Conference equips over 2000 for New Evangelization

Denver, Colo., Feb 27, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Friday and Saturday, thousands of Catholics from all around the Colorado region descended on the Denver International Airport Holiday Inn for a chance to be rejuvenated in their faith.

The ‘Living the Catholic Faith’ Conference, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Denver brought together nearly 2,100 people from as far away as New Jersey and California for what Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput called, “a conference to challenge your intellect and feed your soul.”

Cece Conlin, one of the event’s organizers told CNA that, “the goal of the conference was to reach Catholics from every walk of life.”

She said that the Archdiocese really wanted the conference to be about “just what the title says—‘Living the Catholic Faith.’”

As early as Saturday morning of the conference, Conlin noted that she and other organizers had already been receiving great feedback from participants.

“We really wanted to give people food”, she said. Something they could really use for living their faiths in their everyday lives.

For this reason she said, this year’s conference strove to address the issues in pop culture, and modern philosophies that Catholics face every day.

“This conference”, she said, “is about the power of Christian discipleship…and how to live that out.”

Talking the Talk

Beverly Ketchel, along with her husband George is a youth minister in a Denver-area parish and mother of two. She said that the conference is a “great opportunity to hear from the people in the Church.”

She said that while most people don’t get much interaction with people like Curtis Martin, Tim Gray and Ralph Martin, people who are doing amazing things in the Church, the conference is a great chance to “get in their faces and talk to them, and to ask them questions.”

She values the conference in many dimensions, “as a parent, as a youth minister, and for my personal faith…It’s a great hands-on opportunity.”

Workshops at the conference encompassed a broad spectrum of topics, from successfully catechizing children, to a discussion on the relationship of Christians and Islam, to how to confront today’s modern philosophies.

Dr. Jay Reyes, Vice President of the Colorado based FOCUS college ministry, and emcee for the weekend told the crowd that, “conferences are for encountering Christ so that we are different.”

He left them with this encouragement: “Let’s be different because the Holy Spirit has been here at this conference working in our hearts and minds.”