In his talk on prayer, Fr. Martin shared some of his own struggles with prayer and gave tips on how we can improve our own prayer lives.

Before anything else, Fr. Martin made an important distinction. While many of us are tempted to make prayer about us seeking God, Fr. Martin explained that prayer is all about God seeking us. In order to respond to God seeking us, there are a few things that Fr. Martin suggests.

Continue reading

“Are you kidding?  What’s Stupidville?”  After her initial confusion learning about Steubenville conferences, youth minister Carolyn Anch decided to take a group of about 12 teens with her.  Thirteen years later, that group of 12 has grown to 124 and the youth group has become a family.

Without youth ministers, Steubenville wouldn’t be possible.  They are the ones to continue the work when everyone goes home on Sunday and the ones who have been doing prep work for months leading up to the conference.  Carolyn is one of those rockstar youth ministers.

Continue reading

In the women’s session this morning, Sr. Miriam talked to the girls about experiencing complete freedom by allowing Christ to make them new.

Craving Freedom

We all long for freedom and adventure.  Sr. Miriam saw that sense of freedom one day in the airport in a little three-year-old girl who stopped dead in her tracks to lay down on the floor and make imaginary snow angels.  She was completely free from any fear of judgement or ridicule.  She was totally herself.

Continue reading

To be featured as one of our “Humans of SteubySTL”, you don’t necessarily need to be a human. Just ask Cardboard Pope Francis. We’d like to introduce you to another interesting character that we found at this conference, Steuby Baby Groot.

There’s one problem that arises pretty quickly in interviewing Steuby Baby Groot – he has a fairly limited vocabulary.  He is only capable of saying three words: “I am Groot.”  Unless, of course, you press a button on his back, allowing him to sing, “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5.  So, he is tough to interview.  Fortunately, there were two girls from his parish ready to translate for us.

Continue reading

If you’ve ever been in the bookstore at Steubenville, you’ve probably noticed Francie Gosser. She is one of the many bookstore volunteers; this year will be her fourth time working there. Francie is a lifelong member of St. Peter’s Parish in Kirkwood, Missouri.

She loves working in the Steubenville bookstore as a cashier. She gets to encourage today’s teens to be fearless in their Catholic identity. Francie says it is a grace from God to help the teenagers in the checkout line of the bookstore as a form of evangelization. She loves being able to compliment a teenage girl on the choice of religious jewelry that she picked out, or encourage a teenage guy to buy a book he is interested in. Francie has many favorite items in the bookstore; she loves everything from certain t-shirts, to religious bracelets and medals, to the foam kneeling pads (which you better buy quickly, before they run out!)

Continue reading