Fr. Crisman closed the first week of Steubenville encouraging and challenging the participants to be open to Christ’s call for each of us. He invited participants to literally stand up at Steubenville as a commitment to how they will metaphorically ‘stand up’ for their faith back at home.

“We need men and women who are bold, and willing to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ no matter the costs.”

The altar call is not a verbal contract to enter seminary or the convent, but rather it’s an invitation to be bold, to be generous, and to do the Lord’s will. The action is a commitment to listen, to be open, to be the face of Jesus.

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It was awesome to have Bishop Rice from this Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau with us and to hear him give the homily at this weekend’s closing Mass. In sending us forth from the conference, he reminded us of some very important points, and these bullet points were my big takeaways:

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If he were a Pokémon, he’d be Snorlax– “You know the one that sleeps all the time?”– the faint aroma of coffee beans makes more sense.

Making the 500-mile pilgrimage to Steubenville Mid-America from the Diocese of Sioux City in Iowa is our next Human of SteubySTL, seminarian Travis Crotty. He’s a four-time attendee of the Steubenville Conference, second-time chaperone. But he’s seasoned for sure: “The first time, I was woken up by a phone call at 1am by a participant that one of his friends was playing PokémonGo outside.” And then we talk a lot about Pokémon and sleep, which naturally leads us to one of Travis’ greatest passions: gourmet coffee. His go-to? Guatamalen pour-over. Continue reading

This morning, Kyle began his talk by telling us about a trip that he once took to the Grand Canyon. He talked about how when he hiked to the Canyon he stood near the edge and was able to see the incredible view, without actually going into the canyon.

He then compared our faith to hiking the Grand Canyon.

“Our faith is the same way as hiking the Grand Canyon,
we want to be good Catholics but we often want to do the bare minimum.”

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