The Sydney Centre for Evangelisation (SCE) is gearing up to welcome 1,000 men for its annual St Joseph Camino Walk in the picturesque Sutherland Shire for the largest annual men’s pilgrimage in Australia.
Registrations are now open for the event, which has blossomed from a humble gathering of 40 participants to an impressive 750 men last year.
“Its growing every year because God has established men to be the leaders of their families, the leaders of society, the leaders of the church and I think just that sheer witness of men, seeing a whole mass of men praying to our Lord and taking their faith seriously, is attractive in itself, because that’s what the human heart wants us, and it really wants God. It wants a relationship with God,” said Michael Jaksic, Officer from the Life Marriage Family team within the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation.
A highlight of this year’s event will be the presence of Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers, who will accompany the men throughout the entire walk. His participation signifies not only the church’s support for men’s spirituality but also an invitation for deeper engagement in their faith journeys.
“Bishop Richard brings an added dimension but there’s also the added theme that on this walk Our Lord is present and waiting for the men to arrive into the parishes, that our Lord is waiting, is waiting for our presence, is waiting for our attention. And men arriving exposed to our Lord, exposed in the Blessed Sacrament, is a reminder that our Lord is always waiting he’s waiting on us, waiting on our ‘yes’,” Michael said.
“As St Augustine has said, ‘our hearts are restless until they rests in Thee.’
And I think men are getting a taste of that. They need that more than ever today, when they feel isolated. And so, our Lord is bringing men to community, to grow in faith and fraternity,” said Michael.
The 15 km walk will start with a mass at St Joseph’s in Como, before walking to parishes in Sutherland, Gymea, Miranda, Caringbah, before finishing at St Aloysius, Cronulla for a closing mass and BBQ celebration.
“We want to share our faith to that area, and we want those parishes to also be set on fire. We want to bring that to light to the people of the Shire,” Michael said.
Each parish stop will see the parish priest offer participants the opportunity to contemplate St Joseph’s virtues and his significant role as a protector and guide, a reminder of his journey to Egypt with Our Lady and the unborn Jesus, reinforcing the themes of guardianship, faith, and resilience.
“At each stop, men can expect a few minutes of silence and recollection, a brief reflection from Father on an aspect of St Joseph, for example. St Joseph most chaste. St Joseph, the ‘terror of demons’, and how in that reflection they can imitate Saint Joseph in their own masculinity, as a model for our manhood.”
As anticipation builds, organiser Michael, in his first year as head of Maximus Men’s Ministry, is equal parts excited and nervous, “but it will be a powerful night of brotherhood among participants,” he said.
Follow the link to register.
 is gearing up for its annual Camino of St Joseph Walk, the largest annual men’s pilgrimage in Australia plans to welcome 1,000 men for its annual St Joseph Camino Walk in the picturesque Sutherland Shire.){kind=link}