By Thomas Scaria
Bengaluru, Dec 5, 2024: Father Robert Galea, an internationally acclaimed gospel musician from Australia, has robbed the hearts of young people in Bengaluru with his magical music, powerful preaching and the touching testimonies.
“It was really a lifetime experience and was very touched to see the entire audience singing along, praying together and getting blessed,” said Tomy Thomas, a young engineer after watching the December 4 program at Good Shepherd Auditorium.
The musical concert, held December 3-4 attracted nearly 5,000 youngsters who sang and danced with the entire congregation including several priests and nuns.
The program was organized by some music enthusiasts with the support of the Archdiocese of Bangalore in aid of charities.
The musician priest, popularly known as Fr. Rob, brought his audience a mood of entertainment, prayer and worship that ended with an adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and a symbolic enactment of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.
Thomas said he had never heard about Father Rob until the Bengaluru concert and had no clue about how it would turn out. “But I can never forget the spiritual nourishment and experience I have gone through in this music show,” he told Matters India.
Benny Pinto, one of the sponsors, said Father Rob had engaged the youth throughout the show.
“Fr. Bob’s concert, prayer and worship were simply amazing and it was like a retreat, so refreshing,” said Pinto, an active member of youth ministries in Bangalore.
“Something about you – an encounter of Joy” was the slogan of the music show which was presented with the musician’s testimony about his struggles, ambitions, frustrations, and addictions as a youth and his in-depth experience of Jesus.
The concert was presented as “Art for a Cause” under the banner of “ICON Ministry”
Most songs were the priest’s compositions, born out of personal struggles of youthhood and his spiritual experience with Jesus.
“As a teenager, I clashed with my parents and ran away from home at the age of 13 and grew up in dark corners of streets with the newly found friends, drugs, crimes and violence till I realized my life was fully in turmoil,” Father Rob shared his story as a prodigal son.
He returned to his home after several years of street life, but his parents wholeheartedly received him back. “I spent nearly eight months in my room, still yelling at my mom to leave me alone,” said the priest in a visibly emotional tone. He credited his mother’s prayer and perseverance with his Jesus experience.
Father Rob is in India mainly to take part in the exposition of the body of St. Francis Xavier in Goa. But he has performances scheduled in various cities, including Mumbai.
“This is his first performance in Bengaluru and we had an amazing response from the youth of the city,” said Redemptorist Father Sandeep Menezes, one of the coordinators of the Bengaluru event.
He said Fr. Rob is currently serving in Sandhurst diocese, Victoria, after moving to Australia from Malta. Father Galea shot to fame after his participation in a prime-time TV show called X-factor in Australia.
He has sung in front of Pope Francis thrice and thrilled millions of youths and guided them to the spiritual experience in the World Youth Day celebrations in Panama, in 2019.
With eight musical albums and a hot-seller book titled. “Breakthrough,” the priest’s life story of transformation, is being released as a Hollywood movie shortly, said Father Menezes.
“Fr. Rob is spreading the message of hope, faith and love, touching millions of youths around the globe with his life testimony, music and healing ministry,” said Nisha Colaso Ninan, a lay leader and another organizer of the event.
Claretian Father George Kannanthanam, a coordinating committee member of the event, told Matters India that funds collected from the show will be used for various charities in Bengaluru, including Sumanahalli leprosy center, Jyothiseva center for the blind, St. Patrick’s Orphanage, and education of Manipuri refugees.
Fund will also be used for the rescue and rehabilitation of the victims of human trafficking under the Talitha Kum, a movement spearheaded by the Catholic nuns from various congregations.
Janine, the secretary of Father Rob, told Matters India that ICON Ministry will launch a special platform for the teenagers soon through the “Games applications” where they will encounter Jesus through various games and experience of a virtual Cathedral.
“We need to tell the Gospel to various groups where they are available and through the activities they would like to engage,” she added.