The town and surrounding districts are, and will remain, major milestones on a great spiritual journey for the now 24-year-old.

In December, Todd past another major milestone in his life when he was ordained as a Catholic priest.

The new priest is excited by the work he will undertake, and perhaps a little daunted by the role he will fill in the Church and among his parishioners.

As he later confesses, the priesthood was not his first vocational calling, although teaching and helping others remained a central theme.

His first assignment is at a parish church in Rockdale, Sydney, in the capacity of assistant priest.

“I say mass, hear confessions, do mission runs, dispense the sacraments, preach, and give conferences, as well as the everyday activity of trying to sanctify myself,’’ he said during his latest visit last month.

He reflected on his upbringing and the many people who had helped shaped his early life.

His mother Patricia and father Robert ran a fish and chip shop in Deakin Avenue in the early 1990s.

Todd attended the Mildura Central Primary School.

As a youngster growing up in Sunraysia, Todd said he enjoyed the hot climate, the swimming lessons and the regular boxing training sessions under the Hogarth brothers that were a weekly highlight for him.

At that same time, his parents also managed a grape block for Dr Arnold Jago, on Etiwanda Avenue for three years and the profits from that block went to the Catholic Church.

Todd’s interest in the church started when his parents attended the Catholic Traditional Mass which at that time was celebrated regularly in a book centre in the heart of Mildura.

For more of this story, purchase your copy of Tuesday’s Sunraysia Daily 9/2/2010.