Gathering at Oblate Youth Central
--
The crew from St. John Vianney’s arrived at the Seminary at 10am to start welcoming those who were coming from interstate that morning, with the first bus arriving at around 10:30am and the last at about 1:30pm. 99 participants were putting the Oblate Youth Central to good use, playing pool, kicking the footy, enjoying a fantastic barbeque prepared by Mr & Mrs Fini, and Mr and Mrs Freeth. Once everyone had arrived and received their name tag, wristband and T-shirt (for those who ordered them!), had lunch and did some mingling, we all jumped into a car, bus or mini-bus and started our 3 hour journey to Coonawarra Farm Resort at Glenaladale, Victoria.

After much driving/riding in cars or buses and finding our way with a map, we all arrived by 6pm. We were welcomed by our MC’s — Patrice, Damien and Fr. Michael TwiggOMI — as well as the ‘Police Chief’, Fr Fini OMI, . We met our cooks (huge thanks to Mr & Mrs Costin, Mr& Mrs Johnson and Mr Fuller) and headed in to have some dinner, which was fantastic. There are 8 Oblates on the camp!

Mary and Petrina lead us all in some ice breakers and everyone got to know each other and learn people’s names. The activity after that was one where each discussion group leader had to ‘be’ a particular saint, which would then become the name of their own group. The discussion groups worked together to find all 14 saints and obtain their autographs by guessing which leader was which saint: we were all allowed three ‘yes or no’ questions and one guess. If after that they hadn’t got it right they had to find someone else before they could come back for a second attempt.

We then celebrated Mass with a special ceremony starting outside where we poured soil from each of the five states representing our combined diversity and journeys coming together to form a special Christian Community for the next four nights. We also introduced the 14 group leaders and the Saints given to each group. We celebrated the normal 2^ndSunday Mass by starting with an address from the big ‘Kahuna’ in Rome, Fr Wilhelm Steckling OMI, Superior General of the OMI’s. Fr Fini preached and encouraged us to journey together by listening to each other (1^st Reading), by respecting each other (2^nd Reading) and leading each other to Christ (Gospel). From his journey in Rome this year, he used the image of Rome’s ancient cobblestones to remind us that many others have walked the journey of faith before us and we have much to be grateful for what they have shared with us to help us on our journey (Fr Fini’s family for 3 generations walked over the same stones that he recently walked on). This tied in well with the naming of our groups after 14 important Saints (including of course, St Eugene!).

After a great day meeting and greeting new and familiar faces, most people were exhausted and enjoyed a great sleep after a quick supper. Check out the photos to see where we’re staying! Thanks for reading.

--
Glenaladale - 1/3 the camp site.
--
Getting introduced to our MC's.
--
ICE breaker - girls on the inner circle, boys outside.
--
Up close and personal -- "so, what's your name?"
--
Damo & Patrice hold the box with all the soils from each State.
--
During our opening Mass - after the Lamb of God.
--
The Blessed Sacrament being place in the Chapel.

A large G’day from Oblate Youth Encounter 2006!

The day started off differently for all with some braving the early morning wake up call to attend reflective prayer followed by mass in the chapel.

“Da-da-da-da-da-da” — yes its as annoying as you think it is. This was the tune (Love Generation) that woke up the rest of the encounterers for a beautiful breakfast prepared for us by our extraordinarily ordinary kitchen staff (and yes, that is a compliment according to Helene!).

Morning Prayer kicked off soon after with songs, reflections and a top talk by Helene, which delved into our humanity and our need to not just too merely exist but to live life to its full potential. Film clips from Forrest Gump and a story about ‘One-Tooth’ centre-folded the talk (followed by discussion time by the 14 groups).

Community time (also known as free time) was a main feature of the day where we all spontaneously joined together for fun, food and forensics (once again, huh?). While some shook their tail feathers to the rockin’ tunes of the resident band, others braved the heights of the giant flying fox over the crocodile infested lake and capsizing canoers. Beach volleyball was also huge.

Oblate Temptation (fondly called ‘oblatemptation’) was the highlight of the night, where the famous forum contributor Tom “Tohm” Crisp made Oblate Youth history by featuring in our one and only Oblate Youth Trivia question. Hugs Galore awaited the Oblates, as when ever we heard our theme song a group of 14 people generally jumped onto one or two Priests for group hugs to gain extra bonus points.

The night ended with a video reflection of the Oblate World Youth Day Pilgrimage 2005, was a great taste for what is to come in Sydney in 2008, it was also good for those who weren’t able to go to see what it was like and also good for those who went to reminisce and miss all the good times that were had.

--
The NEW Oblate Youth Cross made by Jonno and blessed at our opening Mass… it will be installed at O.Y. Central, Melbourne.
--
Helene giving us the goods in her talk on Becoming Human
--
Morning discussion group in action.
--
People Playing Volleyball During Community Time.
--
The cooks in action to keep the little Saints fed and happy!
--
Canoeing during Community Time.
--
People using the pool during Community Time.
--
Kristina on the Flying Fox
--
Mazenod VIC graduate (Adrian) leads OBLATE student (Pio) astray!
--
“OBLATEMPTATION” under way.
--
Kim lathers on the whipped cream for a few bonus points!
--
Chrissy holds up the winning answer for the last Trivia question: “Who is the current Arcade games winner on Oblate Youth Web Forum?”.
--
This is JESS... and this is her reflection for the Evening Prayer Time…

The scripture that you just heard [The Annunciation story – Luke 1:26-1:38] gives us the greatest example of an extraordinaryly ordinary life. Although Mary was an extraordinary woman she was not divine. Mary accepted god’s will into her life and allowed god to work through her to help her achieve extraordinary things. Her acceptance shows us that anyone of us can do extraordinary things. Mary never questioned why God chose her of all people, she only questioned how. This also shows how extraordinary this ordinary women really was.

As Mary accepted Jesus to be brought into the world through her. As Christians, we do something of a similar nature. When we first accepted our faith into our lives, we in turn accepted Jesus to be part of who we are.

This encounter has brought much in the way of sharing who we are so far and can you believe that it is only the second day that we are here.

We have learnt through talks, in sharing in our groups at meal times, discussion groups and even in our free time.

We have learnt about Eugene De Mazenod’s challenge to discover true humanity. tomorrow, we will work towards building on that humanity to become better Christians. We will discover how to determine the difference between living life to its full potential rather than merely existing.

During our free time today we sang, played musical instruments, talked, swam and just had fun. However in doing so we strengthened the community spirit in the group, we shared our talents and also had the opportunity to learn more about the people that we are spending the next few days with.

Just consider this for an example. There were 5 people all from different groups all playing and singing together as one like they had known each other for years. When in all truth some of these people had only met yesterday.

We are showing that even though we might only see each other may this one time for this short period in the context of our life. However we still are part of this community of the oblate youth of Australia because of the experience of being on this encounter and forming relationships with people that live on the other side of the country.

There was also a sense of trust in some of the things that we did this afternoon. We trusted people in activities such as swimming, the flying fox, and the canoes. We trusted the people that we were doing these things with. This would not have happened if we didn’t have trust which has come around because of the sense of community that has developed and strengthened in the past day.

In a moment we are going to take some time to reflect on what you think makes you an extraordinarily ordinary person.

Tuesday 17^th Jan — Day 3 “On the road to Christianity”

The day begun with the early morning rises attending morning prayers (7:50am) and 8am mass. Fr Gerry Conlan celebrated mass on the feast of St Anthony. After some small confusion about which St Anthony it was, he was overcome by “Our Lady of Joy??!!” The mass was offered for the celebration of his parent’s 47^th wedding anniversary.

The not so early risers were woken by the theme song “Love Generation” for the camp being played over the loudspeakers at 8:30am. Some danced to breakfast, others whistled, and others joined us for breakfast when they finally surfaced, clearly from having a late night.

Tiffany led us for a morning gathering activity. It was the “Hu-goo game”. Our letter groups were split into two teams. A representative from each team faces each other and attempts to maintain eye contact with the opposition, try and make them laugh, greet them with “hu-goo” and not laugh themselves. If you lost by being the first to laugh you were given over to the opposing team. It was a great way to wake us all up in the brisk morning air.

Morning prayer was lead by group D. The theme “Were not our hearts burning within us, while he was talking to us on the road.” was presented through a mixture of song, PowerPoint reflections, scripture reading and a candle ceremony.

Our first group session of “Ob-aerobics” refreshed us all before the start our first talk for the day. Greg’s talk titled “On the road to Christianity” followed on from Helene’s talk of “On the road to humanity” from yesterday. He won over the audience with his ‘toaster’ humour and side jokes to speak about his life journey of becoming a Christian and discovering the differences between what humans can offer for happiness Vs. what God can offer for happiness. His topics included the source of morality – the popular view of morality (right=what makes you happy or =Just bein’ a good bloke) Vs. the Christian view. Check out some links to read a full transcript of this talk.

Discussion groups followed on to extract the importance of Christianity in each of our lives so far. This time was very powerful to share our own experiences and necessary to explore the topics discussed in the talk.

Lunch was on and we competed to be first served for our hotdogs. You might’ve had to be the first to bring up an orange jug, or hop to the serving table or do the chicken dance before you could eat!

After lunch, we amused ourselves with a variety of activities including swimming, jamming in the hall, swinging precariously from the flying fox, or playing tennis. Musyani thrashed Father Paul Smithers omi quite comprehensively on the court. We’re not sure he’ll ever fully recover from the shock!

We then participated in some workshops, all investigating aspects of Christian morality. Topics covered were sexuality (led by Fr Mark Edwards omi), bioethics (led by Fr Christian Fini omi), life issues (Fr Michael Twigg omi), social justice (Fr Harry Dwyer omi), and environment (Fr Gerry Conlan omi). These topics were presented in an open discussion forum, with questions and answers. They were found to be very valuable to participants in developing a deeper understanding of the ethical teachings of the Church.

We enjoyed a wonderful roast beef dinner with cooked vegies and roast potatoes… YUM!

The cool evening set the tone for a very solemn gathering where all participants (aka Saints) prepared for the sacrament of reconciliation. We were blessed with the presence of the Provincial Fr Vincent Ryan omi and Fr John Maher omi to bring the total number of Oblate priests to 10 for the camp. The night began with music, a dramatisation of the ‘Five Wounds of Christ’ as an examination of conscience, and a solo by Kane Boyatzis. Fr Pat MacAnally omi gave an excellent summary and personal experience of Reconciliation and the importance of a true cleansing confession. The opportunity was open for participants to also have a chat and discuss any problems or to receive a blessing from the 10 priests available. After receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation, participants were invited to light a candle to place in a large cross in the meeting hall. After the candles were lit, it was followed by a symbolic washing of the hands.

After 2 ½ hours of confessions out in the cold night air, the priests joined the participants back in the hall for a joyful hymn and the viewing of the photo’s from the camp so far…

Until the next update, Goodbye and God Bless!!

--
Our talk giver, Greg, is multi-talented and caring: living the Gospel message.
--
Discussion groups in progress unravelling our journey to being Christian. 
--
Some of the Queenslanders having a power chat meeting: Daniel, Tom, Jan & Fr Pat. 
--
Some of the, many, muso’s we have (practicing for Reconciliation): Ferg (SA), Damo (Vic) & Tom (Iona). 
--
Community time — priests and youth united as one family. 
--
The table tennis pro’s: Marty (Alister) & Mark (Maz. VIC) 
--
The heavies arrive in town: Fr Vincent Ryan OMI (Provincial of Australia) & Fr John Maher OMI arrive for the afternoon and evening (thanks men). 
--
A flock of Oblates: Andrew, Pio, Paul, Pat, Michael, Harry, Gerry, John, Mark, Christian, Vincent, Daniel. 
--
As we come into Reconciliation we are aware of the storm clouds in our lives… but also the light of Christ shining through. 
--
The Five Wounds of Christ were played out for us… and linked to our own failings in life… it was very moving for all. 
--
The candles and the cross remind us that the road to glory and heaven requires sacrifice and letting go… but they are hurdles well worth the effort for the peace tha Christ brings to us. 
--
As we end Reconciliation, the storm clouds have gone and the light of Christ burns brightly in our lives. 
--
Some supper in the dining room to finish the day! (Julian and Margaret)

Today started off with a hilarious morning activity – Father Gerry Conlan and Father Paul Smithers leading us in their very own style of “oblate aerobics”. It involved high speed genuflecting, spinning, signing of the cross, and blessing actions. Now we know where the oblates get all those tight muscles!

Next we moved into the meeting room for a beautiful morning prayer in which the whole group joined together with songs and prayers. We were also inspired when all 10 oblates stood infront of us to renew their vows. This was followed by a talk by Damien Coyle on “The road to Holiness”. Despite some technical difficulties, it was an awesome talk! Daniel Kelly and Damien improvised a hilarious skit exploring the life choices that we are all faced with, and left the whole room in laughter. On a more serious note, Damien reminded us that we are all called to be holy and that we are all capable of reaching holiness. He pointed out that even the greatest saints had flaws but they still managed to lead holy lives.

Following the talk, we split into our small discussion groups to discuss the issues from the talk. Next we joined with our sister groups to prepare a short skit. We were told that the Saint of the New Millennium was soon to be chosen. We were asked to present a skit advertising the founder of our chosen religious order as a candidate. We only had half an hour to prepare the 5 minute skit, but the end results were amazing! Father Harry, dressed as the pope had the final say on the best all round performance. A difficult task considering the high quality of choices – Foster Grump (a dorky, accidental hero), Arnold Schwartzenneger, Barat (A foreigner with many talents and many many children), The Godfather’s niece (who’s uncle killed off all the other candidates), Master Road Walker (Star War’s very own saint), Greatest Good Daniel (a angry pyromaniac) and Fr Phillip Smithers (Paul Smither’s alter ego)! In a tight battle, the final winner was Foster Grump. Well done guys!

The afternoon included a huge array of exciting information about the future. Marc Johnson started off talking about his journey through Oblate Youth Australia from a tiny little baby to a “Man” (Fini was sceptical about the man part, but we know it’s true). Fini spoke to us about the journey of OYA and where it is headed in the future, and invited us all to take an active part. Loretta wet our appetites with talk of World Youth Day in 2008 in Sydney, and the Pre World Youth Day International Oblate Youth Gathering 2008 (what a mouth full!) to be held in Melbourne.

In our small discussion groups, we had an opportunity to provide feedback about camp. Then we had an affirmation session in which we spent time telling each of the members of our small groups how great they are and what we love about them! Yay for warm fuzzy feelings!

Finally it was time for dinner. BIG thanks to the cooks who blew us away this camp with their “home style” cooking all camp. We gave them a huge round of applause that went for ages because we were so impressed!

For the rest of the time before Mass, some played volleyball, some chatted, some played cricket and tennis, and other musos just kept on strumming away. We gathered for our final Mass in which Christian gave us powerful homily, telling us that Humanity is our journey, Christianity is the road map, and Holiness is the destination. He urged us all to never lose sight of this important destination. We think our sign of peace should go in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest ever with hugs and kisses all round (to over 100 people!). As usual the Mass ended with a bang! Singing and dancing and music pumping just kept on going and going and going till the early hours of the morning. According to tradition, the states went against each other in a musical battle – all trying to outdo each other. Not to mention, late night volleyball on the freezing sand, board games, RNB dancing in the meeting room, and a HUGE buffet of yummy supper sweets.

All in all a wonderful day, a great way to round up camp, particularly since it went till 3am!

--
The Oblates renew their commitment and Vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience: Michael Daniel, Harry, Paul, Gerry, Christian, Mark and Andrew.
--
Mass is setup for the closing celebration: note the shoes marking out the shape of a cross — reflecting our journey.
--
Helene and Greg get into the groove with dancing and singing after the Mass.
--
The boys from Iona lead the community in “Shake Your Tail Feather”.
--
Andrew, our Oblate student, ponders the encounter that has been.
--
Oblate Aerobics at the start of the day: led by Fr Gerry and Fr Paul — How’s the Piety!
--
Fr Fini and some of the group.