EASTON — The Diocese of Fall River Women and Men’s Conference is returning this Lent as an in-person gathering after a two-year absence because of the pandemic.
With a full program of inspiring talks, worship, music, and much more, the Conference offers Catholics an opportunity for spiritual enrichment and renewal as part of their Lenten journey towards Easter.
The 2023 Women and Men’s Conference will take place on Saturday, March 11, at the Ames Sports Complex on the grounds of Stonehill College in Easton, beginning at 10 a.m.
“I am so pleased that our Women and Men’s Conference will once again be an in-person event after two years,” said Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V.
“I am looking forward to gathering with parishioners from across the diocese for what I know will be a fruitful and rewarding day. Our Conference theme of ‘Receive Jesus. Worship Jesus.’ echoes the National Eucharistic Revival now underway across the country and is designed to help rekindle and deepen devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.”
Bishop da Cunha will be celebrant and homilist of a 4 p.m. Mass to conclude the program.
Other keynote presenters at the conference will be Mari Pablo and Fall River diocesan priest, Father Roger Landry.
Pablo has traveled the U.S. and Latin America speaking on the beauty of the Catholic faith and challenging her audiences to build a deeper relationship with Christ. She is a frequent presenter at events such as the annual Steubenville Youth Conferences, the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC), and Life Teen and is also known from her presentations in numerous Ascension Presents videos on faith formation.
Father Landry has worked outside the diocese for the past eight years, first as part of the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations and now as the Catholic chaplain at Columbia University in New York. Concurrently, he is among 50 priests across the country serving as a National Eucharistic Preacher at the designation of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“Men’s and Women’s conferences are always powerful times of conversion and spiritual growth,” Father Landry told The Anchor. “It’s very fitting that the Conference is taking place in the heart of Lent, which is a time we get back to the fundamentals of the faith, and allow God to press a reset button on our Christian life. I’m excited to have God do that in my life and hope to be an instrument by which He can help others experience a little of the renewal that the Eucharistic Revival is bringing to the Church in the U.S.”
Women and Men’s Conference Planning Committee chairperson Beth Mahoney described the day’s speakers as “engaging” and well able to lead participants to a deeper understanding of the importance of the Eucharist in their lives.
After two years of Covid restrictions, she said, “There couldn’t be a better theme than that of Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist.”
The Conference program will include breakout sessions offered in English, Portuguese and Spanish, Adoration, Reconciliation, prayer, lunch, and vendor exhibits.
In addition, the relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis and St. Manuel Garcia will be present for veneration by attendees and the Eucharistic Miracles Exhibit created by Blessed Carlo before his untimely death in 2006 at the age of 15 will be available for viewing.
Registration for the conference is required. The deadline is March 6. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available.
For more information, including registration and cost, visit fallriverdiocese.org or pick up a flyer at any parish in the diocese.
