What really happens when you baptize a baby? When you protest nonviolently? When you remember? On March 1, over 250 high school students from Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin gathered on the serene campus of the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, IL, to explore these questions and more as part of the annual Winter Newman Forum Conference for high school students. Professors and graduate students from local universities gave short talks on a variety of topics, introducing students to new and challenging ideas from within the Catholic intellectual tradition on topics ranging from the image of God in gender to the science of gravity. A number of the presenters were PhD students who participate in LCI’s graduate student formation programs, such as the summer seminars on the thought of St. Augustine and Catholic Social Teaching and master classes during the academic year.
In the morning, students chose from seven simultaneous sessions, with the opportunity to listen and ask questions at three different lectures in total. The hallways were bursting with energy — and bodies — as students debriefed what they just heard, exchanged notes with friends who chose a different session, and tried to snag a seat in their next preferred lecture before the room reached capacity.
The students had lunch in the university dining hall, mingling with friends and speakers. Students from public, private, and Catholic schools were all represented, as well as their homeschooling counterparts. A sizeable minority were alumni of the Newman Forum Summer Seminar and had come in part to reunite with friends. Many students were brand new to Lumen Christi and were excited — and maybe a bit overawed — by what they were hearing: their faith talked about in a way they had never heard before. The runaway favorite lecture examined miraculous sacred images, like paintings and statues that have been seen to weep or bleed. After lunch, students were able to meet with the speakers during “office hours,” strolling between the different tables where the scholars were seated and asking more questions. The students had so many questions that LCI staff had to cut them off at the end of the allotted time over the loudspeaker.
The day concluded with time before the Blessed Sacrament for the students to reflect on what they learned and encounter the Eucharistic Lord in silence. At the end, speakers and students alike reported that they were excited to come back next year.