andrewlighten.com

Is it really 11 days since my last blog entry? I guess so. It’s been a busy few weeks. Work has been flat out on a final push to get my current project done, and I’ve been quite busy. I’ve spent a lot of time working from home where I’ve been able to get a heap of things done, and I spent a day in the CBD (went in on the train) to assist the customer with some final testing work.

Today was quite a special event in Maryborough. The Catholic Church have an initiative called the World Youth Day Cross. It was started by Pope John Paul II in 1983 and given to the youth of the world as a focal point for the church’s work. More info here.

The World Youth Day has been held in a wide variety of different places, and at the moment it’s Australia’s turn. The actual day is in Sydney in July next year, but as part of the build up the cross and a sacred icon are passing through all of the Catholic diocese in Australia. At the moment it’s in the Ballarat diocese, and today was Maryborough’s turn.

The cross arrived in the town square at 4pm, and after it was assembled and erected there were a few short speeches and prayers before a walk from there to the church. At the church there was an ecumenical service after which everyone was invited to spend a few contemplative moments with the cross as they saw fit. I took The Kid up and we read the Pope’s inscription on the plaque.

Although we’re not members of the Catholic church we participate in events like this for a few reasons. First, it helps support The Kid’s education. It would be slightly confusing for her to have religious education as part of her school day and for us to dismiss it as stupid. Second, it’s far from stupid. Although I personally struggle to believe many of the church’s literal teachings I totally understanding much of the underlying message: the sense of community and the drive for us all to become better people by caring more for others who are sometimes less fortunate than us.

I’ve put a photo gallery up on SmugMug.