From Malta to the Metaverse: Fr Galea’s St Thomas More Forum

A variety of age groups attended this year’s Forum Dinner. Above: St Thomas More parishioners with Fr Rob Galea

Ran away from home at 13, on the streets at 14, an addict at 15, gangs at 16, and into theft, drugs, self harm, dark thoughts, and so addicted “I didn’t know who I was anymore”.

Now he does know who he is – an internationally acclaimed author, singer, and song-writer. Rob Galea is also …a Catholic priest.

Fr Rob brought all this to the fore in his keynote address for the St Thomas More Oration in Canberra on 14 June titled, Engaging an AI and Metaverse Generation.

In a highly entertaining account, he discussed his troubled upbringing in Malta, his emigration to Australia, his calling to the priesthood, and so much more.

Turning 17 was the turning point in his life, he said, when someone told him to try praying.

The parish priest of St Thomas More is (L-R) Fr Anthony Riosa, with the previous parish priests, Fr Emil Milat and Fr Rob Galea.

“I sat down on a chair, I put a chair in front of me, and I tapped the chair. I said, ‘Jesus, sit down, I want to talk to you.’”

Rob did. So did Jesus.

“At that moment, as I persevered in prayer, I felt a sense of the presence of God to the point where it broke my heart…this incredible sense of love, this incredible sense of peace…I couldn’t stop crying for two hours just because of this encounter of love. I couldn’t believe that God still loved me despite my mess.”

For Fr Rob, that ‘mess’ in Malta was the stepping stone to the priesthood and then the Metaverse, the name given to the online world where many of our young people spend their time, especially on computer games.

The assistant priest at the Sandhurst diocese in Victoria, Fr. Rob is the Founder and Executive Director of ICON Ministry, an international not-for-profit charity that seeks to spread the Christian message to all, especially to young people.

To get that message out, Fr Rob is now dealing in the Metaverse – instead of drugs – to be a missionary to the Metaverse.

The Metaverse generation is being manipulated, he told the large St Thomas More audience. “It’s a generation that is being hidden, pulled away from reality.”

To bring them back to reality, Fr Rob’s team has created an online game called ‘MetaSaint’ on the Metaverse platform, Roblox.

In a variation of the ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ approach, Fr Rob explained that instead of war games, dungeons and dragons, and ‘shoot-em-up’ storylines, the players might see this “creepy church door” and go inside and find it’s a “beautiful cathedral”.

“Within four days we had over a million young people come to this game,” he said.

While his adolescent days were no game for Fr Rob, he has revealed plans to delve deeper into the online gaming world, to the Metaverse, to reach out to as many people as possible.

Despite his fractured early years and difficulties with his parents, he credits them with where he is today.

“I stand here as a priest because of their persevering prayer,” he said.

Their prayers not only helped carry him to the priesthood but to Australia’s X Factor where he was a 2015 contestant on the popular talent quest singing, “Don’t you worry child”.

He has eight album releases, has written and sang the official songs for several World Youth Days, and has regularly featured in traditional and online media.

Beyond all else, however, he emphasises he is a follower of Christ, a priest and only then a speaker, musician and artist.

He concluded his St Thomas More Oration by saying he would keep knocking on doors, whether in the Metaverse, in the gym, through music, or elsewhere.

“I just want to keep on knocking on doors to tell people about Jesus,” he said.