After WYD SYD

The first "Theology on Tap" after World Youth Day in Sydney was quite a gathering. Four to five hundred young people met at one of the city's many pubs to listen to Bishop Fisher speak. Bishop Fisher, an Auxilliary Bishop in Sydney, was the Co-ordinator of WYD SYD.

The enthusiasm and interest of the young people was overwhelming as Bishop Fisher spoke. He told us that a huge number of Bishops from across the world who had taken part in WYD had contacted him to say that WYD SYD had been the best WYD ever! He had received innumerable emails from young people speaking of how they had encountered Christ in Sydney and experienced His Spirit. The Holy Father too, since his return to Rome, has spoken at every public ocassion about the event - he can't get it out of his head. Bishop Fisher spoke directly and warmly to the young people challenging them to respond to the Holy Father's call - to become the World Youth Day Apostles that the Holy Father had asked them to be.

Fr Fleming, President of Campion College, many of its students and myself took part in this evening's gathering; we sensed the keenness and the eagerness of this great throng of young people to exercise the Spirit's gifts in the New Evangelisation which is gathering momentum in Australia. It is a very exciting time to be "down under".