9 June 2021
By Victoria Tracey
Youth Ministry Team Leader Year 11
St Peter’s Catholic College
On Friday 28 May, St Peter’s Catholic College and their Youth Ministry Team hosted their third annual SHINE Catholic Youth conference. Hundreds of students from around the Diocese travelled to St Peter’s to take on the journey of both enlightenment and faith development.
The day started with a series of powerful songs by Australia’s very own Fr Rob Galea who found the time to fly from Melbourne to perform for the Youth of Broken Bay on this special occasion.
After a presentation from the CSYMA (Catholic Schools Youth Ministry Australia) team, there was more singing and prayer featuring all time Catholic classics. The day then took a short break, in which students from nine different Catholic schools across our Diocese took the opportunity to make some new friends.
Then came one of the main features of the day - workshop groups. These workshops and classes varied in topics and content however they all centred around the development of faith in our youth.
Some of these workshops included Dance in Youth Ministry (run by St. Peter’s very own Miss Sarah Heywood, Vinnies Volunteering, Science vs Religion (run by St. Peter’s very own Miss Kate McMahon), Authentic Catholic faith as a young person (run by St. Peter’s Alumni and Youth Minister St Patrick’s East Gosford, Jaimi-Lea Andrews), Music, Drama and leadership.
After two successful workshop sessions and another short break, everyone met back in the hall to truly unpack their faith with a chapter of highly emotional and truly enlightening testimonies, presented by St Peter’s students Shannon Clark and Anthony Iacovazzi.
Towards the end of the experience, Bishop Anthony Randazzo, sat down with the 350 students present and spoke about his own experiences with God and the significant role religion played in his life, as well as how he got to where he is today.
At the conclusion of SHINE, every teacher and student attending the experience left with their own beautiful jar of blessed (by Bishop Anthony) holy water, with which they could use in prayer as needed.
Throughout the entire day, the students were surrounded by teachers and role models who were all there with one intention in mind; development of moral and spiritual integrity and a deeper understanding of their Catholic faith in our Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay.
A huge thank you to the following people whom SHINE could not have happened without their support, faith and assistance; to Bishop Anthony Randazzo; Mr Tim Hildebrandt (Principal St Peter’s); PJ Almendras (Catholic Youth Broken Bay) Michelle Chahine and Father Stephen Wayoyi (Catholic Vocations Broken Bay); Mr Ian Judge (Entertainment Teacher St Peter’s); Christopher, Christian and Anh, CSYMA Team (Archdiocese Canberra / Goulburn); Mrs Kelly Paget (Executive Officer, Office of the Bishop); The Vinnies Broken Bay Team; Miss Sarah Heywood and Miss Kate McMahon (Religious Education / Dance / Science Teacher’s St Peter’s); Mr Steven Hopley (REC St Peter’s); Youth Ministry Co-ordinators from all our Catholic Schools in Broken Bay.
Thank you sincerely to Mr Michael Tobin, Youth Ministry Co-ordinator and SHINE Co-ordinator, St Peter’s Catholic College, Tuggerah and our Youth of Broken Bay.