CARLINVILLE — Over 60 young people and their adult chaperones attended this year's Diocesan Youth Conference, held March 7-8 at Lake Williamson Christian Conference Center in Carlinville. The theme for the weekend was "Lord, you have the words of eternal life" and came from the Psalm from that weekend's Mass.

"We had 61 people who attended from seven parishes," said Kyle Holtgrave, associate director for Youth and Young Adult Ministry in the Office for Catechesis. Those attending were from St. John the Baptist in Arcola; St. Alexius in Beardstown; Our Lady of Lourdes in Decatur; St. Agnes in Hillsboro; Immaculate Conception in Shelbyville; St. Katharine Drexel in Springfield; and Blessed Sacrament in Quincy.

"Our programs included music, activities to get everyone up and moving around and meeting new friends, and comedy from our keynote group," Holtgrave said. "And of course, we had prayer throughout our conference."

Holtgrave describes the keynote for the weekend, Spork, as the "dynamic duo of Kyle Heimann from Indiana and Justin Magaldi from New York" who brought "a great message of hope in our faith by helping us unpack our theme." Spork's presentation lightened the mood of the day, he said.

Heimann talked about watching out for things that may look promising but might ultimately be destructive. Sin can be something that appears to be good and pleasing but ultimately does not satisfy, he said.

Magaldi shared another message: With love, comes sacrifice. Whether it is through marriage, consecrated single life or the ordained priesthood, we are called to love through sacrifice for the sake of others, he pointed out.

"We also had a number of people representing religious orders as part of our time … ," Holtgrave said. Additionally Father Angel Sierra, pastor of Ss. Mary and Joseph Parish in Carlinville, led one of the breakout sessions on "texting God and building relationships." Cathy Becker, pastoral associate from St. Katharine Drexel Parish, also led a workshop.

When the attendees weren't in learning sessions, taking part in prayer services or attending Mass, they had time to enjoy activities at the conference center. "These included some open swim time as well as a round of black light dodge ball," Holtgrave said.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki closed the youth conference with Mass and then stayed to have supper with the participants.