By EmmaLee Italia, Correspondent

They may have been in different locations, but the youth ministries of St. Mary, Mother of God Parish, Middletown, St. Raphael-Holy Angels Parish, Hamilton, and Epiphany Parish, Brick, were on the same mission: to hear how God’s love is revealed.

On July 20-22, the Middletown and Brick youth ministries attended the Main Campus 5 conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, while teens from St. Raphael-Holy Angels went to the Steubenville NYC conference held at St. John’s University, N.Y.

At the core of the conferences was the theme “Revealed,” based on 1 John 4:9 – “In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.” Similar conferences with the same theme were held in various locations nationwide.

“This conference was encouraging to me as a teen to live out my faith because it showed me that the young church is ALIVE!” said Juliet, a senior from St. Raphael-Holy Angels Parish. “I was able to hit the refresh button with the Lord and come back to Him again.”

Fellow senior Moira said that “conferences like this help teens become more active in their faith, because they make it relatable – they focus on talking about issues that Catholic teens struggle with, and give us opportunities to grow closer to God in both charismatic and prayerful ways.”

Gez Ford, the Hamilton parish youth ministry leader, took a group of 32 teens and chaperones to the New York conference. It was the sixth retreat the parish has attended.

“We live in a world [with] voices shouting at us from all sides, trying to tell us who we should be and who we shouldn’t be,” Ford said. “But amidst all the noise is our loving Father, who wants to make himself known to us and speak truth about who we are.”

It was the first trip to Steubenville for Epiphany Parish’s senior youth group, which were accompanied by chaperons including Father Michael Santangelo, pastor. The teens who attended said they had a wonderful faith-filled experience and couldn’t wait to return.

St. Mary Parish’s youth were accompanied by 10 adult chaperones and three priests – parish pastor Father Jeffrey J. Kegley, parish parochial vicar Father Richard Osborne and Father Thomas J. Barry Jr., parochial vicar in St. Justin the Martyr Parish, Toms River.

“I invited Father Barry to join us this year to check it out,” explained Father Kegley, who has attended Steubenville conferences since 2002 with various parish groups. When asked if Father Barry would bring a group of teens next year, he responded, “I think that’s the plan!”

“[It’s] a real opportunity for the kids to encounter our Lord,” said Brian Stahl, St. Mary Parish youth ministry leader, who also attended the conference. “The chaperones – who led small group discussions, prayed with the teens, and otherwise guided them – are people whom we know to be vibrantly faithful Catholics.”

The Middletown youth have gone to the conference in Steubenville for the past five years, so many of the teens had already experienced the spiritually charged weekend. But those who attended for the first time, Stahl noted, “wanted an opportunity to deepen their faith and to feel Christ’s presence in a more life-altering way.”

“It’s about teens encountering Christ and discovering God’s plan for them,” Father Kegley explained. “We pray for the Holy Spirit to empower them to go back to church and be missionary disciples … they really responded.”

The participants had opportunities to go to Mass and Confession, as well as hear presenters speak about chastity, God’s love for them, truth in Christian life and more.

“The highlight of the retreat was Saturday night Adoration,” Stahl recalled. “One young man told me that it was ‘the most amazing thing he had ever felt.’”