Ali Hoffman is a Catholic speaker who achieved the ultimate “marvelous thing” for many young people — a viral video with more than 200 million views. In the video, Hoffman does a silly dance with her dad. “People have contacted me from over 50 countries,” she said, “and they ask me, ‘How do I get that kind of relationship?’”

Hoffman was a keynote speaker and co-emcee of the Diocese of Austin’s 2026 Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference held Jan. 30-Feb. 1 in Waco. She told 2,500 teens her marvelous video is like the tip of an iceberg.

“The world saw the hidden fruit of a relationship with my dad — years of trusting, arguing and reconciling,” Hoffman said.

The theme for DCYC was “Marvelous Things,” which comes from Psalm 98:10 which says, “Sing a new song to the Lord, for He has done marvelous things.” Hoffman compared those hidden years with her dad to the roots of a tree bearing fruit.

She prayed with teens to receive a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit to bear the fruits of Galatians 5:22-23. She said the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are the “marvelous things” God wants us to reflect to others.

Of the 127 parishes in the diocese, 80 parishes were represented at the three-day conference. Among them was St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Austin, with 83 teens. Youth ministry director James Longoria works with 350 middle and high school students. He said regardless of income or catechesis, all the teens have struggles with identity and they need to know they are also marvelous.

“We tell teens all the time when we go to Adoration, ‘Jesus is also there to adore you! Because you're adorable!’ There's this adorableness and marvelousness that comes from the depth of our soul,” he said.

Father Kyle Nesrsta, pastor of St. Ferdinand Parish in Blanco and Good Shepherd in Johnson City, attended DCYC with teens from the two parishes. He said he wanted to show his youth they are part of something much bigger, a marvelous church.

“We kind of pigeonhole ourselves to our local parish, but when we see the diocese as a whole, it connects us with the universal church, which helps us to grow even more,” Father Nesrsta said. “It's a very exciting thing to see them discover the deeper meaning of it all on the universal scale.”

A primary focus of the conference was to let teens know God wants to do marvelous things with their futures. The Austin Vocations ministry had a table where seminarians shared stickers, prayers and stories about their call and discernment process. One of the stickers said, “Normalize Vocations,” which encapsulates the hope that every young Catholic in the diocese would be open to God’s call.

“It's common to presume that discerning a vocation to priesthood or consecrated life is only for the super pious or that it comes as an unbelievable sign with no doubt like a chalice in the clouds! But the truth is, everyone has a vocation to holiness,” said Vocations Director Father Greg Gerhart.

Most teens in the culture think first about college or a future job, but Father Gerhart said there is a hierarchy of discernment.

“Really, the first vocation is to holiness, and then after that is to ask what state of life,” he said. “‘Am I going to be a priest, a mom or dad and a husband or wife, or am I going to be a religious sister?’ Learning how to discern God’s voice now is going to help for the rest of your life.”

Bishop Daniel Garcia told high school seniors about his own call into God’s plan during his college years. “I was teaching confirmation, and I went to Mass with the candidates. I remember the bishop speaking to the young people about being open to the Holy Spirit. And that really resonated with me,” he said. “Can I be open to the Holy Spirit?”

He tabled a plan to work in medicine and entered seminary after a nagging sense that he should consider priesthood. “I think it's important for all of us to have plans,” Bishop Garcia said. “It's good to prepare. But it really takes vulnerability to be honest in your prayer life and to ask God, ‘Is this what you want for me?’”

During the closing Mass, around three dozen teens approached the altar at center stage to say they were currently feeling called to explore a vocation to priesthood or religious life. Bishop Garcia gave them a blessing and said, “God’s call might challenge you. It might stretch you. But he will always show that he is with you.”

Keynote speaker Father Ruffino Corona from Franciscan University told the teens God turns unmarvelous things into marvelous things — like bread and wine into himself, or by gently forgiving us in reconciliation.

“God’s mercy doesn’t make sense,” Father Corona said. “Unmarvelous things are marvelous! Sometimes God wants to do big things in unremarkable ways.”

Aracely Tellez from San Francisco Javier Parish in southeast Austin saw marvelous things in the deep friendships she saw blossom in the youth she chaperoned.

“They formed this friendship that none of them would have expected,” she said. “There's people here that would never talk to each other outside of high school, but now they have this camaraderie. And I can honestly say a lot of my kids were very introverted. They did not like to talk to people, and now they're very extroverted. They want to get involved with people.”

Tellez was in awe of the fruits of the Spirit present at DCYC.

“There's so many marvelous things that God has in our lives, and you would never think they would explode into what they are,” she said.

“It just shows there really are marvelous things,” Tellez said.