Hundreds of youth from across the Diocese of Evansville attended the 2026 Source + Summit retreat.
Hosted March 13-15 at Mater Dei High School in Evansville, the annual retreat celebrated 25 years in the diocese.
Mary Shetler, a member of the Source + Summit team, said the retreat is first and foremost a Eucharistic retreat. She said the hope is for the children to encounter Christ in a deep and personal way.
She said with the world getting busier and more cluttered and not leaving as much room for quiet space to actually create that relationship with God, Source + Summit offers a unique opportunity for diocesan youth.
“I think this offers kids a really unique opportunity to just really settle in and just be like okay God, this weekend’s for you and me to strengthen our relationship,” Mary Shetler said. “You don’t get a lot of opportunities like that. There’s a lot of conferences. There’s a lot of other things. But there’s not a lot of actual retreats for kids to go on. And I think that’s so necessary to take the time and space to revamp, rebuild, renew that relationship with God . . .”
Gail Shetler, also a member of the Source + Summit team, said one exciting addition this year was the display for the veneration of the first class-relics of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis throughout the weekend.
“Each participant will receive a special holy card blessed by Pope Leo XIV and touched by these relics,” Gail Shetler said prior to the event.
At the conclusion of Mass on March 15, Father Caleb Scherzinger, chaplain of Source + Summit, thanked Bishop Joseph M. Siegel for celebrating the Sunday Mass at Source + Summit and for supporting them. For the bishop of the diocese’s continued support of the Source + Summit movement and bringing Eucharistic devotion to the young people in the diocese, the team gifted Bishop Siegel a monstrance.
Bishop Siegel said it has always been a pleasure over the past eight years to be able to be with them at Source + Summit, adding he looks forward to many more to come. He said he prays that the fruits of the weekend continue to pour out upon the attendees and their families wherever they go, and that they take the spirit of the Lord Jesus with them as they take the faith and so much they celebrated at Source + Summit and bring it back with them as apostles for our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speakers during the Source + Summit retreat included Benedictine Father Augustine Wetta, Father Giles Barrie and Brother Kolbe Immaculate of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Sister M. Gemma Kissel of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George and Father Clint Johnson, parochial vicar of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Vincennes and St. Philip Neri Parish in Bicknell. During the retreat, there was Mass each day, several talks and opportunities for adoration and the sacrament of Reconciliation.
