This year’s Columbus Catholic Young Adult (CCYAC) conference, Forward Together, will return to Westerville St. Paul the Apostle Church Saturday, Oct. 24 for a day of prayer, keynote talks and fellowship.
Last year’s conference drew hundreds of young adults from central Ohio and several from outside of the Columbus diocese. The event offers young men and women ages 19-35 an opportunity for community, fellowship and renewal.
“We know that young adults are under significant threats in the broader secular culture,” said Maria Tarbell, president of CCYAC.
“What we are trying to achieve is to provide a peaceful and spiritual parish setting environment so that young adults can come together and deepen their faith life … and … be inspired and transformed in Christ to be motivated to return home to their parishes and communities and get involved.”
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This year’s conference will kick off at 9:15 a.m. with a keynote from Father Joseph Rolwing, parochial vicar at Columbus-Powell St. Peter St. Joan of Arc Parish, who was ordained a priest in 2025. A second keynote will be offered later in the afternoon by Andrew Kebe, director of ministry at Buckeye Catholic.
The day will also include five breakout sessions.
Father Michael Haemmerle, diocesan director of vocations, and Abby Dawes, from Damascus Catholic Mission Campus, will offer respective men’s and women’s sessions. Other breakout speakers will include Rachel Muha, founder of Run the Race Club; Catholic apologist and speaker Karlo Broussard; and Kebe, who will offer an additional talk on next generation leaders.
“It’s an honor to be a part of this year’s CCYAC. What a gift to get to be together with so many young adults from around our diocese,” Father Rolwing said. “I’m so encouraged and excited by the awesome community of young adult Catholics living in the Diocese of Columbus, and I pray that this event makes our community even stronger.”
Attendees will have time for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and confession. The conference will include 23 exhibitor tables, which participants can explore before and during the conference.
A light breakfast, snacks and lunch will be provided.
The event will conclude with a 4 p.m. Mass of Anticipation (for Sunday Mass) at St. Paul the Apostle celebrated by Bishop Earl Fernandes.
“One of the greatest joys of helping organize CCYAC is seeing young adults from so many different parishes come together to grow in their faith,” said Trey Vollenweider, a member of the conference planning committee. “Having attended previous conferences, I’ve always been struck by the joy and energy of everyone gathered, especially during the talks, Adoration and Mass.
“My hope is that those who attend leave not only strengthened in their relationship with Christ but also with new friendships and a sense of community that will continue to support and encourage them long after the conference ends.”
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For the first time in CCYAC history, a post-conference dinner with additional time for fellowship will be held off-site at Smash Park in Westerville. Dinners were previously held at the parish following Mass.
“We are so excited that CCYAC is becoming a reference point within the young adult Church in Central Ohio every year. Seeing firsthand how transformative this experience is for our attendees makes every moment of work worth it,” said Denis Veneziano, CCYAC’s vice president and director of development.
“As we like to say within our board, this is not our conference, it’s the Lord’s conference; and by the good fruits it bears, we have constant confirmation of it being His. We are looking forward to our eighth one with so much joy and excitement.”
The first CCYAC event was held in the fall of 2019. Due to the federal government’s economic shut down five months later, no conference was held in 2020.
“It was very challenging to try and keep it going,” Tarbell admitted. “The big question in the spring of 2020 was, ‘Do we keep going or not?’ The answer was, ‘Keep going.'”
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Two young adult conferences were held in 2021, one in the spring and another in the fall. Beginning in 2022, the annual conference has continued every October.
“We are not expecting that the young adults we had attend the conference in 2019 are still attending. Young adults move forward, either leaving Central Ohio, getting married or for some other reason,” Tarbell recognized.
Eager to welcome new young adults each year, she added, “it’s important to us to continue to create awareness of who we are, who we serve and our impact.”