ACYC aiming to empower teenagers

By ROB HERBST
The Catholic Week
After a one-year absence due to COVID-19, the Archdiocesan Catholic Youth Conference in Orange Beach returns Feb. 18-20.
The weekend event traditionally brings hundreds to the Perdido Beach Resort and is an opportunity for high school-age students from all corners of the Archdiocese of Mobile to come together and grow in their faith. Teens had the opportunity to take part in an online event last year in lieu of ACYC, but the in-person connections made at ACYC can’t be duplicated.
This year’s theme is “One” and this year’s logo includes the names of each parish in the archdiocese.
“It’s a chance to all come together as one,” said Tex Phelps, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile.
This will be Phelps’ first ACYC since arriving at the Archdiocese of Mobile. 
But he’s no stranger to diocesan youth conferences and said the mission of each conference is to energize teens about their faith beyond the weekend.
“The whole goal is that by the time we get to the end of the weekend, they’re on fire and take that back to their parish and so the parish has these young people coming back and evangelizing to other young people in the parish,” Phelps said.
“This is a great way to empower them – to go back to their parishes, take on more responsibility in their parishes, in their communities and open them up to speaking about their faith to other people.”
Phelps said discussing the faith can be especially challenging for Catholic teens in areas of the archdiocese where there aren’t many fellow Catholic teens.
ACYC can help spearhead faith-sharing and also connect Catholic teens to each other.
“It’s easy to not want to speak about your faith,” he said. “Hopefully getting together with other Catholic people and with all the talks we have, everything we do will empower them to speak about their faith. Especially in areas where there are so few Catholics, it’s so huge that they find their voice.”
Keynote speakers for this year’s ACYC include nationally-known Maggie Craig and Brian Greenfield. 
Those who have not registered yet are encouraged to contact their parish youth minister to see if a group is attending from their parish. If not, contact Phelps at [email protected] or 251-433-4138.
“Statistics show when a young person has some kind of experience like an ACYC or retreat or something like that, they’re more likely to stay in the faith,” Phelps said. “The more experiences like that, the stronger the chances are.”
“The goal is to have an exciting prayerful weekend so we can engage the young people and take them deeper in their faith.”