American speaker and writer Katie Prejean McGrady expressed that the best part traveling 150,000 miles a year worldwide to preach the Gospel of Christ, are the authentic human encounters she gains, and being able to get young people excited to love Jesus.
Arguably one of the most down-to-earth Australian Bishops, Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green, from the Wilcannia-Forbes Diocese in Western NSW, was tasked with equipping the young pilgrims of the Australian Catholic Youth Festival 2019 (ACYF), with strategies that would enable them to take something from ACYF and keep it going once they get home.
Personal encounters that filled the Expo and Justice Centre at the 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival numbered in the thousands, as young people from all across Australia gathered to visit the stalls and find out all about the myriad organisations that call the Catholic Church home.
The young pilgrims gathered with a sense of respect and expectation on Day Two to hear Archbishop of Perth, Timothy Costelloe, give his workshop address at the Australian Catholic Youth Festival 2019: Listening to God, how do we know what God is saying?
Bishops’ X-Change sessions held during the 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival have significantly increased the conversation with young people on issues facing the Church and society today.
American speaker, evangelist and author Katie Prejean McGrady has told 5500 young Australian Catholics that they are made “not only for something great” in this world, but that they are ultimately made “to worship God for eternity”.