Partners Conference 

Every fall, Catholics On Call offers the Partners Conference.  Campus ministers, vocation directors, volunteer directors, and anyone who ministers to young adults have the opportunity to come together to learn and discuss best practices for supporting young adult men and women in their vocational discernment. 

The 2010 Catholics on Call Partner Conference will take place on September 23-24, 2010 at CTU, Chicago. The title of the conference is: “Becoming an Adult in Today's World:
What Catholic Young Adults Think About Faith, Church, Vocation”
Keynote Speakers are Dr. Christian Smith and Dr. Marti Jewell.

The 2010 Partner Conference will focus on the religious and spiritual lives of Catholic young adults, with attention to their interest in church vocations. Dr. Christian Smith is the Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (Oxford, 2009). This important study of young adults is a follow-up to his earlier book, Soul-Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford, 2005). Dr. Marti Jewell serves as Assistant Professor of Theology in the School of Ministry at the University of Dallas. She was the Director of the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project from 2003 to 2009. As part of the Emerging Models Project, she studied the interest of young adult Catholics in ecclesial vocations.

*If you are not a Catholics On Call Partner, and wish to learn more about the Partners Conference and the partnership, contact us at 773.371.5431 or email the Associate Director, Birgit Oberhofer. Click here for more information about the partnership. 

Information from our Partner Conference 2009

The 2009 Partner Conference took place on September 24/25, 2009 at CTU, Chicago. We were very pleased to have Bishop Robert Morneau, Auxiliary Bishop of Green Bay, WI as as our main presenter. The theme of the conference was: "Discerning God's Call in the 21st Century."
Please click here for Fr. Robin Ryan's homily during the Closing Eucharist on Friday.

Information from our Partner Conference 2008

Keynote speaker of the Partner Conference 2008 was Thomas Rausch, SJ (Professor of Theology at Loyola Marymount University and author of Being Catholic in a Culture of Choice) gave two talks:
"Young Adult Catholics Today"
"Meeting the Living God: Beyond a Culturally Determined Faith"

To post the recorded talks on the website, we had to devide them in smaller pieces. Click on the following links to hear the podcast:

Tom Rausch, SJ: Young Adult Catholics Today - Part 1
Tom Rausch, SJ: Young Adult Catholics Today - Part 2
Tom Rausch, SJ: Young Adult Catholics Today - Part 3
Tom Rausch, SJ: Young Adult Catholics Today - Part 4

Tom Rausch, SJ: Meeting the Living God - Part 1
Tom Rausch, SJ: Meeting the Living God - Part 2
Tom Rausch, SJ: Meeting the Living God - Part 3
Tom Rausch, SJ: Meeting the Living God - Part 4
Tom Rausch, SJ: Meeting the Living God - Part 5

We are grateful to Tom Rausch for making available the Bibliography he used.

Dan Allen, 2007 Catholics on Call alumni gave a very deep and insightful witness talk on vocation and calling on Friday morning!

Scroll down on this page to watch a slide show from the conference.

Information from our first Partner Conference 2005

Presenters and their papers:

• Fr. Donald Senior, C.P., New Testament scholar and President of Catholic Theological Union. Topic: Theology of Call. Download Fr. Senior's paper.
• Fr. Jim Bacik, Catholic campus ministry director, University of Toledo, and prominent author. Topic: The Spirituality of Contemporary Young Adults. Respondents: Young adult panel. Download Fr. Bacik's paper.
• Sr. Barbara Bowe, R.S.C.J., New Testament and Christian spirituality scholar. Topic: Principles of Discernment. Respondents: A panel of a campus minister, young adult minister, and vocation director.  Download Professor Bowe's paper.

Slide Show