Thousands flocked to visit the relics of St Francis Xavier on display at St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth’s CBD but, for the youth of Santa Clara parish in Bentley, seeing the relics had a deeper meaning.
The parish is something of a living testament to the missionary work of St Francis, with the majority of parishioners hailing from diverse parts of Asia including Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India.
Parish priest, Fr Dennis Sudla said the young people who attended the pilgrimage to see the relics were able to identify with St Francis.
“We experience the universality of our Church [in our parish] and we were very happy on the day of the pilgrimage because most of the places St Francis visited were very much represented,” he said.
Fr Sudla said seeing the relics helped show parish youth that, like St Francis, they can work through their struggles and God can bring them fulfilment.
Twenty parish youth between the ages of 15 to 25 from the Santa Clara parish visited the relic of St Francis’ hand and were led on a tour by Fr Dennis around the grounds of the Cathedral.
St Francis was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the 16th century in Spain.
A founding member of the Society of Jesus with St Ignatius of Loyola, he went on to become possibly the most prolific missionary in the Church after St Paul.