2 minute read
STEUBENVILLE YOUTH CONFERENCE: An Impactful Faith Experience for Our Young Parishioners
If a weekend filled with Mass, adoration, praise and worship, engaging speakers, and good friends sounds life-changing, Nicole Rillo can confirm that it most certainly is. This summer, 10 students from Holy Family Area made the trip to the Steubenville Youth Conference in Rochester. Nicole, a parishioner at St. Andrew, was one of the attendees and she found the conference deeply impactful.
“My experience at Steubenville changed my life,” she says. “I can’t wait to go next year.”
Advertisement
Nicole and her fellow students got to know each other on the four-hour trip to the conference. She recalls that she was a little nervous at first, as this was her first time going to a Steubenville conference.
“I didn’t really know what to expect,” Nicole says. “But once we arrived, I no longer felt nervous and I felt like I was meant to be there.”
Each day of the conference was filled with Mass, opportunities to receive the sacraments, and talks by some dynamic speakers, as well as some downtime for rest and reflection. Some of the talks were separated for the men and women. There was also small-group time so that Nicole had a chance to discuss the talks she had attended with her peers.
For Nicole, the most memorable and impactful part of the conference was adoration. On Saturday night, everyone came together to adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Adoration was accompanied by a praise and worship band. Nicole remembers singing along to the praise and worship music with her friends.
“I felt so close to God,” Nicole says. “The only thing that mattered was God and I will never forget how I felt.”
The Steubenville Youth Conference definitely packed a lot of formation into a short amount of time. Nicole came out of it with new friends and a deeper relationship with God.
“After the conference, it was a little bit tricky to go back to the ‘real world,’” Nicole says. “During the conference, it felt like God’s own world. My faith has definitely gotten stronger and now I have amazing friends — we keep each other accountable to our prayer life.”
Nicole is already looking forward to the conference next year and would encourage other students to go.
“It makes your relationship with God so much stronger,” Nicole says. “That’s the most important thing you could ever do.”
(From left) Hayley Voller, Nicole Rillo, Marienau Huseby and April Roelike
