People lost many things in 2020, a year marked by a global pandemic and other challenges. But the most important things became clearer, said Ryan O’Hara, content creator with St. Paul’s Outreach, a Catholic college and university ministry based in St Paul.
Ryan O’Hara
“I think it left a great longing … for something more, to be able to grab onto something firm and steady and consistent and unchanging. And we believe, as the Church believes and proclaims, that God is that foundation.”
College students were among those whose lives were dramatically impacted as campuses closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, and they were searching for answers, O’Hara said on a Jan. 8 Practicing Catholic radio show produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and aired on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
“We had to rethink on the fly how to be in ministry with college students,” said O’Hara, who has served in campus ministry since 1997 and now helps lead a ministry that includes 15 college campuses across the U.S.
One approach is an upcoming Ascend Conference, which is a gathering of SPO students and other young adults connected to SPO — and, this year, anyone with an internet connection.
The conference will be held the evenings of Jan. 21-23. Because of the pandemic, this year’s event will be held virtually. Earlier this month, 2,000 people had already registered for the free event.
The conference’s theme is “Created for Worship” and each evening will focus on “one big idea” related to the theme, O’Hara said. Participants should expect a look at worship from more of a 30,000-foot view, he said.
“A lot of times when we hear the word ‘worship,’ we focus on particular liturgies that we love or the songs that we sing or the way that we express that with our bodies,” O’Hara said. “And that’s certainly an important part of worship and … the Eucharist as the source and summit. But because we’re not able to do that together, we wanted to explore a bigger picture of how we were made for worship,” he said, and what that will look like when you lay it out over the whole of your life.
Ryan said the conference will include testimonies and opportunities for people to engage digitally, entering into a time of praise and worship.
Keynote presenters will be Mary Healy, professor of sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Dan Keating, professor of theology at Sacred Heart, and Father Mike Schmitz, director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain for the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
O’Hara said the conference could mark a change for many people. “That’s really our prayer — that this conference is a turning point in their relationship with God, for many people around the country, and even around the world.”
To register for the Ascend Conference, visit AscendSPO.org.
Other guest interviews on the Jan. 8 Practicing Catholic show are Dominican Father Bonaventure Chapman, who describes living a saintly life, and Father Tom Margevicius, who discusses the baptism of our Lord and its significance.
Listen to their interviews after they have aired:
soundcloud.com/practicingcatholic
Practicing Catholic on Spotify
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