One of the advantages of living within the Diocese of Steubenville is the proximity to Franciscan University of Steubenville. Ever since Fr. Michael Scanlan, TOR, began serving as president of the university in the early 1970s (at that time still called “The College of Steubenville”), the university has developed some very dynamic summer conferences both for adults and for high school youth.
This year has seen so many things like professional baseball and so many music concerts be cancelled or postponed. Just as some of these leagues and events are beginning to be held – often with very creative precautions – the Steubenville summer conferences have planned ways to be conducted safely as well.
The Steubenville High School Youth Conferences have grown to be a nationwide summertime fixture. Each summer (usually!) in addition to 3 or 4 weekend high school youth conferences on campus at Franciscan University in Steubenville, they have held them at many locations throughout the country, having “Steubenville South” in Louisiana, “Steubenville West” in Phoenix, “Steubenville Florida” and “Steubenville Atlanta” as well as conferences in St. Louis and Philadelphia.
On Friday evening through Saturday evening, July 17th and 18th, of this year the Steubenville Florida summer youth conference will be live-streamed. I would like to plan for our high school students to be able to participate in at least a couple of ways. I would like to arrange for our Marian Room, which has a surround sound system and a larger screen TV, to be linked to that event in Florida. In addition to arranging the chairs and tables for our participants to gather safely, we could also provide the links for those who would like to participate from home. We will be contacting the families of our high school students over the next couple of weeks for making these plans. Please feel free to contact us (Deacon Jeremiah, Pat Farley or me) if you are interested in participating or at least in finding out more information.
Another Summer Conference is planned for Sunday evening, July 19th. This conference, called the “Night of Hope” Conference, is for adults and families and will likewise be both live streamed and conducted on campus at Franciscan University. So, I would love both to gather a group to go to Steubenville together to participate in that event live and to provide access information for those who would like to participate from home. Please contact either Deacon Jeremiah or me over these next couple of weeks so that we can complete the registration process.
May the Lord keep us protected and healthy and, as always, well prepared for the gift of eternal life!