Catholic Conferences and Courses for a Questioning Teen
For the Catholic teenager who has started to ask the harder questions, or the parent who feels the ground shifting beneath familiar conversations — the ones who want something deeper than easy answers or platitudes. This set brings together experiences that treat doubt and curiosity not as threats but as invitations: conferences that surround the teen with peers who take faith seriously, courses that respect the complexity of what’s being asked, and journeys that put bodies in the presence of old stones and older stories. Chosen for substance over spectacle, each is a step outside the echo chamber, into company or context that can bear the weight of real uncertainty. Start with the one that fits your season, your threshold, your sense of readiness. You don’t need to do them all.
TMM Editorial · May 2026
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The Picks
Steubenville Youth Conferences
For high-school teens. The 2027 weekends run from June 18 to August 1 at 19 sites across the US and one in Halifax, Nova Scotia, including four weekends at the main campus in Steubenville, Ohio (June 18 to July 18). Teens come in a group led by an adult: a parish youth group, or a group of just one parent and one teen. Each site sets its own price. Where the questioning teen sees hundreds of peers taking the faith seriously.
Defending the Faith Conference
An adult conference for the parent (the teen's weekends are the youth conferences above). July 30 to August 1, 2027 at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio: talks on hard questions, Mass, adoration and prayer. Registration is $250 ($185 for young adults); campus housing from $155 and meals at $130 are extra. The 2027 speakers aren't announced yet. For the parent who has decided to actually learn the answers.
Why Believe? Textbook and DVD Bundle (Augustine Institute)
A year-long apologetics course written for high-school seniors and home educators, as physical books you can wrap: both student textbooks (30 chapters) and the two DVDs with the course's 60 short videos, so no streaming subscription is needed. $79.95 when checked (list $99.80), shipped; free US shipping over $75. Read a chapter together at the kitchen table once a week, or hand it over for self-paced work. It respects the depth of the questions instead of pamphleting them away.
Word on Fire Institute Membership
Bishop Barron's online formation community, for the parent: 55+ courses in theology, philosophy, apologetics and scripture, monthly live seminars and a print journal four times a year. There's no gift membership: they sign up themselves with a 30-day free trial, then it's $27 a month, renewing until they cancel. Suggest it, or offer to cover it if they'd like you to. For the parent quietly intimidated by their teen's questions who wants a serious place to start without enrolling in a degree.
Verso Ministries — World Youth Day Seoul Pilgrimage 2027
World Youth Day in Seoul, August 1 to 10, 2027: Mass with the Pope, an overnight vigil and a week among Catholic young people from across the world, with a Verso pilgrimage director. From $3,295 per person sharing a room, $500 deposit; flights are extra. Best as a trip the parent and older teen take together; check the trip's age rules before you book. Verso also runs parish pilgrimages to Rome, the Holy Land, Lourdes and Fatima, listed from $2,959 to $5,487 per person.