LIKE many “Generation Y” Catholics, Jovina Graham’s faith was ignited in young adulthood.
And it came from an obvious but unlikely source.
“I never thought being somewhere with the Pope would mean something to me but it did,” she said of attending World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005.
Since then the 25-year-old Sydneysider hasn’t looked back.
“His words really touched me and I remember a lot of what he said.”
The guest speaker for April’s Faith on Tap said that when she was on pilgrimage in France, preparing for Cologne, she “really thought about the Eucharist and what it meant”.
“In France, in adoration, my heart really got shattered and I encountered something I wish I had known all my life,” Jovina said.
The final-year medical student was raised in a faith-filled home – her Catholic Filipino mum a certain influence – but admitted to Mass attendance out of obligation.
“Not a lot of formation in school ‘stuck’,” Jovina said.
“I was the nerd at home and my sister was the sporty one.
“I kept going to Mass because I was a ‘nerdy-goody-two-shoes’.”
“Discovering a new uni life” after school, Jovina’s time was more spent at parties and in bars.
“I got a bit carried away (with the party scene),” she said.
“(But) I came across a poster of Catholic chaplaincy at uni.
“It said ‘Sex: A revolutionary idea’ and I thought, ‘What? They can’t talk about sex’.”
The university had asked well-known speaker Christopher West to address a gathering about purity and morality.
“I went to that talk and it really threw me,” Jovina said.
“I knew it was all true but I didn’t want to change things in my life.
“The change was agreeing to going to Cologne.”
Since Cologne Jovina “took a year off medicine” as a World Youth Day volunteer before Sydney’s event in 2008.
She eventually found herself with microphone in hand in the crowds and in the commentary box with journalist Ray Martin.
“It was such a thrilling opportunity,” she said of WYD08 adventures.
“The live reports from the crowd were amazing.”
Helping also with the “Love and Life” site with the New York Sisters of Life at World Youth Day, Jovina said she enjoyed contributing to the “bigger picture”.
“Fifty of the sisters came out and I spent a month with them,” Jovina said.
“When I met them I thought, ‘I could do this’.
“They were so full of joy.”
“Still discerning” a call to marriage or religious life, Jovina said she “just needs to finish university at this point”.
Currently undertaking a clinical placement in Dubbo, New South Wales, her medical degree will be completed this year.
She has recognised a call to paediatrics.
“A very high expectation” of a future partner is also part of the picture.
Before, Jovina said she would have agreed to date “someone who loves travel, with a fairly good profession, is good looking and sporty and loves the movies”.
Nowadays “holiness” is on top of the list.
“If I’m called to marriage then my spouse’s highest priority is my holiness and my highest priority (should be) his holiness,” Jovina said.
“At Faith on Tap I’m going to say that our vocation brings us to holiness.
“I’m no theologian, but my experience tells me that the lives of the saints are relevant to us today.
“We are all called to be saints, that’s what we’re designed for.
“The saints are our friends and they offer us friendship, example and prayer and these are the reasons why they are indispensable for a life of faith.”
Farewelling Jovina and wishing her all the best for the bright future ahead, she happened to add, “He has to make me laugh, too.”
