UNBAPTISED Taralee Russell felt “welcomed and included” at World Youth Day in Spain this year.
The Australian Catholic University (ACU) nursing student, who wears a saint’s medallion permanently, said the experience helped her “realise being a Catholic” was what she desired.
“I felt really restless when I got back from World Youth Day,” Taralee said candidly.
“I’ve always wanted to belong (to be Catholic) but thought, ‘I’ll get to that one day’.
“This year something was really telling me it was time.”
Having shared her “restlessness” with a fellow pilgrim, Taralee was quoted the St Augustine passage, “Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.”
“I really appreciated that (passage),” she said.
“Belonging to the Catholic faith is what I wanted and the trip showed me that.”
The 21-year-old said she came from a completely “non-religious” background.
At the age of 15, she moved to Brisbane from Canberra with her family, and her parents decided on Lourdes Hill College, Hawthorne, for her schooling.
Again, Taralee felt “welcome and included”.
She agreed her exposure to the Catholic faith in school was part of the decision to attend a Catholic university and now, to prepare to celebrate Baptism.
“I walked into ACU (Banyo) with Mum and thought, ‘This is where I want to go’,” Taralee said.
“I’d been to other (university) open days but really, there was no comparison, no other option for me.
“I loved it from the first moment I walked in.”
The talkative student said she appreciated ACU’s “personalised approach” and enjoyed being involved “in the community life of the campus”.
She also enjoys a part-time job as an in-home carer of dementia patients.
“You learn a lot,” she said.
“It’s one thing to talk about nursing from a book and another to do it.
“I’ve always wanted to care for people.”
Caring for five older persons in their homes means that Taralee’s parents and sister, who live in Thornlands, rarely see her.
“Mum calls me and says, ‘Are you coming home?’,” Taralee, who has three casual jobs, said.
When she was in Years 11 and 12, nursing became familial, when her brother Brandon was diagnosed with cancer.
“Watching Brandon cope with chemotherapy was an eye-opener,” Taralee said.
“It was interesting because even then … I was right there.
“The nurses directed their advice towards me and I could handle it.”
In her third year of nursing, Taralee credits former ACU campus minister Andrew Beiers “for being a dad” on campus and offering constant personal and spiritual support.
She also said new campus minister Mark Lysaght’s promotion of the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) “came just at the right time”.
“It was funny because I was on-line, searching for how to become Catholic and couldn’t find what I was looking for,” she said.
“I walked away from the computer and literally within five minutes of going back to it, there was an email from Mark, talking about a new local group.”
Taralee attended an information session in mid-October and officially began the journey on November 4.
She is journeying towards Baptism, Confirmation and First Holy Communion at Easter next year and her parents “are very supportive”.
Taralee’s individual and collective Madrid experience perhaps had the most profound influence on this decision.
“When I first heard about World Youth Day at the Big Event in Melbourne (an ACU initiative), I thought, ‘That would be really cool’,” she said.
“I was worried about what people would think about me going (however), seeing I wasn’t a Catholic.
“(But) honestly, it didn’t matter … everyone turned out to be fantastic.
“Our tour group was so devastated we had to leave each other by the end of it.
“I had this whole new family.”
Travelling among ACU students and staff numbering almost 90, Taralee also spoke highly of the three priests with them.
With them, and before the group moved on to Madrid, she particularly enjoyed seeing where Blessed Pope John Paul was born and where he lived in Poland.
“We went to the seminary he attended and saw where he was ordained,” Taralee said.
“I don’t think many people are allowed there but the nuns said we could go in … their only rule was we had to pray (while inside).”
The group also visited where Blessed John Paul celebrated his first Mass as an ordained priest.
“There was something so special about it,” Taralee said of that visit.
“You felt a presence.
“Someone started to sing and so we all started to sing around the altar, for about 15 minutes.
“It was really beautiful.”
Taralee also cheekily said she “ate a cream cake that apparently he (Blessed John Paul) loved”.
Looking forward to a WYD11 reunion and keeping in contact with her new comrades via Facebook especially, Taralee said “the ‘family’ has stayed connected”.
The contact has helped her deal with anxiety, she said.
“Before World Youth Day I was so used to struggling with my anxiety,” Taralee said.
“(But) the whole week in Spain was the calmest I had felt all year.
“To feel that calm was great … (and) I realised I don’t have to deal with it by myself.
“I know I’m not alone.”
