As many of you know, I am away this week to join our youth and youth leaders for the annual Ignite NW youth conference. This is the fourth or fifth time I've gone, but only the second time I've gone while pastor of Parish Family 49 - and since the conference moved out of Saint Martin's Abbey (and away from our archdiocese 😕) to the University of Portland.

Today (Tuesday, July 21, 2026) - the prep day - was fairly low-key for me. In truth, I thought the conference started this afternoon - I had mis-entered the conference start date in my calendar and assumed that our own youth group would meet me around noon at the University of Portland. I only realized my mistake when I received a text from one of our leaders: "see you tomorrow!". Oops.

But today IS the day for clergy, religious, and volunteers to arrive, get oriented, and settle in. And coming a bit earlier than I had realized has afforded me the opportunity to get an early start on appreciating how this endeavor is a rather amazing labor of love. 

While youth conferences are hardly novel, Ignite NW strikes me as a unique - and much needed! - take on the practice of faith-filled gatherings of youth. The sheer quantity of clergy and religious, coming from all sorts of backgrounds and locations, is a bit staggering. There are clergy, religious, and seminarians coming from Society of Our Lady of the Trinity, Order of Saint Benedict, Sister Servants of the Eternal Word, Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Christ, Dominican Friars, Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa, Congregation of the Holy Cross, the Archdiocese of Seattle, the Archdiocese of Portland, and the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. You can see the whole spread of individuals on their website, as well as where all the groups of participants are coming from this year.

This is a conference that is all about bringing about an encounter between youth & Christ - through beautiful liturgies, inspiring talks, fun activities, but above all, being with each other - across generations & vocations - as members of the Body of Christ. The volunteer core - called 'greenshirts', after the t-shirts that mark their role - is made up of a mere 24 young adults. So motivated to pass on their faith, these young folks actually pay to assist at this retreat (more on that another day - but wouldn't it be amazing if parishes sponsored these volunteers?!?). Having spent their own money and taking time away from their regular life, they come a day early (today) to help set up, arrange responsibilities, and otherwise lay the foundation for the conference to come. And come it will - with somewhere around 300 youth and 100 adults arriving tomorrow!

I spent some of my free time today entering the schedule into my online calendar - just doing so impressed upon me how tired we'll all be by Sunday afternoon! Not only are there talks and events, but every small group is led by a cleric, religious, or seminarian. Three of the five days will feature workshops (also presented by clergy, religious, and other leaders) from which participants can choose. There will be Mass every day - and in different forms (one day we're going to a Dominican rite high Mass!)! We will gather for the Liturgy of the Hours every morning and evening (Lauds/Morning Prayer and Vespers/Evening Prayer). 

These kids are in for an amazing week - and so are we adults!

As our chaplain - Father Thomas Nathe - put it, we won't know (at least this side of heaven) just how these kids will be deepened in their faith, grow in relationship with Jesus, or even discover the seeds of a vocation to the priest or religious life. But we can be sure that if they're open to the movement of the Holy Spirit, we're helping create a place where He can do His work in their lives! Please pray for all of us here at the University of Portland this week, that the fire of God's love might be kindled in us all.