St Joachim’s Primary School Lidcombe hosted a massive 11-school, 750-student procession through a local park all the way to the parish church which the saw the Sydney Catholic Schools in the Auburn and Lakemba area come together to proclaim the faith.
The Year 5 and 6 students began the day at Phillips Park and assembled before beginning the walk reverently, praying the rosary as they made their way to St Joachim’s church.
Maria Maiorana, principal of St Joachim’s Primary School and organiser of the event, said it was planned a year in advance.
“The vision for this special day came from a pastoral council meeting held last December at St Joachim’s where we discussed ways to inspire people to take up pilgrimage in this year of Jubilee especially since St Joachim’s is one of the nominated pilgrim churches,” she told The Catholic Weekly.
“I think the Holy Spirit moved us to think about the children and how this could be an opportunity to strengthen the faith of our youth and from here the notion of a student pilgrimage was born.”
She said it was meant to serve as the first pilgrimage most of the students would attend, with notable exception of the few St Joachim’s students who travelled to Italy earlier in the year for what was planned to be the canonisation of Blessed Carlo Acutis.
“The procession was an opportunity for the children of our network to gain a glimpse of what it means to be a pilgrim of hope,” she said.
“Following in the example of Blessed Carlo, the procession offered our children an opportunity to profess their faith together, to be pilgrims of good news and to participate in a form of prayer that is part of our Catholic history.”
Maiorana said seeing the joy on children’s faces and basking in the prayerful atmosphere was inspiring.
“Our faith is one of joy and good news and this was certainly the case in our experience of the day,” she said.
Religious education coordinator Hannah Elliot, and students Kevin Kim and Gabriel Rovero all enjoyed the event.
Elliott said it was a “great success” and felt moved by watching the children pray with each other and follow St Joachim’s parish priest Fr Epeli Qimaqima’s lead.
“It was even more beautiful than I imagined as each child understood the importance of what was occurring and why they were processing to the church,” she said.
The devotion of the hundreds of students present was strong as Rovero, who had earlier in 2025 gone on a pilgrimage to Rome, felt inspired by the reverence of the children during the procession.
Kim, who is also school captain, said he could “feel the Lord processing with us to the Holy Door.”
He said his favourite thing was hearing the students from the various schools singing hymns but wished the younger students were able to join in the procession.
“Although it was not meant to be an annual event, the success of the day may lead us to reflect on this again,” Maiorana said.
