Background
Catholic Truth conferences have always been happy and successful occasions. We’ve had a number of such meetings and always, without exception, we’ve had people praising the speakers and saying how much they’ve learned from the talks; we’ve had others asking to be added to our mailing list with some offering to participate in future events of various types, while yet others said they were happy just to have gained support from other Catholics in conversations throughout the day because they felt isolated in their parishes or puzzled by, and even uncomfortable with, the changes in the Church in recent years. The stalls selling books, pamphlets and religious objects have done very good trade, with thoroughly sound books on sale, plus lots of informative literature available either to purchase or take away, free of charge. Nobody, not once, has complained about any aspect of our conferences and almost everyone has left expressing enthusiasm, not to say anticipation, for the next one.
Well, the next one is scheduled for Saturday, 8th June, 2013 and is aimed, primarily, at the younger generation, their parents, grandparents and teachers - the clue being in the title: Keeping the Faith – A Guide For A New Generation…
Tickets
Admission is by pre-paid tickets only. No admission at the door, unless you turn up with Cardinal O’Brien or the Archbishop of Glasgow – two close friends of mine. Tickets cost £10 with an additional £15 payable if you wish to stay on for the evening meal. (Note:there will be a children’s menu available, £10). You may send cheques payable to Catholic Truth at 10 Sandyford Place, Glasgow, G3 7NB or you may use the PayPal facility on our website. Soup & sandwiches lunches may be purchased, reasonably priced at £6 per head. This is where the old adage - ”two heads are better than one” – is proved wrong – big time.
Speakers/Topics
For now, we will stick to publishing only bloggers’ names since, apart from Gerald Warner, a leading Scots journalist (a traditional Catholic who writes in the Scottish press, mostly on political matters) the majority of our speakers are drawn from the newsletter columnists and bloggers…
Gerald Warner will give an overview of the state of the Church and will have you rolling in the aisles in so doing. He spoke at one of our previous conferences and his talk was both rivetting and hilarious. Later, I came across enthusiastic reports of it on a blog in America where Gerald has quite a following.
Athanasius – prolific writer and blogger, published in several journals including The Scottish Catholic Observer, The Remnant and Catholic Truth, will speak on the history of devotion to Our Lady in the Church. Athanasius addressed this topic at one of our previous conferences and his talk was so magnificent that a gentleman I’d never met before, approached me afterwards to say he had just finished preparing his own talk on Our Lady, to be delivered at the parish RCIA meeting the following evening, but he was now going home to tear it up. He was seriously impressed. Me, too. I’ve heard loads of talks on Our Lady but never EVER heard one like that one.
Petrus – Catholic Truth columnist and blogger, will speak about how, as a young person, he struggled to “keep the Faith”. He will outline his journey out of, and back home to his Catholic Faith. He’ll explain how he was actively involved in his local parish, read Catholic Truth, and, appalled, wrote us off as heretics. Not to be missed!
Torkay – Catholic Truth columnist and blogger offered to fly over from the U.S.A. to say a few words to Conference – an offer we just couldn’t refuse. Again,Torkay addressed a previous Catholic Truth conference and a religious Sister in the audience held me captive over lunch, while she enthused about his talk. Like Petrus, Torkay took some time to reach the traditional Catholic Faith. He’ll give us some examples of practices that help him keep the Faith in the current crisis in the Church – a ”must-hear”!
And Finally – our attempts to book a female speaker have not succeeded. Bernadette, one of our younger bloggers, had agreed to address the Conference but unfortunatley has had to withdraw from the event due to unforeseen circumstances, not least the arrival of a new baby! Therefore, the Editor of Catholic Truth will speak briefly on the reasons for lapsation from the Faith among young people.
Audience Participation
We’ve always prided ourselves on the enjoyable Question & Answer sessions which have featured at our conferences so we hope to include opportunities for your questions and comments on 8th June as well - mind you, we’ve never had quite so many speakers before so time will be tight, but we’ll work something out. None of the speakers will be hogging the microphone for long, so we should be able to fit in our usual Q & A / comments slots. Lunch time and evening meal time also afford plenty of opportunities for chatting. Everyone of our speakers is friendly and approachable and they will be delighted to speak to anyone with questions or comments throughout the day.
Aim of Conference
Well - here’s the plan, folks: bring a group of ordinary Catholics together to speak about our beloved Faith, in the hope of helping the younger generation – and those responsible for educating them, both at home and at school – to appreciate what is key in Catholicism, what is desirable and spiritually helpful and what is… well … not on!
We’d like this thread to be used primarily to allow bloggers to offer ideas on how to make best use of the forthcoming conference. Can a conference like this really make a difference? We think so. Can it really help people – especially young people – to learn more about the Faith – help them to come to love it? We think so.
What do you think? You in?