Monday, October 25, 2010

Sheboygan Gathering

On Saturday I spent the day in Kohler, Wisconsin, where the Catholic parishes of the Sheboygan area hosted a conference on prayer entitled "Conversations with God." On Friday evening Fr. Phil Hurley, S.J. spoke to young people about "Making Prayer Real." Our friends, Mike Mangione and the Union, offered a fantastic concert to close the evening. This local group will be playing in New York today and in Boston tomorrow. What a blessing to have them play during our "Hearts on Fire" events this summer and in Kohler this weekend!

On Saturday afternoon Mark Nimo, a doctoral student in Chicago, who is from Ghana, West Africa, gave a rousing presentation on "Intercession and Spiritual Warfare." His topic flowed naturally into mine--"The Eucharist in Daily Life." While Mark spoke about the power of intercessory prayer and the need for it in our contemporary world, I was able to talk about the most powerful prayer there is--the Eucharist--what the Second Vatican Council and recent Popes have called "the source and summit of the Christian life." I talked about what we believe and how we celebrate the Eucharist, which led into my usual presentation on living a Eucharistic life by making an offering of ourselves and our daily life. Some of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, including their novices and postulants, were there, and Sister Julie Ann wrote about the conference on the Sister's blog. The conference closed, most appropriatetly, with Archbishop Jerome Listecki and the celebration of the Eucharist.

1 comment:

  1. The prayer conference planners were wise in placing your motivational talk on 'amazing' Eucharistic life right before the actual celebration of Eucharist! All of us Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity were especially pleased to meet you face to face. Peace and all good!

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