(from our correspondents in Australia) Australian youngsters too have finally taken to the streets. So far they have been bystanders: timid spectators of the festivities that their contemporaries from all over the world are offering to the city of Melbourne that is hosting them for the "Days in the Dioceses" in the run-up to WYD in Sydney. Wearing yellow wigs with green headbands inscribed with the slogan Australia, the youth of Melbourne mingled with the some 50,000 who flocked to the Telstra Dome yesterday evening to participate in the mass that opened the Days in the Dioceses in the capital of the State of Victoria. "We are amazed say Clare Lee, Sinead Ashman and Helen Milroy of Melbourne we’ve never seen anything like it! It’s incredible, the strength they give you, these youngsters who aren’t afraid to show their faith. It’s a stimulus for us to do the same in our family and at school. We think this is the legacy that WYD will leave us". "People have a need for faith; experiencing religion at this time restores to us the pride of being Catholics", declares for her part Mandy Parikova, who is of Czech origin, observing the huge throng of festive youth in the streets of Melbourne. Geraldine White, who has three children, has welcomed "with joy" some young pilgrims in her home, so that her children can "share the spirit of this experience". "It’s difficult for us to communicate she adds because our languages are different, but it’s also amusing. In the end, to translate what we’re trying to say, we use the search engines on the internet". (to be continued)
