Indigenous Catholic Youth from every State and Territory converged on the Adelaide, the City of Churches, for the 2014 NATSICC Youth Leadership Gathering.

Each youth had been nominated by their Ministry, Parish or Organisation as a leader in their community. These young people are looked up to and guide other young people in Culture and Faith.

They came to Adelaide to listen and share their experiences of the Catholic Church in their everyday lives and the ways in which they combine their culture and faith.

Bishop Christopher Saunders made the journey from Broome to share the week. In addition to Bishop Saunders who guided the group through scripture,, Ian Tambo (Leadership), Sr Carmel Pilcher (Liturgy and the Mass), Bee Cruise (Leadership), Mitch Firth (Leadership) and Marlon Riley (Culture) provided inspiring talks to the group.

In Adelaide at the same time was the Australian Catholic Youth Ministry Convention at St Aloysius College. The NATSICC group ingrained itself on the event by participating in the Opening and closing Masses as well as facilitating a 'booked out' workshop on Aboriginal Culture and Catholic Faith.

Our youth were very visible in their black 'hoodies' and could be seen talking to groups and leaders at every meal break. For many of the convention delegates, it was the first time they were able to discuss the issues of faith with an Indigenous person.

The Gathering was a successful event and we have learned many things that we can do to improve the outcomes for young people in the Church, particularly the importance of providing engaging faith formation to our young people.