I just got home last evening from Winona Lake, IN where the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend hosted a Women of Grace One-Day Conference at Grace College. It was a glorious day in the Lord as the capacity crowd of 350 women gathered together to experience the blessings God had in mind.
I again want to extend my thanks and gratitude to Bishop John M. D'Arcy and to Ginny Kohrman, Director of the Office of Spiritual Development and Evangelization, for their dedication and enthusiasm in sponsoring this conference and in making it a day filled to the brim with God's love. From beginning to end it was indeed grace-filled.
Thank you aslo to the women who gave of themselves so generously by participating in the many committees whose efforts made the day so special. And, of course, thank you to the many women who came to the event. What a blessing you were to me! May God bless all of you abundantly.
Our next Women of Grace One-Day Conference is October 25 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Clermont, FL. For more information, go to
www.womenofgrace.com, click on "Speaking Engagements" and scroll down to the October 25th date. If you would like to find out about sponsoring a Women of Grace One-Day Conference at your parish or in your area, just give us a call at 1-800-558-5452 and ask for Thea at ext. 237.
Read the rest
Life just has a way of interrupting our plans, doesn't it?
I wanted to get back to you yesterday with some of the details of the Women of Grace National Conference held in Sacramento, CA last weekend but as it turned out, the day seemed to have plans of its own and suddenly it was midnight and my task was left unaccomplished. Do you know what St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) had to say about just such occurrences in her life? She said:
"When night comes, and retrospect shows that everything was patchwork and much that one had planned left undone, when so many things rouse shame and regret, then take all as is, lay it in God's hands, and offer it up to Him. In this way we will be able to rest in Him, actually to rest and to begin the new day like a new life."
And so, beginning this "new day like a new life," I now share with you about the Women of Grace National Conference.
Women Gather for Weekend of Grace
Nearly five hundred women gathered at Sacramento's Hyatt Regency Hotel located across from the Capitol for the Women of Grace National Conference the weekend of September 19-21. The Conference was preceded by the Benedicta Leadership Institute for Women.
Presenters for the Conference weekend were Catholic journalist and UN watchdog, Mary Jo Anderson; Healing the Culture's president, Camille Pauley; radio show host and Catholic journalist, Teresa Tomeo; founder and president of Real Love, Inc., Mary Beth Bonacci; Women of Grace founder and president, Johnnette Benkovic; and chaplain and theological advisor for Women of Grace and Living His Life Abundantly, Father Edmund Sylvia, C.S.C. EWTN's Raymond Arroyo was the keynote speaker at the banquet dinner on Saturday evening.
Read the rest
"Purgatory is where you will have the capacity to see how the world would have been (your family, your neighborhood, your community, your world) had you done what God called you to do," so said presenter, Mary Jo Anderson to the nearly 60 women who gathered yesterday for the first day of the Benedicta Leadership Institute for Women being held here in Sacramento, CA.
The Institute is an outgrowth of Women of Grace and seeks to identify, educate, develop and train Catholic women to be active leaders and mentors of the day in accord with their state in in life. Its hope is that Catholic women will infuse the institutions, organzations, and governmental agencies of our day and time with Catholic moral and social teachings so as to bring about the culture of life.
The presenters of this year's Institute are Catholic Journalist Mary Jo Anderson and Camille Pauley, President of Healing the Culture.com. Yesterday both speakers encouraged the women to enter the marketplace of ideas armed with Catholic truth and ready to help make converts out of secularists who seek to separate the society of man from a godly perspective and godly principles.
Today, Pauley has led the women through a workshop experience in which they can apply the principles they have learned to real life situations. This practical application helps the women develop communication skills and team approach efforts to resolve issues and problem-solve solutions.
Demographically, the participants range in age from early thirties to mid sixties.
Following are some quotes from yesterday's session that seemed particularly poignant to me. I hope they will give you pause for pondering and reflecting:
"Communities do not reflect the values of the people who live there. They reflect the values of the people who participate."
"Separation of Church and State originated from the French Revolution and literally meant the separation of the State (France) from the Catholic Church."
"Don't view the secularist as your enemy, but rather as a potential convert."
"It is not permissable for anyone to remain idle."
The Women of Grace National Conference opens later this afternoon with a liturgy celebrated at the downtown Cathedral by Bishop Soto.
Check my blog for further updates this weekend live from Conference headquarters.
Read the rest
We are busy preparing to leave for the Women of Grace® National Conference to be held at the Hyatt in downtown Sacramento. The event begins with the Benedicta Leadership Institute for Women Thursday, September 18 to Friday, September 19. The conference itself begins Friday evening the 19th and runs until Sunday afternoon, September 21. I will be blogging to you from the conference to keep you informed of all of the events and highlights. Please remember Father Ed, our staff, and myself in your prayers. May every woman who attends experience the peace, joy and delight that only Jesus Christ can bring!
Read the rest
