Ask on a Catholic digital space about experiences at Steubenville Youth Conferences and be prepared for a deluge of memories -- of transformative moments and moments of conversion. In its 50th year, Steubenville Youth Conferences have been forming thousands of youth each summer, inviting young people to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist. 

In a survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) released this year, new ordinands of the USA were asked about events they attended before entering the seminary. Nearly 20% responded that they had attended a Steubenville Youth Conference. Other choices included SEEK, World Youth Days, National Catholic Youth Conferences, or Marian Days. At 18%, Franciscan University Conferences were the most attended by this year’s newly ordained.

Brian Kissinger, executive director of Conferences at Franciscan University, commented on this high percentage, saying, “Over the years we've heard from so many priests about the impact that Steubenville Youth Conferences had on their vocational discernment. From those that first heard the Lord's invitation at a conference to the young men who experienced a confirmation of the calling, at every on-campus and regional youth conference, we are blessed to hear devout priests pointing back to these weekends as turning points in their lives."

Fostering future vocations is just one (important) way that the Steubenville Youth Conferences have had an impact on people’s lives and, by extension, the Church in the USA. The first youth conference was preceded a year prior by a conference for priests, wherein Fr. Michael Scanlan asked what the Franciscan University of Steubenville could do for them. Their response? Hold a faith-filled event for youth.

In 1976, the first conference was held in Steubenville, Ohio. Since then, the conferences have grown dramatically. This summer, there were four youth conferences held on the main campus and 15 more held around the United States and Canada.

For many, many parishes and people, the conferences are an annual tradition. John Biskner shares that his youth group from Royal Oak, Michigan, attended the very first conference and continued to attend for about 20 years.

“I personally attended in 1989,” he shares, “and led groups there for maybe 15 years following. Many many stories of the Good Lord changing hearts, working miracles, and outpouring His Holy Spirit.... though I tried to follow Jesus since youth, it was at Steubenville when He broke through my sin and weakness and saved me.” 

Biskner is one person among many who attended as a teen and came back as an adult. Maria Parker recounts that she attended during her high school summers and then brought teens when she later became a youth minister. Maria has been Catholic her whole life, but, she explained, “At the Steubenville youth conference that first summer, my relationship with Christ became real and personal. I began to see my relationship with Christ as the foundation of everything in my life and it transformed my relationships and understanding of the Holy Spirit’s movement in my life.” 

Monica and Renzo Ortega’s experiences at the conferences played an important role in their faith and their vocations. When their youth minister first took them on a bus trip from Newtown, Connecticut, as highschoolers, they had never heard of Steubenville. They were equally impressed by that first trip in 2006, Monica shared,

We both encountered Jesus in adoration and confession at Steubenville and changed our perspective on nearly everything.

Renzo compares it to the difference between knowing fire’s hot, and putting your hand in a flame. 

From that weekend, we left convicted that we needed to live our lives for Jesus and to share the reality of his love. We are where we are now, because we gave Jesus an unrestricted “yes” that weekend.

In 2010, the couple began bringing a group of teens themselves and in 2011 Renzo proposed to Monica right there on Steubenville’s campus at the small chapel modeled after the one that St. Francis built in Assisi, Italy.

Many, if not most, agree that the conferences are an powerful experience, but what happens when the teens return home? Often having experienced moments of conversion and high emotions, there is always the concern that this will have been a “spiritual high” or “mountaintop experience” without any follow up.

“While the conference is impactful for teens, appealing to their faith and emotions,” Catherine Sims comments, “without follow up sessions in the parish to help them integrate the experience, for many the experience passes with the emotions.”

While experiences may differ, the Ortegas' witness to what is possible when the conferences are followed up with strong mentorship and parish support. “Their experiences at conferences are a jumping off point to a deeper relationship with Jesus,” Monica says. “We try to be very open and honest with our teens, reminding them that the 'spiritual high' fades. We share with them that challenges, mistakes, and even tragedies may bring about doubts that what occurred over the weekend was real. We’ve witnessed teens use the weekend as an anchor that keeps them on course when life gets hard. Because of the weekend, they continue to seek Jesus on the sacraments, in Bible studies, at youth group, and in friendships with each other.”

Future vocations to the priesthood are just one aspect of the lasting effect of the Steubenville Youth Conferences. Christopher Gawel points out that while he stood up for an altar call at a conference as a teen, it didn’t only signal an openness to a religious vocation, but a commitment to a life lived for Christ.

Ann Benage Soave attended a conference in Denver and it was sitting on the bus with a Franciscan University alum that changed her life. The alum answered many of the questions she had about the faith and Ann ended up attending the university herself. 

Tom Lelyo met his future wife at Steubenville East. Twenty years later, two out of their five kids have attended conferences. He makes the observation that, in his experience, his kids’ generation is much more open to what they’ll experience at the conferences from the get-go. 

Fifty years later, the Steubenville Conferences still hold fast to the pillars with which they began. The conference website promises a moment of encounter with Jesus; the opportunity for a conversion; and a chance to build community with friends and the wider Church. 

Over the years, Kissinger comments, teens have been been touched by talks and witnesses from incredible Catholic leaders including Matt Maher, Sarah Kroger, Katie McGrady, Heather Khym, Paul J Kim, Jason Evert, Matt Fradd, and many more.

One thing is for certain, with half a century of conferences, the Steubenville Conferences have played an integral role in the spiritual formation of more than one generation of Catholics.