How a parish play about Carlo Acutis inspired love for the Eucharist 

 

Rome Newsroom, Sep 3, 2025 / 04:05 am (CNA).

Children from a Catholic parish in Sydney, Australia, put together an original play about the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis that has inspired Eucharistic devotion among the kids and families in the community.

Father Epeli Qimaqima, parish priest of St. Joachim Parish, told CNA that the play sparked lasting spiritual transformation and “brought the parish together in more ways than one.”

“It was not writing a play for the sake of having a play,” Qimaqima said. “But I had been pondering as parish priest how we can catechize the family in this day and age.”

The play, “Highway to Heaven,” was performed Oct. 12, 2024, the feast day of Blessed Carlo Acutis. Written and directed by Anna Harrison of Sydney Catholic Youth, it featured children ages 7 to 15 dramatizing the life of the Italian teenager known for his love of the Eucharist and his computer skills.

“My initial idea was to have the play of the story of Fatima,” Qimaqima said. “But the children … in the parish kept on asking me about Carlo Acutis. … They felt so familiar with him because of his age, and they knew everything about him.”

The children said they connected with Acutis because he was “so like them in every way,” enjoying soccer, swimming, and video games. But what struck them most was his devotion to the Eucharist.

“Because of our Adoration Chapel, I think they could see a link,” Qimaqima said.

The production engaged children in every aspect — from acting and set changes to managing props. And the impact went far beyond the performance.

In the months following the play, Qimaqima noticed children and their parents spending time in the parish’s perpetual adoration chapel.

“They’ve grown together learning about Carlo Acutis and his life,” he said.

One young participant now stops to pray in the chapel on his way home from school. Parents also began attending weekday Masses and meeting each other outside of church.

“I hear that they are meeting outside of the parish to have coffee, talk about what they’re going through,” Qimaqima said. “I think some of the parents grew to really discover new things about their own children during the rehearsals. Because many of them told me, ‘I never knew my child could do this.’”

Qimaqima, a former primary school teacher from Fiji, said the initiative was born from his desire to reach families.

“I went back to the Gospels and I rediscovered that our Lord’s way of teaching was through storytelling, the parables,” he said. “And so I thought maybe we could use theater as a way of storytelling to catechize the family, and children and their parents, through the dramatization of the lives of the saints.”

The day of the play included a parish-wide celebration, Mass, and a barbecue.

“We had a big day here for the children finishing with Mass at the end of the day and then a barbecue and ice cream, lots of ice cream,” Qimaqima said. “It was a lot of fun for the adults to see children so happy.”

Pilgrimage to Rome takes unexpected turn

Fourteen children and their parents later joined Qimaqima and other parishioners on a pilgrimage to Italy for Acutis’ canonization Mass, originally scheduled for April.

The group had just set foot in St. Peter’s Square when they learned Pope Francis had died and the canonization was postponed.

“We didn’t believe it,” said 13-year-old Christopher La Rosa, who portrayed Acutis in the play. “We had to wait until the death bell had rung and then we believed it.”

Instead of a canonization, the group attended the pope’s funeral.

“I’ve never been to that many funerals before, but to go to a pope’s funeral, it was very, very crowded but it was crazy because I actually got to see the pope and his body. It was very, very cool,” 9-year-old Francesca Manu told CNA in Rome.

Thirteen-year-old Sophie Tawadros added, “I’m really grateful that we got the opportunity to go to the pope’s funeral and really say goodbye because he has been the pope for as long as I have been alive, I think, and he is the only pope that I have ever known.”

The change of plans made our pilgrimage experience a much deeper encounter with God,” Qimaqima said.

Prayers at Carlo’s tomb

The group also visited Assisi to pray at Acutis’ tomb.

“I always wanted to see his body because he is one of our family’s favorite saints,” 11-year-old Antonia Mallet said.

“He has taught us that [the Eucharist] is actually Jesus’ body, not just a piece of plain bread, that it actually does turn into Jesus’ body,” she added.

Acutis “really inspires me how to offer up suffering for the pope’s intentions and for all of the holy souls in purgatory,” Mallet said.

La Rosa said that at Acutis’ tomb, he asked the young Blessed to intercede “to bring me closer to God and to protect me from all worldly distractions and to focus on heavenly ones.”

“He has inspired me to share the Gospel with more people,” he added.

Now back in Australia, the parish plans to tune into a livestream of the canonization on Sunday, Sept. 7, and has invited the wider community to join the celebration.

Last week, St. Joachim’s hosted 780 children from 11 Catholic schools for a special jubilee celebration in honor of Acutis. The students walked nearly 30 minutes in pilgrimage from a nearby park to the church, where they joined a concert.

The cast is now rehearsing “Highway to Heaven “again for two October performances, marking Acutis’ first feast day as a canonized saint.

Qimaqima said the ripple effects are visible throughout the community. “They’re telling their friends in school about what they’re doing at church. … so they bring their friends from school. They bring their parents along with them to come to church,” he said.

Lasting friendships have also formed among the children, many of whom attend different schools.

“They leave the phone aside … They’re sitting in a circle, laughing, telling stories,” Qimaqima said. “It’s marvelous to see what the Lord is doing in the lives of the people that I’m called to serve in this parish.”