Fifty years later, the Steubenville conference continues to inspire vocations and strengthen faith

– Angelus News / Francesca Pollio Fenton | Catholic News Agency

In 1976, Franciscan University of Steubenville held its first youth conference on its campus in Steubenville, Ohio. This summer, the Catholic university is celebrating the 50th anniversary of a conference that has changed the lives of many people.

Since their inception, the youth conferences have helped more than one million young people to encounter Jesus Christ through engaging talks, Mass, Eucharistic adoration, confession, prayer, and fellowship.

The idea of organizing a conference for young people arose after Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, former president of Franciscan University, held a conference for priests and asked them what the university could do for them. What was their response? They wanted some kind of event aimed at young people, specifically teenagers. The following year, the first youth conference was held.

“It is truly a beautiful testimony to God’s faithfulness,” Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, the current president of Franciscan University, told EWTN News.

“The other day I was thinking that the teenagers who attended the first youth conferences are now over 60, almost 70,” he added. “So that means half a century of young people whose hearts have been touched, who have encountered Jesus in the sacraments, who have encountered Him in the gathered youth community… It’s simply a tremendous milestone for young people. Now, the fact that Franciscan University was able to be a part of this and that we had the vision to offer this opportunity—I believe that is also a great grace for us.”.

The 2026 Conference

This summer, Franciscan University organized four sold-out lectures on its Steubenville campus, in addition to 15 other lectures that took place in various cities across the United States.

Speakers at this summer’s youth conference include Father Mike Schmitz, host of the podcast “The Bible in a Year”; Chris Stefanick, author, speaker, and television host; Father Leo Patalinghug, author, podcast host, and priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore; Katie Prejean McGrady, author and Catholic radio host; Paul J. Kim, speaker, author, and musician; and many more.

Brian Kissinger, executive director of conferences at Franciscan University, told EWTN News that “at the heart of our conferences, at the heart of this experience for young people, is the Blessed Sacrament.”.

He explained that they also try to make the conferences “as exclusive as possible.”.

“We know that teenagers come from a million different backgrounds—not only geographically, but also emotionally, spiritually, and from a catechetical standpoint. Some have received an excellent Catholic upbringing and come from loving Catholic homes; others are not Catholic, but have simply come along with their Catholic friends,” he explained. “That’s why we really try to make the weekend as welcoming as possible, to preach the message of the Gospel—which never changes—but always approaching the presentation of the ‘kerygma’ on the understanding that a teenager doesn’t know the whole story.”.

According to Kissinger, one of the most moving moments of the conference takes place during the closing Mass, when the presiding priest invites the young people—both men and women—to come forward if they have felt God’s call to the priesthood or religious life over the weekend.

According to the 2026 survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research on the Apostolate (CARA) among newly ordained priests, 18 % of the priests ordained this year attended a Youth Conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville during their vocational journey.

Other CARA studies revealed that 21 % of the women religious and 15 % of the men religious who had recently taken perpetual vows had also attended a Franciscan youth retreat. Overall, 18 % of the newly professed men and women religious reported having participated in a Steubenville youth retreat, more than in any other Catholic retreat of this type in the United States.

So, what is the secret to the Steubenville Youth Conference's success among young Catholics?

“People often ask me, ‘What’s the secret to the success of these retreats?’ But, honestly, it’s not complicated at all,” said Pivonka. “What we do is bring young people together and offer them an environment where they can encounter Jesus. We do this through the sacraments. We do it through adoration. We do it through the sacrament of reconciliation. We do it through worship. And we do it as best we can, to break down, in a way, the barriers that may exist between them and that encounter.”.

“I’d like to say there’s some secret ingredient, but in reality, it’s simply a matter of creating an environment that fosters connections among young people,” he added.

“I also don’t buy into the idea that ‘young people aren’t fervent or that you can’t set challenges for them,’” he continued. “What I mean is that we present the Church’s teachings without any hesitation. And what we’re seeing is that young people respond to that.”.

From Reluctant Assistant to Enthusiastic Disciple

Elizabeth Feulner, an 18-year-old student from Syracuse, New York, has attended two Steubenville youth conferences.

In an interview with EWTN News, she said she was forced to attend the conference during her freshman year. Her parish’s youth group had just gotten started, and her mother received an email from the group’s leader providing details about the conference.

“My mom told me, ‘You have to go to this. ’It sounds like a great opportunity. I wish I’d had something like this when I was your age.‘ And I replied, ’Well, it’s on such short notice; I don’t know if this is going to be what I like best.” So the first year wasn’t really my decision,” Feulner explained.

However, when reflecting on that first experience, he said it helped him “grow in my personal relationship with Jesus and express it more openly, as well as have confidence in it in many ways in my life.”.

She noted that attending alone during her first year allowed her to “really sit there and feel Jesus” presence, as well as His work in my life,“ which in turn motivated her to seek ”God-centered” relationships when she returned home.

Feulner recalled the moment that made the greatest impression on him during that first conference: Eucharistic adoration.

That year, she attended the conference with a dislocated knee and had to walk on crutches. The worship service was held in the afternoon, but she had walked a lot during the day, was in a lot of pain, and by the time the afternoon came, she was exhausted.

“I was sitting there during adoration; I felt very moved, and the monstrance stopped right above me, and for a moment it seemed to me that it was just God and me, and He said to me, ‘I see you, and I am here,’” she said.

“I think that moment showed me—and I’ve continued to let it show me—that He is always there,” she added. “And that physical representation of Him there, looking at me through the monstrance, is as if it were just Him and me. And that has continued to shape the way I view my relationship with God, especially during difficult times and throughout my entire life.”.

When Feulner attended this year, she said she had a completely different perspective and felt immensely grateful for everything God had done in her life since she first attended the previous year.

Since then, she has started her own youth group, and as a result, she has formed Christ-centered friendships; her boyfriend, with whom she has been dating for two years, has converted to Catholicism; and her younger sister was able to attend the conference with her this year.

“I felt so grateful for this past year and for the community that, honestly, I never thought I’d have when I was younger,” she said. “This past year has been crucial in finally being able to have a community in Christ, in my faith, and with friendships that are simply unbreakable.”.

Feulner said he hopes that those attending the Steubenville Youth Conference will “at some point have an experience that shows them they are worthy of His love, no matter what they’ve done, and that they know He sees them—whether or not they’ve experienced that moment of worship—that He truly sees them every day and in everything they go through, and that He loves them not in spite of it, but precisely because of it.”.

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This article was first published in Ángelus News. It is reprinted in Omnes with permission. You can read the original article in English. HERE.