Youth Ministers, Chaplains, Volunteers, Teachers, Priests and Religious attended the recent convention. Held over three days at Saint Aloysius College, St Francis Xavier Cathedral and the Adelaide Convention Centre, ACYMC was hosted by the Adelaide Archdiocese for the first time and participants enjoyed the rich culture and spirituality of this great city.

The Convention Gets Underway
The Opening Mass in the Cathedral was celebrated by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, followed by the first keynote from Sr Elizabeth Young rsm, Coordinator of Youth & Young Adult Ministry in the Dioceses of Port Pirie. These opening events were a beautiful celebration of the youth in the Church and the theme of “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” resounded through all that was spoken and sung.Participants experienced workshops, keynote addresses, liturgies and community networking that occurred especially at meal times. The venue of Saint Aloysius made for a very communal atmosphere and many participants commented that they really enjoyed the convivial atmosphere that was shared during the three days of the convention.

Announcing 2015 ACYF
On Saturday the convention was briefly moved to the Convention Centre to announce the coming Australian Catholic Youth Festival, which be held in the same venue in December 2015. Participants, all glammed up for the night, entered into a world of festival fun and where you could not only enjoy a stunning meal with friends but also partake in games such as mini-golf, sumo suit wrestling and human foosball. The evening was topped off by James Edwards and Genevieve Bryant’s performance which saw most of the contingent up on the dance floor. These were  great nights that complimented an already wonderful convention.

Promoting World Youth Day: Krakow
A networking event was held on Friday evening to promote the next World Youth Day in Krakow, saw everyone gather in the courtyard of Saint Aloysius to enjoy the performances of the Tatry Polish Dancing group followed by Fr Rob Galea. The courtyard shone bright with lights and images of World Youth Days and for a moment it was like a little town square somewhere in Poland.

Developing Youth Ministry Across Australia
Overall, the convention was a great success. The sense of inspiration, learning and enthusiasm for youth ministry imbued the whole convention and saw everyone departing on Sunday with great zeal to develop the youth ministry of their own communities. The schools, parishes, movements and dioceses that invested in their youth ministers who came to this convention will be very lucky to receive back a very dedicated worker inspired to create more and do more with their ministry. Youth ministry is in exciting times in Australia and we look forward to seeing how it will develop over the next year, particularly in the lead up to the Australian Catholic Youth Festival, which will see the Archdiocese of Adelaide welcome once again the youth of Australia to our city to rejoice and celebrate our shared Catholic faith.