The 20,000-strong crowd of young Catholics also witnessed the Opening Plenary featuring Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP of the Archdiocese of Sydney.

He spoke about the theme of this year’s festival which is ‘New Horizons for Spreading Joy’ and he proclaimed “your faith has to burn so bright it sets the world alight”.

After the Opening Plenary, Archbishop Fisher OP, Matt Maher and the festival’s Youth Ambassador, Melinda Koutsoukos, hosted a press conference about both the festival and the Year of Youth.

The trio took the opportunity to impart some valuable advice to young Catholics on living their faith in the modern world.

The press conference was live-streamed on our Facebook page and you can watch it here.

The festival runs into the weekend and some of the highlights include:

• performances by Emmanual Worship Gus & Iggy, Emma Fradd and more
• a number of forums including ‘Gaming, Masculinity and My Faith’, led by Peter Holmes; ‘Are we Dating?’, led by Simon Carrington; and ‘Navigating Life’, led by Chris Lee

Stay tuned to MNnews.Today for complete coverage of the festival.

You can also follow the festival’s events via life webcast here.

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