Jackie Francois-Angel began by sharing that she grew up as a cradle Catholic; she went to youth group and church faithfully on Sundays, but her faith didn’t really impact her life the rest of the week. It was pretty much all about her.

When she was 18 years old, she had a conversion experience at a Steubenville Youth Conference. After that she started attending daily Mass, reading the Bible, tithing, and asking every tough question she could about the Catholic faith. She quickly found out that the Church is not afraid of our questions, and the Church actually has some amazing answers. She also began the important process of giving God everything – including all of her gifts and talents.

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Come Holy Spirit, fill our lives.

With that prayer, Kris Frank invited us to consider more deeply who the Holy Spirit really is. Like many of us, Kris pointed out that he forgot about the Holy Spirit in his faith life when he was younger. The Spirit, however, is easily accessible and inviting the Spirit into our lives will change us for the better.

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“We do not tolerate you, you are not accepted. You belong. This is just the truth. It’s not anything dramatic.”

That’s how Fr. Mike Schmitz began the workshop with a title he wouldn’t have chosen. It’s a difficult topic, and tolerance simply doesn’t have anything to do with it.

There were three main principles in play: it’s not about ‘us’ and ‘them,’ there is only us; life is not easy, it’s difficult; and since to be human is to be both a body and a soul, what we do with our bodies matters. Continue reading

Dan Harms gave a special workshops for graduating seniors. He offered these tips for the graduating seniors:

• Know the dangers that you will face.
• Prepare to face the temptation.
• Set expectations for yourself.
• Pray and stay close to the sacraments.

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The session for men began with a rousing call to worship by Adam Bitter. He shared the story of one of his friends who has cerebral palsy and who, consequently, has trouble raising his hands in worship. Even in his weakness, Adam’s friend pushes his body to the limits out of love for God. Adam called us to be leaders in worship, to give everything we have to Him. What an awesome challenge that I think we all need.

Pete Burds began by telling us about one of his childhood heroes, pitcher Randy Johnson. Johnson once threw a 105 mph fastball that accidentally hit (and obliterated) a bird. If you dare, you can view the video here.

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