ADELAIDE: Day 1

Mary Rose Bacani Valenti

July 21, 2008
adelaidecrew.jpgOur Salt + Light coverage of World Youth Day may be over, but Australia is still on the map for a few of us! I fly back to Toronto this coming Friday, July 25th, but until I do, expect a daily blog from Australia from yours truly!
This afternoon, Kris Dmytrenko, Richard Valenti, Fr. Stefano, Fr. Tom and I flew two hours to Adelaide. It's a city on the southern tip of Australia, a little west of Sydney. I’ve heard that if you were to drive it straight through from Sydney, it would take 24 hours.
Fr. Tom is scheduled to present to three different parishes here in the Archdiocese of Adelaide on St. Gianna Molla. One of the production projects we’ll do while we’re here is to film his evening talk on Wednesday.
Our host for the evening was John Luttrell, the Coordinator for Diocesan Events for the Archdiocese of Adelaide. He picked us up from the airport, drove Fr. Tom to Archbishop Philip Wilson’s house (Archbishop Wilson also happens to be the President of the Australian Conference of Catholic Bishops), and drove the rest of us to the Monastery and Retreat House run by the Passionists.
During our dinner at an iconic Italian restaurant, we discussed the itinerary for the next few days. I will update you on our daily adventures, but one thing we’ve also decided to do is a Catholic Focus on Blessed Mary MacKillop, the first Australian saint. We have so much material from Pope Benedict’s visit to her Shrine, and both the Pope and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd quoting Blessed Mary MacKillop several times, our own footage and interviews during our time at her Shrine in north Sydney, and now our trip here to Adelaide. We will see some of the schools associated with her, the chapel where she was excommunicated, and more!
Australians have a great love for Blessed Mary MacKillop, and I’m here to delve deeper into her life, her impact, and her personality.
And of course, I’m also here to see my first kangaroo.