Meet the powerhouse pastoral team leading our pilgrimage to the 2025 Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Melbourne!
They’re all priests, they’re all local, and they’re not your average clergy team.
One’s a surfer and hiker, another’s a footy commentator, one’s never been to World Youth Day (seriously!), and one has a bishop for an uncle.
Pastoral Leader: Fr Junray Rayna
"I'm very pleased to be walking with you at this big celebration of our faith, the Australian Catholic Youth Festival. Recently, at the Jubilee of Youth, Pope Leo greeted thousands of young people, 'You are the salt of the earth and light of the world,” he told them. It’s a beautiful reminder that all of us are a light to the world and a light to our community.'
The ACYF is a gathering of young people celebrating our faith together. As pilgrims, you will have the wonderful opportunity to hear young people, from all over the country, share their stories, and share your story, too. Hopefully, you will find ways to be a light in your community as well.
Together, let’s build welcoming communities where everyone feels they truly belong, centred around our relationship with Jesus which extends to one another."
Hear from Fr Junray on YouTube.
Fr Junray is Administrator of St Kilian's, Bendigo. He is passionate about building welcoming communities where people feel they truly belong. He values deep connections with Christ and with one another and brings that spirit into every part of his ministry.
In his downtime, he enjoys hiking, camping in the mountains, and rarely misses his weekly surf at Torquay on Mondays, his day off. He’s looking forward to walking alongside ACYF pilgrims in formation, prayer, and the many joyful ways we celebrate and share our Catholic faith through pilgrimage.
Chaplains
Bishop Shane has appointed three Chaplains from the Clergy to accompany Sandhurst Pilgrims.
Fr Adi Indra
"My first encounter with the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) was 12 years ago at its inaugural event in Melbourne. None of us knew what to expect; we were buzzing with excitement as we made our way between venues at ACU Fitzroy Campus and Festival Hall. It felt fresh, alive, and almost like a mini-World Youth Day.
Ironically, I’ve never actually made it to a World Youth Day. The one I was finally going to attend (Poland 2016) fell through after months of prep. (Yes, I even bought a Polish language DVD!). But due to a seminary relocation overseas, I couldn’t go. God has a good sense of humour like that.
I credit much of my early priestly discernment to our homegrown Stronger Youth movement. My first retreat in 2011 was pivotal, and I always carry that experience with me. At this year’s ACYF, I hope to simply bring Jesus – our Lord and Friend – to everyone I meet, especially within our Sandhurst group.
Youth events like ACYF often offer powerful moments of encounter. For some, it’s the spark of a new faith journey; for others, it’s a deepening of an already growing relationship with Christ; now experienced within the wider Church. My hope is that it won’t just be a mountaintop moment, but one that leads us towards deeper communion with each other, and with Christ at the altar.
I can’t put it better than Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who will be canonised this September. He said: 'I urge you with all the strength of my soul to approach the Eucharist Table as often as possible. Feed on this Bread of the Angels from which you will draw the strength to fight inner struggles.' "
Fr Adi is Assistant Priest at Shepparton. Inspired by the 'Stronger Youth Movement'. He entered Corpus Christi College as a seminarian to begin his priestly formation. Fr Adi has a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained a priest of Sandhurst in 2021. Despite his time in Carlton, he has yet to pledge allegiance to a particular football club.
Fr Jackson Saunders
“I am delighted to be able to serve as a Chaplain and fellow pilgrim at the Australian Catholic Youth Festival.
I was blessed to be at the first ACYF in Melbourne in 2013. At the time, I was working in the Sandhurst Youth Ministry Office and accompanied 100 young people from across the Diocese at the event. I was blessed again to attend ACYF in Sydney in 2017 as a seminarian.
ACYF is a wonderful opportunity, a time of pilgrimage. We are not tourists! I look forward to joining with young people from across the Diocese as a fellow pilgrim in our individual, but also collective, journey of discipleship with the Lord. I look forward to getting to know our young people and sharing my life journey with them as a journalist, sports broadcaster, youth worker and priest.”
Hear from Fr Jackson on YouTube.
Fr Jackson is Assistant Priest at the Cathedral Cluster of Parishes, Bendigo. He was a seminarian at Corpus Christi College, Carlton and was ordained a priest of the Diocese in 2022. In 2023, he was Chaplain for the Sandhurst Pilgrimage to World Youth Day, Portugal. Fr Jackson squeezes in Sports commentating for Fresh FM Bendigo, as a hobby, and as a way of evangelising.
Fr Nathan Verallo
"It is with great joy that our Diocese prepares for the Sandhurst Pilgrimage to the Australian Catholic Youth Festival. Like my fellow Chaplains, I gladly and gratefully accept Bishop Shane’s appointment and look forward to accompanying our young people on this special journey.
I hope that our young Pilgrims will, of course, enjoy the festivities of ACYF but, more importantly, find meaning and purpose.
I trust that our young Pilgrims will encounter Jesus on this journey, so that when they return home to their families and communities, they will bring Jesus with them and become instruments of Jesus for others to encounter."
Hear from Fr Nathan on YouTube.
Fr Nathan is Parish Priest of Christ the King Parish in Wangaratta and Diocesan Vocations Director. He was a seminarian at Corpus Christi College and was ordained a priest of Sandhurst in 2018. He credits much of his faith formation to his Uncle, who is now a Bishop in the Philippines. A bit of a train buff, Fr Nathan enjoys the contemplation of watching the world go by from a train.
Making Space for Authentic Listening important, says Bishop
Bishop Shane suggests to Fr Junray and Sandhurst Youth Ministry that making space to hear the ideas and hopes of young people is very important. Watch the video.
