This past weekend I attended one of the many Steubenville conferences put on throughout the nation over the summer. It’s a Catholic youth conference that takes place over the weekend at various locations, in my case it was at a hotel out by the airport, and it’s put on by Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio (hence the name Steubenville). While it was a busy weekend, it was definitely nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of life for a bit and take a step back and evaluate my faith.
We were actually staying at a hotel about 3/4 of a mile from the hotel it was taking place at. Yes, that’s how many people there were there. A lot. So we got settled into our rooms on Friday evening and then embarked on the trek down to the other hotel, stopping for dinner on the way to the main site. It was a pretty brief night. We had a little intro music session followed by a talk and then eucharistic adoration before wrapping things up in a small group discussion and heading back for the night. I was lucky enough to get a ride back from one of our adult volunteers (thanks again!), since they felt like at least one of them should have a car down their in case someone started not feeling so well. Definitely very grateful for that. It wasn’t terribly cold, but I had forgotten my jacket so it felt a little chilly. Then we just chilled out in the hotel rooms for a bit before going to bed.
Saturday morning was an early wake up, after not getting very much sleep. Because, let’s be honest: you can never fall asleep the first night in a hotel or in other places. It never fails. I know I slept some, but I could’ve slept longer if I would have been able to fall asleep. We got some breakfast and got ready before meeting the group down in the lobby and heading out on the walk to the main site. From there it was an action packed day, filled with mass, a keynote, some testimonials, small groups, and the men’s and women’s talks before lunch and free time. Lunch was a very basic sandwich with chips and a cookie, then I went to the senior and graduated senior talk that happened during that time, which was something that was good to hear before going off to college in the fall.
After lunch we had a workshop of choice, so I went to one called “elevate social media” which gave us a super interesting perspective on how we use social media. I realized how much out there is just merely entertainment, and we were encouraged to put out meaningful content rather than something that doesn’t serve a purpose. (Side note: did you know that it would take 793 years to play every snap sent during a day on snapchat? That’s INSANE). Then the whole group came together again for a main chat, which didn’t seem overly helpful. I loved the lady that was there, but this speaker didn’t cut it for me. It wasn’t very applicable to me, so I just couldn’t feel like.I could relate to it. Nevertheless I persisted, and then we met in small groups again before going off to dinner, which was penne pasta with spaghetti sauce or alfredo sauce with garlic bread and salad. After we ate we kind of just chilled out and walked around chatting before the night session began.
The night session was the last session of the day. There was another talk, and then we had a prolonged adoration with a eucharistic procession. This is known to be when some people have profound experiences, but I have never felt it intensely. The worship leader did do a good time in leading us in prayer, which was super helpful to me since I often don’t know what to say when I am in adoration for that long. What really came to my head in that encounter was a line from the song “Even If” that says “I know you’re able & I know you can…but even if you don’t, my hope is you alone” which really gave me comfort in not having some profound encounter during adoration. That was the end of the night, after another small group session of course. We again were lucky enough to drive back, which was nice.
Upon arrival, I immediately went to my room and took my contacts out, because my eyes were begging me to get them out. I put my pajamas on and got ready for bed, and then we went down to the lobby and played spoons for a bit. I packed up my bag, so that I wouldn’t have to wake up even earlier. We had ordered a pizza earlier to be delivered, so we waited for that, but it was late to arrive. I didn’t eat any because I know that late night eating isn’t the best thing for your body, so I chose not to. I didn’t really want to disrupt my sleep cycle either. Either way we were up late, but it was a nice little hang out time and I just always remember that a few nights with a little less sleep isn’t the end of the world.
On Sunday morning it was the same routine. Wake up, get ready, and eat breakfast. Except this time we loaded up our bags in cars so that we could check out of our hotel. We kept our bags in a designated room while we had our last talk of the conference and went to Sunday mass. Mass was highlighted by an amazing homily by a priest from Arizona, which was just so relatable, hip, and high energy. One of the best I’ve witnessed for sure. If you’re Catholic, and in Arizona, definitely check out Father John Parks. After that we gathered our things and left, that being the end of the conference. I drove home, and of course stopped at Starbucks to combat my lack of sleep, and got back to normal life.
Overall it was just super nice to get away for the weekend. Sometimes we all just get so caught up in our lives and forget to take a step back at the big picture. While I didn’t connect with the one speaker, I felt like the others did a good job, and the worship team was amazing. I love me some music, and this was amazing. This was the last time I could go to Steubenville, so I’m glad that I went one last time and came out with the strength of faith I will need to combat an increasingly secular, material world in college.
