Where are all the youths?

LINDA REEVES | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PALM BEACH BUREAU EDITOR

Posted: 06.10.08

BOCA RATON | The hottest youth gathering in south Florida kicks off this weekend and from setup to finish the Florida Catholic and the local diocesan’s communication department will be there to witness and provide exclusive daily coverage so that everyone can be part of the history–making event.

According to event organizer Kathy Twist, there will be more than 1,200 high school students from around the country and every Catholic diocese in Florida attending the Steubenville Florida event sponsored by the Diocese of Palm Beach and Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

The location is Lynn University and Pope John Paul II High School, and the theme of the event is “witness.”

“The verse from the Bible that will guide us is from the book of Acts,” explained John Beaulieu, director of youth and young adult outreach at Franciscan University, who is among the speakers for the conference.

Acts 1:8 reads: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”

“This particular weekend is really geared to dealing with probably the best kept secret in the Catholic Church and that is the movement and purpose and role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer,” said Deacon Ralph Poyo, a conference speaker from Steubenville. “The idea is that the Holy Spirit gives us the power to live, love and witness.”

This is the first time the nationally acclaimed Steubenville youth ministry team of speakers and motivators will be in Florida in its 32–year history for a three–day youth conference. The college is promoting it through its Web site and across the country.

“This is huge for our diocese and for the state of Florida and beyond,” said Twist. “These young people will experience a true conversion. Our youth for the most part go to Sunday Mass, come home and stay busy the rest of the week with schoolwork and friends, then return to Mass again the next Sunday. Yet they need to see that there should be more to their Catholicism than only that.”

The conference brings nationally known speakers and musicians, workshops, Masses and Eucharistic adoration, something many teens have not experienced, to the campuses of the two Boca Raton schools.

Beaulieu said, “We will seek not just to learn about the Holy Spirit, but to get to know him as the living presence of God in our lives. And we will get to know his power — the power he wants us to have that we might be witnesses.”

Everyone is invited to be a part of 2008 Steubenville Florida online by visiting the site to be there with teens attending, many who have never been to a function like this before.

The Diocese of Palm Beach offered a precursor to this event March 2007. The one–day All Access Youth Rally was held at Pope John Paul II High School March 17 with about 1,000 teens.

Justin Ney, 14, attended last year’s event.

In an interview with the Florida Catholic, he said, “I didn’t really know what to expect. I’ve learned how much more control you can have over your life with God in it.”