Church, full and entire.' The audience roared,

stomped and whistled approval. (They are young

people!)

At the Conference dinner in the Great Hall of

Parliament House, Senator Ron Boswell (National Party,

Queensland)represented Prime Minister, John Howard. He

remarked, inter alia, 'You are a minority among your

peers'. True! However, there were 350 young men and

women in the Great Hall, a large, far from cowed

minority.  Bishop Anthony Fisher, O.P. gave a dazzling

address and was given a long standing ovation by those

present.

 It was the vitality, confidence and deep faith of the

young people,bursting with life and talent which

impressed the few 'oldies; present in support. The

young men and women worse jeans and casuals at the

Conference sessions, but they had 'scrubbed up well'

for the dinner! They were like the young people your

Dad always wanted you to be.

The Conference was organised by the ACSA executive

(2006/7) led by the sophisticated and articulate

President, Aaron Russell, a final year Engineering

student at the University of Adelaide. During the

Conference at the AGM, a new seven-person executive

was elected. Camillus O'Kane, a Town Planning student

at the University of New South Wales, is the new

President. He is supported by a strong team:

Vice-President, Nikolai Martinovic, an undergraduate

at Campion College; Secretary, Ruth Russell from South

Australia, Treasurer, Elise Nally, from Queensland, IT

Manager, Patrick Gian, from South Australia; Functions

Manager, Pat Langrelle from Sydney and Victorian

Representative, Claire Anthony who is Public Relations

Officer.

Camillus has a broad vision for his Presidency

focussed on World Youth Day and the chances WYD opens

for the Australian Church. 'Our next Conference will

be held in Sydney, close to World Youth Day. We will

be looking for international 'Superstar' speakers to

fire the event. I want a close relationship with

Bishop Anthony Fisher who is head of the WYD Planning

Team. Overall, I hope to be a humble worker in

Christ's vineyard and a tower of strength to my

awesome team'

Twenty-one-year-old Camillus, has the drive and

intelligence to lead, as a personal Conference memory

might illustrate: on Saturday evening, we arrived in

the underground car park of Parliament House around

the same time. He had dropped off Cardinal Cassidy and

Archbishop Chaput at the front door. Camillus was

hurrying for pre-dinner drinks with the Bishops,

parliamentarians and other dignitaries, but he said:

'You're with me, Brother, and I'm President, stick

with me and no-one will say a word.' So I walked

beside Camillus into the Great Hall and sipped

champagne with the Bishops, parliamentarians and other

VIPs and no-one questioned by presence!

Conference organisation was sound, the AGM went

smoothly and the new ACSA is awesome. However, at the

Conference, prayer and liturgy had come first. The

event opened with Mass at the Changi Memorial Chapel

at the Royal Military College, Duntroon. Archbishop

Max Davis, was principal celebrant. 'I've never had so

many young people in my church', he said.

On the Saturday, Archbishop Wilson of Adelaide led

five other Cardinals and bishops presiding at the

Eucharist in St Christopher's Cathedral, where

Archbishop Chaput preached the homily. Before the

Conference ended Sunday, the whole group was bussed to

John XXIII College Chapel at the National University

for a final Mass celebrated by Cardinal Edward Cassidy

while Bishop Geoff Jarrett of Lismore, preached. It

was a moving occasion.

At the Gold Creek Chapel throughout Friday

evening-Saturday morning, relays of young men and

women maintained constant prayer before the Blessed

Sacrament. When the writer arrived at 7 a.m. to

participate there were eleven young people praying in

silent adoration before their Risen Lord. It was a

good omen for the Conference.

At the working sessions, there was a fine array of

apeakers including Health Minister, Tony Abbott, who

spoke on 'Life and Death in 2028; Archbishop Chaput,

discussed the 'Church and the next Generation'; Rev.

Dr John Fleming, President of Campion College,

explored the 'Liberal Arts and Technical Training

while Archbishop Wilson looked at the media over the

next twenty years.

Sincere Catholic educators, exhausted 'in the

trenches' of the Catholic education system,

marginalised by feral careerists in the schools and

agnostic 'trendies' in the Catholic educational

bureaucracies, might wonder: 'Where did such

dedicated, intelligent, confident young Catholic

emerge? We have never seen them.'

The answer appears to be that they have been formed in

a delightful 'underworld' of vital new movements and

Congregations in the Church. Some are Home-schooled!

Others are attending Campion College. Some attended

Anglican, or other Christian schools and colleges.

Some attended elite Jesuit colleges where family

wealth and high social status gave them the personal

confidence to buck peer group pressure and the toxic,

anti-religious aggro around much of the Catholic

system.There are also the passionate members of Latin

Mass communities.

Family and group associations are common: there are

many family groups: the three O'Kane brothers, for

example, from Yarrawonga; the three Bielecki brothers

from St. Aloysius's Caulfield, Latin Mass community,

Brad and Tristan McLindon from Hamilton, James and

Clair Anthony from Hawthorn in Melbourne.

In addition, some Religious Congregations support

youth ministry. Young men and women from their circles

were present in numbers. Some are associated with

Disciples of Jesus Covenant Communities and the

Missionaries of God's Love; others with Franciscan

Capuching Youth Ministry. Altogether, they provided

the 300+ young men and women who made the 2007 ACSA

Conference so inspiring an experience.