"More than Conquerors" is the theme for Emmaus Days 2021, a summer program for young men and boys sponsored by the Diocese of Peoria.

Registration is now open for Emmaus Days, a summer program for young men and boys sponsored by the Diocese of Peoria.

After major adaptations last year because of the pandemic — including a series of online videos and small, one-day regional gatherings — the program returns to the familiar in-person format of four, multi-day sessions for age groups ranging from junior high to college age and young adult.

That opportunity to be together is vital, according to Father Chase Hilgenbrinck of the diocesan Office of Vocations.

“Emmaus Days is an experience,” Father Hilgenbrinck told The Catholic Post. “It’s an experience of being in community with other faithful men who desire to have fun in a virtuous, faith-based setting.”

TWO SITES, FOUR SESSIONS

Sessions I and II, both in June, will take place at St. John’s Catholic Newman Center in Champaign.

Sessions III and IV, both in July, will be hosted by Peoria Notre Dame High School.

Here is the schedule:

• Session I — June 11-14, for college age and young adults.
• Session II — June 25-28, for high school juniors and seniors
• Session III — July 18-21, for high school freshmen and sophomores, and
• Session IV — July 21-23, for seventh- and eighth-graders.

All sessions are led by seminarians and priests and include opportunities to pray and learn as well as lighthearted activities. The final day includes a Mass with Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, and Coadjutor Bishop Louis Tylka, as well as an opportunity for participants and their parents to meet and ask questions of the bishops.

This year’s theme, “More than Conquerors,” is taken from Romans 8:37: “Yet in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Father Hilgenbrinck said the sessions will address modern issues with the Gospel message.

“We want to be relevant at every moment and every year to what is going on in the world,” he said.

Seminarians Ben Schoonmaker and Jack Swoik have been named prefects for this year’s Emmaus Days. Both have Emmaus Days experience and several years in the seminary program.

Registration and more information is found online at comeandfollowme.org/emmausdays.