The Australian Catholic Youth Festival is a national gathering of Catholic young people established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. ACYF a powerful experience for young people, was a biennial festival before the Covid-19 Pandemic. The last one was held in 2019 and it is now set to return in 2025
As the largest Catholic gathering in Australia, the ACYF promotes and engages the life and voice of young Catholics, equipping them to live out their faith in the world.
Australia’s premier gathering for young Catholics, the Australian Catholic Youth Festival, will now conclude the Church’s celebration of the international Jubilee Year in December 2025.
While the Festival was proposed to be held in December 2024, the prospect of a date change emerged during planning.
Ballarat Diocese Youth Ministry
email: youth@ballarat.catholic.org.au
Facebook: Catholic Youth Ministry Ballarat
ACYF 2019 SONG
ACYF 2019 Prayer
ACYF Sydney ~ 2017
Around 18,000 young people attended the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in December 2017. The theme of the Festival was Open new horizons for spreading joy. The Festival offered a multitude of ways of expressing Catholic faith in an amazing three-day experience. ACYF 2017 was held at Sydney Olympic Park and other nearby venues.
From the Festival
The Ballarat diocese had a booth at the ACYF Expo based on Amazing Young People of Ballarat and Australia. Flyer here
ACYF 2017 Expo Booth – “Amazing Young People of Ballarat & Australia”
ACYF is hosted by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. The idea of hosting a large national festival grew out of Australia’s involvement in World Youth Days and a wish to gather Australia’s Catholic youth together. It exists to provide young people with opportunities to explore and deepen their faith, to be empowered to be agents of change in the world today, and to encounter and celebrate the diversity and vitality of Catholic faith in Australia. It also gives the Bishops of Australia the opportunity to hear and meet the young people of Australia. The first Festival was held in Melbourne in 2013 and the second in Adelaide in 2015. Many young people from Ballarat Diocese, together with Bishop Paul Bird, attended all three events.
ACFY Official Song – Joyful Generation by Tim Hart
ACYF participants were excited to have Matt Maher perform at the Festival