History
Created by Fr Christian Fini in mid 2000 after spending time in Italy on his pastoral year of learning, OYA was humble in its beginning. The first meeting was held at the Parish of St John Vianney in Mulgrave, Victoria, Melbourne. The group focused on the coming Sunday's gospel in reflection and prayer. As time went on the group went on a spiritual weekend, which was to be the first Oblate Youth Encounter, held in Dromana. Ten members of the youth group attended this weekend which was to set a series of events in motion. As time went on Fr Christian left Melbourne and travelled to Eaglevale, Sydney. There he resided at the parish of Mary Immaculate. A new youth group was started at that parish with a similar program and scheme. The participants of the youth group in Melbourne was left to its own devices and thrived under their own guidance
With a new location for the Encounter the numbers grew to an astounding 75 participants. This ushered in a new phase of the Oblate Youth Phenomenon.
A new focus has come into sight since World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne where it was announced that the next world youth day would be held in Sydney. As the Oblate Youth community in Australia it became the mission of the community to host a pre-world youth day event for the Oblate Youth of the World. The preparations for this have taken on a new level of involvement. The entire organisation of the event is being achieved by existing members of the community.
Read more about this topic: Oblate Youth Australia
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies that could have been your own, when the staves of history fall awry and the barrel of time bursts apart, some turn to prayer, some to poetry: words in the memory, a stained book carried close to the body, the notebook scribbled by hand—a center of gravity.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)