TWENTY young people, including several seminarians, a novitiate of the Canossian Sisters and young lay people took part in Brisbane’s Vocation Centre’s annual Y-Walk on August 8.
Now in its third year, Y-Walk, led by Archbishop John Bathersby, was an opportunity for young people to walk through the city together in the footsteps of holy people and also marked the conclusion of National Vocations Awareness Week.
This year’s focus was on Mother Vincent Whitty, who was responsible for bringing the Sisters of Mercy from Ireland to Brisbane in 1861.
Mother Whitty, who came to Brisbane with Bishop James Quinn, worked in Queensland for 30 years, during which time she was involved in establishing many Mercy schools and social welfare institutions.
The walk incorporated several places significant in Mother Whitty’s life including St Stephen’s Chapel, where she worshipped, the Mercy Heritage Centre at All Hallows’, home of the Mercy Sisters in Brisbane and Cairncross House in New Farm, where she started a school and home for orphans, and which later became St Vincent’s Orphanage at Nudgee.
Walker Anna Surrey, from Chapel Hill, said she got a lot out of the pilgrimage through the city.
‘It was a great opportunity to learn about the history of the Church in Brisbane,’ Anna said.
‘I also enjoyed being able to meet other Catholic young adults and chat with them while we walked.’
The walk concluded at St Patrick’s Church, Fortitude Valley, where Canali House is one of the city’s vocations’ centres.
It is named after Fr Joseph Canali, priest, architect and engineer, who lived and worked in Brisbane from 1872 until his death in 1915.
One of the Y-Walk organisers, Luke Plant, said it was a great opportunity to remember someone who said their yes to God, and influenced the Church in Brisbane.
‘Participants were able to use the life, work and sacrifices of Mother Vincent to reflect upon their own lives and how God may be calling them today,’ he said.
