Conference Details

Priests, Deacons and Seminarians Conference
Witness to Truth

Monday, June 21, 2010 - Friday, June 25, 2010  

"Proclaiming the Christian faith means only that we are 'gripped by him who has touched our hearts and lavished gifts upon us, so that we, in turn, can offer gifts to others' " - Pope Benedict XVI

“The most important duty of the priest,” said Father Francis Martin, founder of Hasneh Media, “is to preach the truth. Without preaching the truth, the Eucharist goes nowhere.”

Father Martin and other notable speakers addressed 135 men gathered at “Witness to Truth,” the 35th annual Franciscan University Priests, Deacons, and Seminarians Conference, June 21-25, 2010.  The men came from 28 different states and provinces, traveling from Texas and Oregon, Quebec and Ontario, New York and Michigan, all for a week of spiritual consolation and enrichment at the longest-running Franciscan University conference.

Cohost Franciscan University Chancellor Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, welcomed guests and recounted memories of then-Cardinal Ratzinger from many years ago.  “When I met with him and told him about the Priests' Conference, he said, ‘Can I come?  Can I come?’  He was so impressed we could gather priests and seminarians and praise the Lord.

“Let us do something Pope Benedict has been urging us to do—embrace the charisms of the Lord.”

The conference participants did that enthusiastically, gaining rich insights through keynote talks, afternoon workshops, and small group discussions.

Bishop Sam Jacobs of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, gave the Monday night keynote, “Proclaim It From the Housetops!”  He pointed to Franciscan University conferences as an example, saying they'd changed the lives of 150,000 adult participants, 550,000 youth participants, and countless priests, religious, and laity over 35 years, all thanks to Father Scanlan's openness to holding the first charismatic priests' conference on campus in 1975.

“Before we can tell the good news,” Bishop Jacobs said, “that revelation has to touch our hearts and transform us each individually.  The good news is Jesus Christ.  To know him personally is to have a conversion of the heart,” said Bishop Jacobs.

Father Martin developed that theme throughout the week in his morning sessions on the sacramentality of Scripture, which mediates Jesus Christ to us.

“The Word of God must change you before you can change anyone else by preaching,” said Father Martin, author of Sacred Scripture—The Disclosure of the Word. “The text takes the sacred realities and impresses them upon your spirit—the realities, not the words—and until they've been impressed upon your spirit, don't preach.  You've got nothing to say.”

Participants encountered the sacred realities daily through word and sacrament: in the concelebration of the Mass by all the priests present and through Holy Hours each night, including a procession, blessing, and talks to guide participants' prayer and reflection.

“The power of the Holy Spirit now being poured out upon us,” said Father Tom Valenti in his homily on the Feast of John the Baptist, “calls us to a Holy Hour every day, so people can be fed on his words.”

Seminarians had breakfast and special sessions with Father Valenti, who has helped to direct the seminarians' track for many years.  All participants had the opportunity to attend a separate Life in the Spirit track under the direction of Father Jonathan St. André, TOR, vocations director for the TOR Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Modeled after the popular charismatic retreat, the sessions permitted the attendees to experience a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit with its attendant charisms to help them be better spiritual fathers for their parishes.

Franciscan University theology professor Dr. Scott Hahn elaborated on spiritual paternity Thursday evening, explaining, “God the Father is much more a Father than I am.”

He offered several indicators of whether one was a child of God, explaining that children of a father live in his house, are called by his name, sit at his table and are fed by him, share in his flesh and blood, and his bride is their mother.

“Who is the ordinary minister of the sacraments of our divine rebirth?  The priest—he is not less of a father than I am, but arguably more.”

Participants at the conference were enthusiastic.

“The worship is spectacular,” said Father Ed Fride of Christ the King Parish in the Diocese of Lansing.  “When you encounter Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and at the Holy Hours with the eucharistic Lord being present—it's just a wonderful opportunity for a deeper union with God.”

At the end of the conference, Father Scanlan informed the participants that the Shepherd's Award, an honor given to a bishop who has been an outstanding witness for the faith, needed to be awarded.  He asked for and received a vote by acclamation in favor of sending the award to Pope Benedict XVI.

The end of the conference was not the end of the fellowship, however.  Participants were informed about opportunities for continuing fraternal support through the Fraternity of Priests, an international organization founded by past conference goers.  (For more information, see http://www.fraternityofpriests.org/)

The next charismatic conference on campus will occur September 12-19, 2010.  Sponsored by International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (ICCRS) and Franciscan University, the "ICCRS Leadership Training Course: 
Training for Charismatic Leaders Worldwide," is designed to serve people of all ages from charismatic organizations and ministries worldwide who desire to enhance their service in the renewal. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

For audio recordings of the main talks by conference speakers, go to www.franciscan.edu/bookstore and click on the "Conferences" tab at the top of the homepage.