By Michael Gresham
The Texas Catholic

FRISCO – More than 700 young professionals, priests, religious, and Catholic executives from across the United States descended upon the Diocese of Dallas April 26-28 for the eighth annual Young Catholic Professionals national conference, held at the Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star. The 2024 edition, “Workers in the Vineyard,” was inspired by the writings of St. Josemaría Escrivá, exploring the sanctification of work with Christ and for Christ.

“I feel so much joy in my heart right now just seeing all the beautiful, young Catholics in attendance coming together and feeling that sense of hope when we are united,” said Jennifer Baugh, who founded Young Catholic Professionals in Dallas in 2010 to help driven, Catholic professionals in their 20s and 30s connect with one another and grow in their Catholic faith as they “Work in Witness for Christ.” YCP has since grown to have chapters in 39 cities.

The annual conference offered opportunities for fellowship, formation, and prayer, including talks by speakers such as Jon Kirwan, a theology professor and leadership expert; Father Luke Mata, vicar of Opus Dei in Los Angeles, who gave a brief overview of St. Josemaría Escrivá and his spirituality of everyday holiness; Colin Brady, founder and chief creative officer of AMGI Studios; Msgr. C. Eugene Morris, a priest and radio personality who serves as the national co-chaplain for YCP; Jeff Schiefelbein, co-founder of Undivided Life; Harrison Butker, three-time Super Bowl champion kicker for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and co-founder of MDKeller; and Gene Zannetti, founder of Winning Mindset; among others.

In a video played at the conference, Peter Blute, new executive director of Young Catholic Professionals, called this year’s conference “next level.”

“It has just been unbelievable. People are talking about how they come back every year just to see friends they only see at the conference, that they’ve made some amazing friends and connections, and they’ve ultimately learned about this amazing St. Josemaría Escrivá and how his message of sanctifying our ordinary lives, especially our work, has resonated with them in such a tremendous way,” Blute said.

Bishop Edward J. Burns, who serves as YCP National’s episcopal advisor, celebrated the closing Mass for the three-day event, telling those in attendance how grateful he is for their involvement in Young Catholic Professionals.

“As Young Catholic Professionals, we need you. We need you to stay strong. We need you to stay close to the Lord, Jesus Christ. We need you to be faithful disciples of our Lord and branch out to the world, carrying with you the Gospel message and the mission of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Burns said. “You are blessings to us, and you are with this convocation and this convention a blessing to the dioceses. So, thank you so much for your presence here today.”

For Cameron Folse, 26, a financial planner from Houston, this year marked the first time he had attended a national YCP conference.

“I’ve met a lot of really nice people – a lot of people that I’m going to keep in touch with,” Folse said, adding he felt the conference and YCP in general were a much-needed resource for young adult Catholics such as himself. “I think, as young people, after we graduate and we get our jobs, we lose our communities a little bit. We lose track of some of the formative stuff, like teen ministry, college campus ministry, and we’re out on our own. This is something needed in our lives because it offers us that sense of community with like-minded people of faith.”

Amytza Maskati, 36, an educator and performance artist from North Fair Oaks, California, called herself “blessed” to be at the conference for the third consecutive year.

“I love coming here and connecting with the community and just feeling this greater sense of unity and connection with my brothers and sisters in faith,” Maskati said. “We come through in large numbers, and there’s something beautiful about being members of the Body of Christ.”

Recalling her first trip to YCP national, Maskati said she was overjoyed to see it continuing to grow and evolve to connect with more young Catholic professionals. At the same time, she said each year she remembers the feeling from that first visit and how it still holds true today.

“I could just feel the love and feel God’s presence just wash through me,” Maskati said. “In a deeper sense, I just understood, ‘I’m not alone here.’”

Like Folse, the 2024 conference was a first for Elisabeth Showalter, a member of YCP Washington, D.C.

“This conference just aligns so well with what we do at my work and our organization’s efforts to try to find ways to collaborate and help grow Catholic opportunities,” said Showalter, who works for The GIVEN Institute, a Catholic organization that works with young adult, Catholic women. “It’s fun to be here and see so many other young Catholics pursuing the faith and wanting to live it out in everything they are doing.”

Showalter said she found inspiration in Father Mata’s homily during the celebration of Mass on April 27, which somewhat encapsulated the YCP experience.

“It was just so direct and straight to the point, talking about the importance of loving God 100 percent and how that will then permeate into all the different pieces of your life – as a professional, as a spouse, as a parent,” Showalter said. “In order to fully live your faith and bring it into everything, you can’t just love God 90 percent. It has to be 100 percent.”

Find more images from YCP’s national conference in our online photo gallery.