Thousands of young people from across the country converged on Perth for the 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF). Around 5,500 attendees spent three days in December reflecting on the biblical exhortation to “Listen to what the Spirit is saying”. The festival combines traditional and innovative approaches to help young people better understand the Catholic faith.

All of us have some sense of what is peaceful and what is not. This sense is born from experience of strife among ourselves, within our nation and on the international stage. Most of us do not like conflict. We want to live with as little conflict as possible and to have the opportunity to get on with our own lives.

Ian Bonaccorso, born and bred in Stanthorpe Parish, first travelled in 2014 to the Italian town of Montecarotta to the birthplace of Fr Jerome Davadi to delicately add truth and meaning to the book, “Davadi: Fruit, Wine and Religion”.