2026 College Theme - "Pursuing Peace with Grace"

Our NDC Executive Team are very excited to announce that our College Theme for 2026 is “Pursuing Peace with Grace.”

We have been reflecting on the Sandhurst Diocesan Theme for 2026 which is “Seeking Peace and Pursuing It” and the Marist Theme for 2026 which is “Full of Grace.” Combining these two themes provides us with plenty of resources and input to explore both peace and grace.

In an initial reflection on peace and grace I provide you with this insight from Pope Benedict XVI in his World Peace Day message from January 2007 where Pope Benedict emphasised that respect for the human person was at the heart of peace. He also taught that peace was both a gift and a task. In right relationship with God, peace is His gift to us. In right relationship with others, it is a task for us to achieve peace with the grace of God.

This provides us with much to break open as a community throughout 2026.

Australian Catholic Youth Festival

I share with you this week the below reflection (from CathNews) on the recent Australian Catholic Youth Festival which was held in Melbourne. I was privileged to travel with Jac Johnston, Fr Adi and 7 students as part of the Sandhurst group to this amazing festival of faith.

Young pilgrims urged to nurture the life of the Holy Spirit within The Australian Catholic Youth Festival concluded yesterday, with Melbourne Archbishop Peter A Comensoli sending the 6000 young participants forth as “pilgrims of hope” and “the Spirit’s new shoots”. Archbishop Comensoli urged the young pilgrims attending the Commissioning Mass at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre to nurture the life of the Holy Spirit within, which contrasts with the lack of hope experienced by so many.

“In a world that often trades in distrust, anxiety and the fear of not fitting, the Spirit has been growing in you,” Archbishop Comensoli said. “Mercy instead of refusal, listening instead of shouting, serving instead of influencing.” The tone of the final day of ACYF was markedly different from the previous days. Eucharistic adoration prefaced the busyness of activities, workshops, and “Bishops’ X-Changes” – a unique feature that provided an opportunity for young people to enter into conversation with the bishops on important topics of faith and culture.

In the more contemplative atmosphere, Wagga Wagga Bishop Mark Edwards OMI guided the young pilgrims, inviting them to let the Lord into their hearts. “Give Him your whole heart,” he said. “Let Him rearrange the furniture of your soul. That’s how the great adventure of giving your life to God begins.” At the conclusion of Mass, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP extended a formal invitation to all to Sydney for the 2028 Australian Catholic Youth Festival, which he said would form a “crucial strand” of the International Eucharistic Congress. “Look around you,” he said, after thunderous applause. “There are 6000 of you here for this festival. Now multiply that in your imagination by 10 to 60,000, then multiply that by 10 more to 600,000.

How’s that for a goal?” Archbishop Fisher encouraged the young pilgrims to grow in their Eucharistic faith, to participate in the pilgrimages, processions and catechesis of their local communities, and to prepare well in advance for the 2028 combined ACYF and IEC experience.

Brendan Lindsay, Catholic Identity.