STEUBENVILLE, OH— Father John Amsberry, pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Portland, Oregon, paused halfway across the stage and looked out at the young audience.

          "It's 2:58 p.m. and…?"

          "We are loved!" they yelled back.

          Over 1,700 teens piled onto Franciscan University's campus for the first High School Youth Conference in Steubenville, June 18-20, to hear the gospel, sing with Bob Rice and his band about God's love, and encounter Christ in word and sacrament.

          Indifferent, excited, nervous, curious, the teens came from 14 states, from as far away as Oregon and South Dakota, and as close as Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. They left profoundly changed.  Among those transformed were the 20 teens who participated in the weeklong Leadership, Evangelization, And Discipleship (LEAD) retreat that preceded the weekend conference.  Throughout the weekend they testified to their fellow teens about the power of confession and Eucharist, of finding God in the ancient rites and sacraments of the Church.

Margaret and Joanna spoke to the crowd about the power of Confession—of healing, of purification, of the past being washed away and experiencing a new beginning.

"I feel like I can start over, like nothing happened before. God is awesome, you guys!"

Topher talked about walking a rough road since his father left him when he was 5. But confession and eucharistic adoration in the course of his LEAD week allowed him to be touched by God. "If any of you are like me, I just challenge you to open your hearts," he said. "Let the Lord in."

Guided by this summer's youth conference theme, "The Word Became Flesh," host Jim Beckman and the team sought to help the teens, youth ministers, parents, chaperones, and priests do just that.

Deacon Ralph Poyo, introduced as "our own deacon hobbit who lives in the Shire near campus," told the teens, "It is all about you and me receiving the blessing of the Father. How many of us are dying for a word of approval from our heavenly Father?"

He described getting married and learning to give himself to his wife, and then his daughters, totally, sacrificially, in order to help them to heaven.

"How awesome it is to share in life together! At some point, we have to realize we're all about relationship. It's what we're designed for. It's what we are made for.

"I'm here to tell you one very important thing. Jesus died for you. Jesus came for you. Jesus loves you. Why would he choose to become man? For you and for me," said Deacon Poyo, founder of New Evangelization Ministries.

"He knows everything that we've done. He was there—he saw it. And you know what? He doesn't leave you. He chose to die for you anyway. He loves you anyway."

Speaker Tammy Evevard challenged the teens to discover the truth about themselves, to know who it is that God loves.

"You were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness."

She went through some assumptions rampant in the broader culture. "There's a continuous stream of people telling us over and over how the world is. They teach us to say, 'What I see around me is normal. This is the best I'm going to get.'  It's a lie.

"If we are made in the image and likeness of God, then we deserve better than the new normal. We can live in God's freedom."

Evevard emphasized that both men and women were created in the image and likeness of God, who described them as "very good."

"Men and women are equal in dignity, and value, and purpose."

The Saturday afternoon workshops covered practical ways of living the faith in the light of God's love, teaching the teens about such things as "Genuine Prayer," "Sharing Christ over Coffee," and explaining "The Holiest Place on Earth: Praying the Mass."

"The greatest thing in life," said Father Amsberry at his workshop, "is our sacred friendship with Christ and sharing that relationship with others. We become a place where people encounter paradise in this world. 

"We are the daughters and sons of God. The more we incarnate that, the more attractive we become."

          To live life as sons and daughters of God, said author and musician Chris Padgett, you have to know the God-bearer. "In order for you to be the saint you are called to be, you must be Marian."

          Padgett expanded on the long road to sanctity in his keynote talk, saying, "God calls us all, and he knows ahead of time that we are weak and broken.

          "Our problem today is not that we don't have enough information, or that we don't want to say yes. The real question is, how can we be saints with all the crap in our life?"

The answer, Padgett said, is God's mercy. "If we confess our sins, he will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We know Jesus will take us and embrace us and strengthen us. It's not information, but transformation we need."

The Word became flesh again and again over the course of the conference—in the celebration of the Mass, through the sacrament of Reconciliation, in the planting of the seed of the Gospel in young hearts, and in the love of all the teens shown by the conference staff and the speakers.

Saturday night's eucharistic praise and worship was the high point of the weekend. Later, Padgett said, "I think a lot of the team really felt like we were swimming in mud until last night. That was a great victory last night." Teens prayed, wept, and worshiped Christ as Father Leo Patalinghug, martial arts master and director of Pastoral Field Education at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, brought Jesus in the monstrance to them in solemn procession.

Closing the conference, Jim Beckman encouraged the teens to commit to prayer and lived faith. "Otherwise, all you'll have a few months from now is the memory of that awesome night of adoration and praise when you sang louder than the band."

                Mare Draper from Holy Family Parish in the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, came along as a chaperone for a group of 42 and said, "This is the first time where I've come to a retreat that truly is supportive of a chaperone and a youth minister as well as the kids and I have an opportunity to experience what the kids are experiencing. It just humbles me.      "Everyone's so nice and chipper, everyone just wants to high five. It's really an amazing experience and I just feel so relaxed. I'm never relaxed and I feel relaxed."

            Franciscan University summer youth conferences will take place in 14 locations across the U. S. and Canada this summer. Teams at each conference include nationally known speakers, priests and bishops, dedicated to sharing Jesus Christ with the youth of today. For more information, including a complete list of conferences for youth and youth ministers, free music, and video of past conferences, go to www.franciscanyouth.com.

          To learn more about the LEAD Program, a week-long immersion in the faith for teens that precedes all 19 summer youth conferences, contact Kristina McClintock at franciscanlead@franciscan.edu.