At Great Barrier Reef, an open-air chapel for World Youth Day cross

Published: 2007-09-27

CAIRNS, Australia (CNS) -- The navy patrol boat HMAS Broome took a break from security operations along Australia's northern border to transport the World Youth Day cross, icon and aboriginal message stick to the aqua blue waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The trip fulfilled another milestone in the epic journey that is taking the symbols around the Australian continent for a year before World Youth Day, July 15-20, in Sydney. Anchored off Fitzroy Island, nearly 14 miles east of Cairns in the Coral Sea, the HMAS Broome became a rocking open-air chapel for a prayer service Sept. 22. Deacon Matt Ransom, officiating for the Cairns Diocese, began the service quoting the Book of Genesis about God creating the waters teeming with swarms of living creatures. Deacon Ransom said the Book of Genesis could be describing the abundance of life forms on the Great Barrier Reef and in its surrounding waters. "People who spend even a few hours exploring the reef become conservationists for life," he said, noting that warming sea temperatures and climate change posed the greatest threat to the reef's biodiversity.

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