Our Church is a wonderful place with space for all people. Our older parishioners are the stalwarts of our parishes. We raise our children in the faith through our schools and parishes, and invite them to the many youth groups on offer. But then, something happens when people “graduate” from their youth groups. A new phase of life – potentially marriage, children, new careers, home ownership, changing relationships, and more.
So what is available for people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s navigating life and faith at these pivotal stages? It’s a big question, that our Mission Enhancement Team (MET), particularly Donnie Velasco is looking into, with its new offering – The FaithFeed ECHO. We hear from Donnie about the new offering:
“What can life and faith look like in your 20s, 30s and 40s?” This is one of the core questions that formed and directs The FaithFeed in the Diocese of Parramatta. As a diocese-developed initiative, The FaithFeed seeks to respond to the key potential reasons as to why Catholics in this age group have stopped attending Mass.1
One such response that The FaithFeed offers to those in this demographic is launching on Sunday 20 October. Known as “TFF ECHO” – this brand new space is one that brings together creativity, music and meaningful conversations that echo the God of love who works in us, among us and around us!
“I definitely enjoyed the first one [I attended] and plan to return in future,” shared one medical professional who discovered The FaithFeed online when looking for young adult faith spaces to attend.

Participants are seen during The FaithFeed Conversations at the Bishop Bede Heather Centre, Blacktown, on Friday 15 July. Image: Diocese of Parramatta.
“I feel like it’s a start on a journey of self discovery. I want to do more. I want to be in the space actively. The MET – [team behind The FaithFeed] – inspire me,” another young adult ministry leader shared, having volunteered at a previous event hosted by The FaithFeed.
What is signature about spaces facilitated by The FaithFeed is that whilst adults of all ages are invited to attend, the planning, coordination and delivery is conducted by adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
“It’s so rare to find spaces where you’re taken seriously. And often you have to wait until you’re 50 before you’re given that opportunity through the Church. By then it feels a little too late,” a family ministry leader once shared.
In the past, The FaithFeed experience has taken the shape of “studio audiences”, where participants are invited to hear a life and faith story from someone in their 20s, 30s and 40s within a bar-café vibe atmosphere.

Alison Ryan from the Mission Enhancement Team speaks during The FaithFeed Conversations at the Bishop Bede Heather Centre, Blacktown, on Friday 11 November. Image: Diocese of Parramatta
However, as part of the original planning of The FaithFeed in 2016, three models of congregating for young adults were pitched to over 100 people in this age category in order to determine what The FaithFeed should look like, feel like, and focus on. Those consulted were invited to share their honest thoughts on what they would feel confident to invite some of their friends to as an experience of Church, especially if those friends felt disconnected or unfamiliar with Church.
The three options proposed during those consultations were 1) accompaniment through small groups (e.g. Bible study program); 2) Storytelling with an audience (e.g. like with TED talks); and 3) Live music as a form of communal prayer (e.g. Catholic Charismatic prayer groups).

Fr Charbel Dib, an ordained priest and married father of four from the Maronite Catholic Church speaks during The FaithFeed at Our Lady, Queen of Peace Parish, Greystanes. Image: Diocese of Parramatta
Each of these options carried support and enthusiasm by those consulted. And now, TFF Echo, where creativity, music and meaningful conversations that echo the God of love who works in us, among us and around us, kicks off on Sunday 20 October, bringing to life the third of the three original offerings that The FaithFeed had always intended to provide within the Diocese. In signature TFF style, the space will be led by musicians and creatives in their 20s, 30s and 40s, whilst being open to adults of all ages to gather together and celebrate life & faith.
“Music creates harmony, thereby reaching everyone, consoling those who suffer, rekindling enthusiasm in the downhearted, and bringing forth wonderful values such as beauty and poetry, which reflect God’s harmonious light,” Pope Francis offers, reminding all how life and faith can find wholesome integration through music.
“Unless you do something new, you’ll keep getting the same results,” a seasoned youth and young adult ministry leader shared, when commenting about what’s available in the Australian Church.
TFF Echo is a free event, starting at 7pm on Sunday 20 October upstairs at 1-5 Marion Street Blacktown. Doors open at 6:30pm with hospitality provided. Click here for more information and to register.
[1] Robert Dixon, “Australian Catholicism and Globalisation,” in Weaving Theology in Oceania: Culture, Context and Practice, ed. Beatrice Green and Keiti Ann Kanongata’a (NE: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020), 237-253, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/reader.action?docID=6373453&ppg=259; Pastoral Projects Office, Catholics Who Have Stopped Attending Mass (Victoria: Australian Catholics Bishops Conference, 2007), 4-5, 7-8, 16-18, 24, 29-30, 32, 36-37, 43, 47-49; https://ncpr.catholic.org.au/pdf/DCReport.pdf.