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August 10, 2023By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
Teenagers are planning to follow up on youth conferences they attended this summer by praying and sharing together, both online and in person.
“I will be joining the discipleship team” of the Worcester Diocese, said Emily Hunter, 15, of North American Martyrs Parish in Auburn. This program gives high schoolers opportunities for personal spiritual growth and equips them for missionary discipleship, according to neworcester.org, the diocesan Youth and Young Adult Ministry webpage.
Emily said she was unsure about joining before she attended the Steubenville youth conference held July 7-9 at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. Through relationships that grew at the conference, she felt God’s call to be on the discipleship team, she said. She also planned to attend a reunion with her fellow travelers Aug. 10.
The reunion over a meal at a restaurant is a chance for the group from St. Joseph Parish in Charlton, which Emily joined for the conference, to talk about where they will go from here, said Deacon William Shea, who serves at St. Joseph’s.
He said their 20-member group rode a bus to the conference with 20 people from the Fall River Diocese.
It was the first time in 20 or more years that St. Joseph’s took teenagers to a conference in Steubenville, he said. In more recent years, they have gone to Steubenville East conferences closer to home.
The conference was held decades ago on the Ohio campus, and now there are multiple youth conferences there and across North America. The theme for the 2023 conferences was “Refuge,” from Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
“We wanted our kids to experience a college campus experience” for the conference, Deacon Shea said. So, they went to Ohio this year. Last year and this year Steubenville East was held at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, with participants spreading out to different hotels at night, losing the experience of camaraderie they had being together on one campus, he said.
Members of other local parishes joined people from other dioceses on a bus trip to the July 14-16 youth conference in Steubenville.
“We had a really great group,” said Grace Benoit, 18, of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Webster, one of the parishes on that trip. They experienced community with one another, which she found inspiring.
Her mother, Maureen Benoit, group leader, said there were about four “meet-ups” before the trip. Meet-ups included meals, games, adoration, confession, and a talk for chaperones by Oscar Rivera, director of youth ministry for the Diocese of Fall River, which had travelers on the bus.
Father Adam Reid, Sacred Heart’s pastor, met them at the conference, and Father Scott Carpentier, pastor of St. Martha Parish in East Providence and St. Brendan Parish in Riverside, Rhode Island, traveled with them, Mrs. Benoit said. Father Carpentier invited the group to adoration at St. Martha’s July 31.
When the teenagers went to adoration, they talked about forming men’s and women’s prayer groups with each other, she said. And Mr. Rivera is planning a reunion for them, which is to include socializing, adoration, confession and praise and worship.
Meanwhile, the youth themselves are finding ways to get together and pray together.
“We’re going to adoration together at Our Lady of Fatima in Cumberland,” Rhode Island, Grace said. “I’m super excited for it.”
Routinely, youth who attend Steubenville conferences rave about the eucharistic adoration there. This year was no exception, as the teenagers told The Catholic Free Press about experiencing peace, and the joy of the Holy Spirit through the “gift of laughter.”
Another highlight is being with peers who are “all there for God,” as 14-year-old Marissa O’Connell of Sacred Heart put it. As her fellow parishioner Hailey Werbecki, 17, said, “It makes you think, ‘This many people believe in God – I’m not alone.’”
“I got closer to God,” said Catherine Barbale, 14, a North American Martyrs parishioner who went to the conference with Sacred Heart. “I said a lot of prayers.” She also got closer to the people she traveled with and hopes to attend reunions that bring them back together, she said.
To talk about experiences at the conference, share inside jokes, discuss other topics and stay connected, “we all made a group chat,” to communicate with each other online, said Mrs. Benoit’s son Patrick Benoit, 15.
He said he was definitely hoping to continue the friendships he made on the trip and would definitely like to attend a prayer meeting if one is started.
Graham Peckham, 14, a member of Sacred Heart’s youth group and a parishioner of St. Joseph Parish in North Grosvenordale, Connecticut, said he is “trying to attend everything that my youth group goes to” and would definitely be part of a post-conference prayer meeting.
Hailey said the chat prayer group is so the conference-goers can start conversations and share things they really want prayers for immediately.
“I think we had a really good group; everyone seemed to get along,” said Marissa, anticipating their reunions. She said she is excited to see what happens with the group in the future.
Then she interrupted her conversation with The Catholic Free Press to look at and laugh at a message in the group chat with a fellow traveler.
