Paddys Catholic Youth Services was established by John Riddle. John has been a youth worker in Melbourne’s south east for fifteen years. He started his first youth group in 1993 when he was just 15 years old. He was employed as a parish youth worker in 1996 at St. Patrick’s Parish Mentone. John’s unique leadership style and innovative program development saw a thriving youth group and youth ministry develop within the parish. To date, the first group founded boasts four Young Australian of the Year recipients and the group itself has received Australia day honours for community group of the year in 2008.
For many years, John was formed by the youth leadership training of both the De La Salle Brothers and Salesians of Don Bosco. From this foundation, John developed a unique meld of youth ministry specifically based on young people in and around local Parishes. John also worked extensively with Rosies (Oblate) food bus and Open Family food buses providing material aid, comfort and companionship to the poor and marginalised in Melbourne. Further, John worked for some time with the De La Salle Brothers in Papua New Guinea assisting in schools established there. This unique social justice perspective provided much to the ideology underpinning John’s work with young people.
Shortly after John established his first youth group, word of its success began to spread in the Archdiocese until John was being asked to attend many different meetings at Parishes to advise on youth group establishment. To this end, John founded Paddy’s Catholic Youth Services (PCYS) with permission of the Archbishop of Melbourne. The name Paddy’s is a heritage link to the first youth group that John established.
Since its founding, PCYS has worked in over ten parishes in the Archdiocese and helped to advise many more. It has helped establish youth movements in those parishes. PCYS is self funded and runs on a part time basis providing support and resources to youth movements, ministries and more importantly youth workers in parishes around Melbourne.
John has run over thirty camps and been a group leader of young people for World Youth Day in both 2000 and 2005.
Having completed his secondary education at St. Bede’s Mentone, John attended Monash University and completed an undergraduate degree majoring in psychology and sociology. At the conclusion of this study, John took up working with a community organisation in Dandenong as a youth worker focusing on homeless youth. He remained in this field for some five years finishing as manager of the homeless component to the then newly establish Drug Court at Dandenong Magistrates Court.
Later, John returned to Monash to complete a Masters degree in Counselling. Further, He also obtained his Graduate Diploma of Secondary Education from Australian Catholic University. As well as running Paddy’s Catholic Youth Services, John also works full time as a secondary school teacher and student counsellor at a Catholic Secondary College in Melbourne’s South East. John is married with one daughter.