A year ago last week I was sitting in a cafe near North Sydney station in Sydney, writing a plan for how Restless Press would actually work.
You see, a site like Restless Press had been a plan in my mind for sometime.
This is the area of my life that is so automatic and God has led me in such a path that I feel this is what he inspires me to do. I’m passionate about communications and communicating Christ. Its more than an interest, it is the way God moves me (other than my vocation as a wife and mother, which cannot be belittled either).
My Testimony
From a small age I wanted to be a writer or journalist. I was the child who carried the notebook, constantly writing poetry or stories, forcing my siblings to be in ‘news pieces’ and all that.
At the same time, despite not being Catholic and one half of my family being firmly anti-religious, I had no doubt in Christ and his love and prayed constantly. I had great examples in many members of my family, including my grandmother, and my mother took us along to (an evangelical) Church each week, where we attended great Sunday Schools and witnessed her attending prayer groups and the like for most of my childhood.
When things got harder in my teen years, being the eldest of five children in a single parent family, facing the normal teenage issues, reconciling how I should deal with divorced parents, my own self worth, how to fit in at high school and all that, I turned to faith to help. Christ offered uncomplicated answers to the anxiety that I felt:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” – Philippians 4:4-9
I made great friends, who attended the local youth group and I tagged along too. I found the regularity and routine of the Catholic Church to be a comfort among what felt like chaos in every other aspect of my life. I was drawn to the Eucharist, and threw myself into helping and leading youth ministry activities from about the age of 14. All this time I hadn’t received my first communion, which made me frustrated, helping with all these things yet not going through the preparation to actually receive, and missing the sacrament despite the commitment I had made to come to church and to try to live for Christ.
Finally, when I was 16, I took my first communion and confirmation in the beautiful chapel of the sisters of the Little Company of Mary and began formally, life as a Catholic.
God Led Life
That same year, I started dating my future husband, through youth ministry that we were both involved in, and as our relationship grew, we went through the journey together, learning more about our faith, the Church teaching and dedicating our lives more to Christ as our relationship grew.
Following school, I did a degree in Media and Communication at Canterbury University, and filled my life with lots of voluntary work: trying to gain journalistic experience wherever I could – writing for anything and everything, being involved in youth ministry at a parish and diocesan level, and whatever other causes or things I could find. Everything really, with Joseph by my side, doing most things together.
Following many God-led coincidences, I ended up in Sydney working for WYD 2008 as the Journey of the Cross and Icon Liaison, doing media and scheduling for the JCI, gaining great practical experience and insight, meeting people and building friendships with people all over the world. Particularly from around Australia and New Zealand, being the New Zealand representative in the international office, and working with dioceses from all around Australia.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Being away for that year was also invaluable for my faith. I got terribly homesick at times, spent a lot of time alone, but also had amazing once in a lifetime opportunities. Francis Xavier Nguyen van Thuan’s Five Loaves and Two Fish became my little book that I re-read daily. I had a chance to be a voice for the Church, being interviewed for international Catholic and secular media as an enthusiastic and passionate young Catholic, who had left home to come and have the year long World Youth Day experience.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
While there another ‘God-incidence’ happened and I somehow ended up assisting with Vatican Radio and Zenit, writing pieces and sharing friendship with a beautiful woman involved in all sorts of things in the Church and various causes in Australia. God lead me in an amazing year full of big and small opportunities in that time.
While apart for the year, Joseph and I got engaged, and on returning to NZ to marry Joseph, I took up the role of running the Connect website for the NZCBC and working in youth ministry again, for the diocese and running Theology of the Body for Teens with Joseph.
Being Involved in Catholic Digital Media
Four babies in close succession followed, God blessed us with two girls and two boys within four years.
During those baby years, I sought intellectual stimulation and began writing, first my own blog, then for NZ Catholic and a few Catholic websites in the US – Ignitum Today and Catholic Stand, where I was republished in various Catholic media and gained some experience and insights into how editing these magazine type sites worked.
God speaks to me through writing. It isn’t something I necessarily do to enjoy – frankly I sit and struggle at it on my own. But my experience is that I go to Mass or I pray and God hits me with words. Words that have to be written down or else they burn within me. It is none of me and all of Him.
Restless Press
And so back to that sitting in the cafe in North Sydney. I was attending the Catholic Digital Media Conference, and for a while I’d been putting out feelers and had a rough plan to start an Australasian version of an Ignitum Today type site.
Australasian Catholic Digital Media seemed rather disconnected, so my mission for Restless Press was to endeavour to be a Digital Magazine that not only sought to evangelise, but also to increase in quality and solidarity Catholic Digital Media in Australasia – those who already create it and those who are just starting out. God had led me to that moment, I combined all the knowledge I had, the people and contacts I had made of the years and the experience and passion I had to try my best to begin.
Restless Press launched on October 1, 2014, and to date we have 355 posts from 79 contributors, with over 86,000 views. The contributor’s community for Restless Press are a great group of people, living their faith in all walks of life: seminarians, sisters, priests, mothers, professionals, single people, and all sorts, from all around Australia and New Zealand and as far as Thailand and Belgium.
We’ve had some awards and one conference, Blessed Gathering, based on the Edel Gathering in the US. I like to follow through on developing these crazy ideas!
I am always interested in people who would love to share their stories, passions, interests and faith on Restless Press, if you are interested you can get in touch with me.
Thank you for your support in reading, writing, and sharing Restless Press. We are all people who do this for the love of it, and many people have put hours into making Restless Press what it is. Without that passion and love, Restless Press wouldn’t have the quality content that it does.
We often don’t get a lot of direct feedback about how you find Restless Press, so feel free to comment below and let us know: have you been following us, what do you enjoy, what would you like to see more of? and let us know about your own faith journey, we’d love to hear your stories.
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