Communio Calling
Communio Calling
International Benedictine Youth Congress
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For Communio Calling's final episode for 2025 join host Gabrielle Sinclair in conversation with GSE students who attended the International Benedictine Youth Congress (IBYC). An initiative of the International Commission for Benedictine Education (ICBE), the congress took place at Sant'Anselmo, Rome, from 19-21 September.
Six students from Rosebank College represented the Australian-Pacific region at IBYC, together they share their reflections on their experience, walking in the footsteps of St Benedict, and connecting with the global Benedictine community.
Welcome to Good Samaritan Education's podcast, Communio Calling. My name is Gabrielle Sinclair, and I'll be your host. Today I'm sharing with you a conversation with the Australian students who participated in the recent International Benedictine Youth Congress. Hosted by the International Commission of Benedictine Education, a youth congress had not been held since 2015. Previous initiatives had been scheduled in the host country of World Youth Days prior to the former World Youth Day events. Some might remember Sydney hosted one such gathering in 2008. Prior to the Portugal World Youth Day last year, this was considered too challenging to coordinate as there was no Benediction place to host such a gathering in the host country. So another approach was needed. Taking up the call to be Pilgrims of Hope in 2025, the ICBE, the International Commission for Benedictine Education, called forth a youth congress to be hosted at St. Anselmo in Rome, a small gathering to reignite this initiative. So from September 19 to 21 in Rome, this gathering began. And six students from Rosebank presented our region for Benedictine Education. Our students were joined by students from Austria, Germany, South Africa, Chile, the Philippines, and Brazil. The days were filled with different types of encounter from prayer and liturgy, dialogue, deaneries and small groups, presentations from each region, conversations with the Abbot Primates, and pilgrimage was the spirit of the whole gathering. There was a lot of fun with many celebrations and cultural exchanges and so much more. So the students had the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Benedict in Rome to understand the context of how and where he lived before they took the day to pilgrimage to Subiaco to deepen their understanding of Benedict's desire to search for God. And this sense of legacy of Benedict was all around them in these days. So they truly began to understand what it was to be part of this larger story, not just tucked away here in Australia. Let's jump into our conversation. So here is Georgia, Noah, Sophia, Will, Isabella, and Jeremy from Rosebank College. So it's probably about just over a month since we were in Rome together. What are the enduring memories? What are the favourite highlights and memories that you're still kind of bubbling around and come back to?
SPEAKER_01I like St. Cecilia in Tristebre because there was a band playing. Will, I don't know if you noticed. Yeah, I didn't notice there was a band playing. But the clarinet player was very talented.
SPEAKER_03It was lovely, it was lovely to hear.
SPEAKER_01Very talented. That's stuck with me a while.
SPEAKER_03I don't think anything can top the Vatican.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'd say my favourite memory was really just getting to meet other people from around the world. And we really made friends. Like we still keep in contact on WhatsApp. And it was just really fun, like laughing and getting to know each other. How about you, Ginger?
SPEAKER_04I love Suriaco. Like just looking from above, it was just so beautiful. I think me, Miss Camperale, and Will were just like looking over right next to the cross and looking over at the view. And it's just so nice and it's so peaceful. Especially going from busy Rome. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We just needed that day out of still. It's just relaxing. That was such a good day out.
SPEAKER_04And after the at the church? Yeah. That was my favorite part. I was like in the grotto. Yeah. Yes. Oh, it was just it was the best. But then what about you?
SPEAKER_06I think like all of like our chats with like the mini groups as well was really cool. I think just hearing how everyone, what they were thinking, and like just having reflections was a really cool feeling, especially at Fubiyako, because it was so peaceful and quiet. Was just able to like sit with our thoughts after that day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's cool. So what do you think you've learned, or what was the kind of different expressions that you saw about being benedicted from your peers across the world? What are the things that you picked up on?
SPEAKER_02I noticed that when giving the sign of peace to each other, people from I think it was from Chile, they would hug instead of shaking hands.
SPEAKER_03I thought that was really interesting. I guess kind of like Sasha and Jeremy did. We all believe in the same thing, but everyone's so different in the way they believe.
SPEAKER_01So they were speaking different languages first. But yeah, it was really weird. I was standing in Saints Galastica when we did the mass, and I was standing next to one Chile, one Brazil, and then it was me and Izzy next to each other as well. And all of us gave different signs of pieces, and we were all got really confused really quickly. So we kind of just had to like turn away, give other people signs of pieces, and then come back and figure it out. So that was quite interesting as well.
SPEAKER_05I thought one of the boys, Tomas, knew a lot about Saint Benedict, and in school we learn a lot about different stories about Saint Benedict, and it's really different. He was telling me like all the different stories about him, and it's really different hearing it from someone else your age, and you pick up on a lot of different things. Yeah, it's just good learning from everyone else and what they learn.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Thanks. You know, you have been hearing all of these stories for since you arrived at school. What was it like to then be walking in the footsteps?
SPEAKER_05It was like very surreal, like hearing it and then actually being there. Like you almost don't believe it, but it makes you feel like more connected to God on like a different level.
SPEAKER_00You would have been visiting Subiaco and being basically the same age when Benedict arrived. So did that actually dawn on you that like you know he was hanging out in this space at basically the same age as you?
SPEAKER_04I think someone said that to us. And I was like, there's no way that someone our age could be do that and be like that. Like you're so like I kind of like reflected on it on how like we could also do something similar, not so jurassically, but how we can be those expressions of faith, I guess.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's pretty radical turning away from the chaos of the world in small ways, is also something that we all need to do a bit better at. So that's something to consider. So, what was it like getting a bit of a taste of living the rhythm of a Benedictine or monastery life? What was your impressions?
SPEAKER_01I really enjoyed it. I reckon I could live as a monk for like a month.
SPEAKER_02It was surprisingly like relaxing. Yeah. It was very tranquil. At first, getting up at 5am was a bit much fun. Did like the rhythm of it breakfast at the same time, and then we have Compline and Vespers, and we go out and then we come back. I just liked the way that they had everything set up.
SPEAKER_00How'd you go with silent breakfast?
SPEAKER_04The bits were kind of like annoying me because everyone was like kind of moved ahead throughout that one part of it.
SPEAKER_03I did fine. I enjoyed it because just you enjoyed the purpose of just having a nice, quiet, starty day to yourself and reflecting on it and just a moment of peace before the chaos.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, didn't have to speak and got good food, so I was happy.
SPEAKER_00Yes, you definitely said very well. There are definitely morning people and definitely people that can chat and talk straight up in the morning, but it is nice to kind of ease into the day with a silent breakfast. Uh, you don't have to be completely awake 100% to engage in a full conversation. I I enjoyed it too. What was it like being in the space though, is being surrounded by the spaces that you got to experience?
SPEAKER_02It was very peaceful in the mornings. It would still be a little bit cold, and then you see the sun just coming into the cloister, and you could hear the fountain, and it was yeah, I thought it was really tranquil in the mornings.
SPEAKER_03It felt very homey, even though it wasn't like my home. Most of the times I've been on holidays or like just been out on trips, I've woken up and I'm like, where am I? This isn't this is not my like house, this is not where my bed. But even like the first night or the first morning waking up, I was like, this is normal, this is fine. So it's very, it's very welcoming.
SPEAKER_04I think I remember waking up and opening my window and I saw a monk across me, like praying, and it just like kind of showed me like their focus was really on God every morning, and it kind of shows like what I should be doing also.
SPEAKER_00As you said, Will, that sense of feeling at home is a very common experience when you go into Benedictine places. We all talk about that's hospitality, but when you actually receive it and understand it, like because you guys are you know, you're told to be hospitable and cultivate that in your school, but when you actually get to receive it, it's kind of a whole different understanding. Yeah, something we can try and continue to cultivate so that others get to experience it too. Yeah. Anyone else got something they want to share from their memories in San and Selmo? You know, particular moments of either prayer or being out in all the different places we visited that will stay with you for a long time.
SPEAKER_05Well, we want to be a couple. Like you were saying before, how Saint Benedict he was in the cave, like the same age as us. And I think everyone really realized that when we got there and it felt very surreal. And we had a moment where we were at the cave and everyone was just reflecting, and it was so silent, like there was probably 20 of us in there, maybe like in a very small space, but you could hear a pin drop and everyone reflecting, and it was a really beautiful moment.
SPEAKER_06I think also when we did prayers, like our father and stuff, and when we do it in like all of our languages at the same time, it was just really cool to have something that connects us all, even if it was in different languages where normally we wouldn't understand each other, just having that like point of connection was like a really cool way to think about it that somewhere across the world someone's saying the same thing as you.
SPEAKER_01I agree with how like almost intimate it was that day when we did like the footsteps of Saint Benedict, being like exactly where he started, going all the way to like his cave. It was just all very real. It didn't feel real. It I think it only really like felt real once I was sitting in the grotto of Saint Benedict, and I think that was like the most multicultural part of the trip that I experienced because there was just about everyone from every culture in the cave at one point when I was in there, and then all I heard was just whispers in different languages, and it was really it just didn't feel real, it felt like a dream, just felt like I was gonna wake up at any moment.
SPEAKER_03Bouncing off no, just especially in those moments of silence, even when there's no talking, you feel like there's different cultures about but all like we're all there together for one reason, and that's the full belief in that. And even touching what Izzy said, like during prayer when we said that our father, or during when there was our turn for Vespers, there was a hymn that everyone could sing in their own language, and when people were doing that, it was just like it's just it was just amazing that we can all not say the same thing but preach and do the same thing, or just praying the same thing, but in our own ways, and in that way it feels all connected and cultural.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02A spirit-filled moment for me would be when we were singing together in comp line. For my church, we do a lot of singing, so I guess that's something that's more familiar to me, and yeah, I really enjoyed that part.
SPEAKER_00Well, you ought to be all very uh proud of yourselves too, because there was lots of comments after the Zelvestas that we led about how joy-filled and easy everyone ever felt that they could join in. And I've been telling everyone that in the cultural exchange, the Austrian students taught the students to waltz and the Aussies taught everybody the nutbush. Yeah, is what are the other things, just the interactions with other peers that you're kind of gonna remember? Are they potential lifelong friendships that are gonna hang in there for a time?
SPEAKER_04My god, the cultural day was so fun. Yeah, and even like the end of it when we're all like taking pictures, saying bye to each other, each person that I kind of got close with said something that they appreciated about their time with me, and it was so special. I think everyone also had that experience where they come and say, Thank you for this, thank you for that. It was so special to meet you. And it was just creating those relationships.
SPEAKER_00It was really beautiful watching all of you like writing each other's rule that you'd been gifted. That was really cool too.
SPEAKER_03I was go back and read that. Yeah, especially was pretty fun. Was that the nights when we would play like cards and that together? What was it? The werewolf somewhere werewolf. Oh my god. Everyone would get so passionate. It was just so fun to have a group of 20 odd just have fun together. Playing the best.
SPEAKER_00That's where the beauty and the community build. So, you know, they're important times to just hang out and become friends. Well, it was an absolute delight to have you guys on the journey, and thank you so much for entering into the opportunity with such enthusiasm and gusto and prayerfulness at times. It was really beautiful to watch your journeys individually and collectively. Certainly indeed Good Samaritan Education proud in representing us. And so thank you so much. And you know, it's just the beginning. We'll see how we can connect you guys up long term with Benedictine schools across the world and continue your friendships and just know now you have a more tangible idea of what it is to be part of the Benedictine community and family worldwide. So, as you can hear from Jeremy, Georgia, Isabella, Will, Noah, and Sophia, it's an experience that has awoken a deepened understanding of their place in the Benedictine world and what they are a part of, and that language barriers are certainly not barriers to a heart and to community. The ICBE will hold its next international Benedictine Youth Congress in 2029. It will happen in conjunction with the Benedictine Year of Jubilee, celebrating 1,500 years of Benedictine life, coinciding with the establishment of Monte Cassino. But in the meantime, ICBE will be hosting its next big event in Melk Abbey and School in Austria, just outside of Vienna, for the next Bennett conference. It will take place in October to bring together leaders, teachers, and those in governance in Benedicton schools across the world. So maybe I'll see you then. So as you continue in your day, may the transforming table of hospitality be wide, inspiring you with mercy and compassion to go and do likewise.
