Attendee Information - Rules and Regulations

Can I send my youth alone? Why does he/she need to come with a group?
In order to provide the best possible context for fellowship, sharing, ministry, and supervision, the youth conferences handle registration by groups only. No individual registrations will be accepted.

We have established the following four categories of participants attending the conference:

• Group Leader: The one person organizing the trip and serving as a contact person for the group. The Group Leader must be an adult, age 21 or older, who is prepared to attend the conference with the group. Written and verbal correspondence takes place between the Group Leader and the Conference Staff. It is important for each of the Adult Chaperones and youth to know the name of the Group Leader since all groups are identified by the Group Leader. The Group Leader is also considered to be an Adult Chaperone.
  
• Adult Chaperone(s): Someone attending the conference to chaperone the Youth. All adult chaperones must be 21 years of age or older and be approved to work with youth through the groups home diocese prior to the start of the conference. All adult chaperones must be of solid character and be able to carry out the role of supervising and attending to the youth. Because of the nature of the conference, adult chaperones must be of good health and must be able to handle a lot of walking, an intense schedule with long days and short nights, loud music, large crowds, and active youth.
  
  • How many adult chaperones need to attend? For the safety of the youth and good of all involved in the conference, there must be at least one, but no more than two adults per ten youth. If you are bringing male and female youth, there should be male and female Adult Chaperones. We realize that there are situations where it may be challenging to find another chaperone; however, the conference staff has found that dual chaperones are imperative, especially in times of ministry and for supervisory reasons. In order to accommodate as many high school participants as possible, the above ratio policies must be enforced.
    
  • Can group leaders and chaperones bring infants and children? No. With the best care of the youth in mind, children and infants are not allowed. The group leader and all adult chaperones must be made aware of this policy. Although we strongly support Catholic family life, our staffing, facility constraints, and insurance regulations do not allow us to provide for infants and children at the conference. Meeting rooms are not designed for the care of young children. In addition, the focus of the adult chaperones/group leader needs to be on the youth participants. If these adults bring their own children, their focus will be split.
    
• Priest: Priests are also considered to be adult chaperones and could be the group leader.
  
• Youth: Participants in the conference must be entering 9th ,10th, 11th, or 12th grades in the fall of 2009 or a 2009 high school graduate.