Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Youth

Learning to follow God’s call

byStaff writers
13 January 2008
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

DEVETT O’Brien is passionate about young people’s involvement in the Church and has now responded to a new call by God.

“I felt that God was calling me to go further and give myself up to do something that didn’t benefit me,” the 21-year-old said.

Devett experienced this prompting during the Agora dei Giovani (meeting of the young people) conference in Italy in September.

He was chosen with 15 other Australians to attend and promote World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008.

A highlight of the journey was a prayer vigil with Pope Benedict XVI and 300,000 others in Loreto as well as a visit to the tomb of St Peter.

“(While at the tomb) I felt like I was in a position like St Peter of saying I would go anywhere and do anything but when it came to the crunch I didn’t want to admit to following Jesus.

“So I was challenged to do more than this … I decided that I should give up the financial benefits of the job I had as a way of being more humble and trying to learn how to be more open to God.”

Devett, who for the last three years has been the only paid employee of the Young Christian Students (YCS) nationally, will work in a similar capacity for no pay in 2008, following God’s “call”.

“I’ve got no idea if it will work but I’ll give it a go,” he said.

YCS is facilitated by secondary school students and exists for their benefit.

Related Stories

All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

First involved in the movement in 1999, Devett said he has gained much from the experience including leadership skills.

“As a student it really gives you the chance to take ownership and make it the movement that you want it to be.

“Now I have a group of five students who are 15 to 18 years, who are my boss.”

The movement has experienced 500% growth in the last three years which “shows that what we are doing is connecting with the reality of young people”, Devett continued.

He hopes to build on this growth in 2008.

“Our challenge is to then go beyond the initial connection to develop a sense of the relevance of God in their lives.

“Pope Benedict has called for us to ‘build a new generation of apostles’ and this is exactly what YCS does through connecting with secondary school students and forming them as Christian leaders.”

While Devett will work in a voluntary capacity for YCS this year, his role has been divided in two which he said “will allow some more time to develop that formation process that produces young leaders who are prepared to follow Jesus”.

“It will also mean that we can offer the experience of being involved in YCS to more people and more dioceses. It is something that our Church and our world really needs right now,” he said.

Since January 10, Devett has been at the YCS national conference in Sydney where more than 50 secondary students Australia wide will gather to share news and plan for the future.

“We’ll develop a vision and plan for YCS and over the next three years we’ll implement that plan.

“Obviously this conference will have particular importance because the plan will include World Youth Day and the start of the post-World Youth Day period when peoples’ energy and enthusiasm will be high.”

Themed “Empower the students, enrich their lives, enlighten their faith”, the YCS conference will be a chance to “give school students a voice on a national level”.

Last Thursday, to open the conference, Bishop of Darwin, Eugene Hurley, and Bishop of Wollongong, Peter Ingham, celebrated a Mass in Parramatta Cathedral.

Also on the opening day, a student forum was held based on the YCS national campaign theme of “100 percent respect”.

“The campaign is about building respect in all areas of our lives,” Devett said.

The remainder of the conference, until January 16, will be held in Mittagong, south-west of Sydney, after which Devett will return to his Brisbane base to take up God’s invitation.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

THE GOLDEN COMPASS

Next Post

This ‘miracle boy’ is heading off to school

Staff writers

Related Posts

Vatican

All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

27 May 2022
Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria
World

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

27 May 2022
Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia
Australia

Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

26 May 2022
Next Post

This 'miracle boy' is heading off to school

School fees burden

Bioethicists to join forces

Popular News

  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Christian Brothers’ community mourn the passing of Brother Tony White

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Vatican

All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

by Staff writers
27 May 2022
0

By Catholic News Agency THE Vatican is inviting Catholics to join Pope Francis in praying the rosary...

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

27 May 2022
Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

26 May 2022
Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

26 May 2022
Pope Francis – ‘My heart is broken’ over Texas elementary school shooting

Pope Francis – ‘My heart is broken’ over Texas elementary school shooting

26 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping