CARLINVILLE — Attendance at the Diocesan Youth Conference earlier this month in Carlinville was down a little from last year, but organizers are pleased with feedback they are getting from participants and their parents.

"One mother wrote us her son came home from the conference describing it as 'awesome,' and she described leaders as 'truly soldiers of Christ,'" says Kyle Holtgrave, diocesan director of youth ministry.

With "Rejoice in the Lord Always" the conference theme, "a lot of the catechesis was in being joyful in the Lord," says Holtgrave. "We won't be entirely satisfied until we have every parish in the diocese represented at the conference, but this is a start. This is an activity that is going to take time to build momentum and we are going to keep at it, until we reach that goal."

Workshops included sessions on working in the missions, working for social justice, accounts of lay people who spot the presence of God in today's pop-culture, and vocations.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki joined the group on Saturday afternoon to visit and talk informally with the young people, telling them about himself and his ministry as their bishop, and answering questions they had for him.

"Our diocese goes from the Mississippi River on one side to the Indiana border on the other side. You are part of more than your local parish, you are part of something far bigger," Bishop Paprocki said.

"The word 'catholic' means universal, and we realize we are connected to people throughout the world."

How many Catholics are there are in the world?

Over "1 billion," Bishop Paprocki answered, when no one came up with the answer.

Later, in his homily at the anticipated Mass for Sunday Bishop Paprocki celebrated for the youth in the conference center auditorium, he told the young people, "Rejoice in the Lord always, even during Lent, which is a season of self-denial, and not just when things are going well. Look happy."