Each year, Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD becomes the gathering place for Catholics for the Walk with Christ festival – a day of music, teaching and fellowship before a Eucharistic procession moves toward St Mary’s Cathedral. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
For Sofia Mifsud, an MC for the festival and an officer with Sydney Catholic Youth within the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation, the November 22 festival is an important “warm up” for the procession. “It allows the intention of community to be built and to come together as a community,” she said.
“You show up with your parish with your banner, and that allows you to engage in those conversations before you enter into a time of prayer.”
Ms Mifsud said the festival prepares people spiritually for what a Eucharistic procession is, “for those who have done it before and for those who are new to encountering the wider Church coming together”.
Music plays a central role in that preparation. This year’s program includes Fr Rob Galea, who will travel from interstate to warm up the faithful before they walk. The festival features the youth choir All Saints Liverpool and the ensemble Jubilate Deo, both drawn from local parishes and schools.
Ms Mifsud said music has a way of opening hearts before prayer begins. “Music is universal,” she said. “It speaks to people in different ways, and it opens their hearts to the prayerful experience they are about to have.”
The festival also includes catechesis from speakers who will help participants understand what they are about to enter. Ms Mifsud said the lineup shows the universal nature of the Church.
“It shows young people there are other young people in the Church,” she said, “and that our faith unites us regardless of language or culture.”
For Ms Mifsud, the role of MC is about more than introductions. Standing on stage gives a view of the crowd as it grows through the day.
“You see young families, parish communities, young people, and even people walking by who stop to have a look. You think, wow, the Church is so alive.”
She hopes the festival will encourage people to bring friends and family along, including those who are not yet practising their faith.
“Watching people stop who don’t even know Walk with Christ is happening is also a public witness,” she said. “It makes them curious about what is happening.”
Details: 2026 Walk with Christ.
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Warming hearts for the walk: inside the Walk with Christ festival (By Darren Ally, The Catholic Weekly)
