National Catholic Youth Conference

Bradley Gregory, associate professor of biblical studies at The Catholic University of America, addressed the compatibility of science and faith.

Nearly 11,000 youth from across the United States came together for the National Catholic Youth Conference.

During NCYC’s new “Deep Dive” series of sessions, presenters offered practical tips about how young people — and anyone– can live their faith more intentionally through prayer and Scripture and by saying, “How can I help?”

Father Leo Patalinghug provided listeners with a different kind of recipe: “Five Steps to Become a Teenage Saint” at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis.

“It fills me with hope, because these are young people who have personal encounters with Christ. That’s what it’s all about — a personal encounter with Christ,” said Father Jeremy Theis, pastor of the parishes in Upsala, Elmdale and St. Francis.

The 20,000 youth attending NCYC knelt in silence as a eucharistic procession twined through the Indiana Convention Center and again while watching a videotaped welcome from Pope Francis.

For three days, the 20,000 teenagers attending the National Catholic Youth Conference form a joyful, energetic and unifying representation of how much their Catholic faith means to them.

At NCYC in Indianapolis, the audience of young people inside Lucas Oil Stadium on the morning of Nov. 17 became more quiet and riveted as Sister Miriam James Heidland shared the hard, heartbreaking chapters of her life story.