SHC gears up for 2007 Catholic Youth Conference

MOBILE, Ala. — Spring Hill College’s Catholic Youth Conference, “Experience the Hill,” is scheduled for July 16-20, 2007. The weeklong event will take place on the historic college campus in Mobile.

Attendees travel from throughout the South to attend the event. To date groups from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida and Alabama are registered. The conference, now in its sixth year, is designed to bring the long tradition of Ignatian spirituality and the Spiritual Exercises to high school youth, ages 15 to 18. It offers participants a weeklong journey of discovering their deeper self in personal prayer and community sharing; exploring their faith and their calling’ and experiencing Catholic teaching on service, sacrament, sexuality and social justice. 

Greg Thompson, coordinator of youth ministry and family life for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Madison, Ala., will be this year’s featured speaker. Other sessions will be provided from Spring Hill’s theology faculty, campus ministry staff and graduate theology students.

Spring Hill College is the third oldest of the 28 colleges and universities affiliated with the Jesuits in the United States. Founded in 1830 by Michael Portier, the first bishop of Mobile, it is the oldest college in Alabama. Spring Hill strives to model the Jesuit approach of  “Be more. Do more. Learn more. Serve better.”

The conference size is kept small in order to maintain the quality of the experience, however a limited number of spaces are still available.  Partial scholarships, made possible by the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus, may also be available. The cost of the five-day event including room, board and tuition is $325. Group discounts are available. For more information on the Catholic Youth Conference contact Judi Ankiewicz at (800) 524-8957, (251) 380-4114, catholicyouth@shc.edu or visit www.shc.edu/cyc.