Australian Students Visit Rome

Up to 8,000 Australians are expected to converge on Rome for the canonisation of the country’s first saint on 17 October. Among them will be a number of students from Jesuit schools.

The St Ignatius College Riverview community in Sydney has a group of 38 pilgrims heading to Rome. The group includes ten students – Year 11 students Callum Ryan, Adrian Kenny and Zachary Prentice, Year 10 students Lachlan Grounds, Jack McGrath, Brian Naylon and Robert Waldron, Year 9 Student Samuel Clegg-Heath, Year 7 student Seamus McKillop (a distant relation of Mary MacKillop) and Year 6 student Hughie Flannery. Fr Joe Dooley SJ will be travelling with the group as their chaplain.

Riverview teacher Mr Bernie Winters, who will be leading the group, said the students are all looking forward to being in Rome for the canonisation.

‘There’s a whole buzz at the school actually. Everyone’s wishing us well’, he said.

He said the excitement for the journey began to build when the school was visited by the recipient of Mary MacKillop’s second miracle.

‘On 9 August, Kathleen Evans spoke at our MacKillop Mass and Dinner and shared her story with us’, he said. ‘We hope to catch up with her in Rome as well.’

The Riverview students will fly out on 14 October, and will spend a week in Rome. The pilgrimage, coordinated by Harvest Pilgrimages, will include all of the major canonisation events and visits to prominent Jesuit locations in Rome.

Meanwhile, the Victorian Catholic Education Office is helping 67 students from schools across the state travel to Rome. Joseph Favrin, the principal of Loyola College Watsonia, is on the planning committee for the event and is co-leading the group of students and staff heading to Rome for the ceremony.

Loyola College Year 11 student Victoria Eley has been chosen to accompany Mr Favrin. Also travelling to Rome will be Xavier College Year 10 student David O’Keefe, and St Ignatius College Geelong students Veronica Johnston and Gabrielle Exton.

The Melbourne student pilgrims attended a Mass of Commissioning at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne on 6 October, and will be flying out to Rome on 14 October.