AMDG
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St. Joseph, model of a true
man of God, pray for us and for the success of the Men's Conference.
Wheeling Jesuit University Campus Ministry (Up to Date 2016)
“Campus Ministry” <camp-min@wju.edu>,
“Jamey Brogan -
Director of Campus Ministry” <jbrogan@wju.edu>,
“Fr. Ignatius Sasmita SJ – Campus Minister”
<ihssj@wju.edu>,
“D. Puddy Agans – Campus Minister” <dagans@wju.edu>,
“Margaret Erickson – Pastoral Associate” <merickson@wju.edu>,
“Elaine Teachout – Office Manager”
<eteachout@wju.edu>,
“Fr. Jim
Obrien” <jobrien@wju.edu>,
“Robert Troeger – Director Music Ministry”
<rtroeger@wju.edu>,
“? Fr. Harry Geib” <hgeib@wju.edu>,
March 15, 2017
Dear Wheeling Jesuit University Campus Ministers:
If the Men are in good spiritual shape, the
family is renewed. If the family is
renewed, the parish is renewed and so is the diocese. The men must be spiritual leaders in their
families. The men must step up and be
the pillars of the parish.......not only the women. The men must put Christ into the marketplace
and in their jobs. That's what we're
trying to accomplish with the Steubenville Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal. See the attached brochure, additional
information, and registration form.
I am a member of the Steering
Committee for organizing the Steubenville Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal. Our parish, Sacred Heart Church in Point
Pleasant WV, and Sacred Heart Church in Pomeroy, OH have been sister parishes
for many years, one inviting the other to a parish function, going to daily
Mass at the other parish when the home pastor is away, and especially with the
priests helping each other out with Penance services, and occasionally a
weekend Mass. Furthermore, I taught
Business at Wheeling Jesuit University in 1988-89. Thus I have a special love for Wheeling
Jesuit university.
In that same spirit we thought that it would be great if a delegation of students, staff, and professors from Wheeling Jesuit University could attend our Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal on March 18 at St. Stephen’s Church in Caldwell (9 am to 3:30 pm) off of Exit 25 on I-77 about 1½ hrs. away. Students from Wheeling Jesuit University would be great witnesses and it would be a great experience for them. If we can attract a good number of men, we will be able to provide more nationally known speakers in future years.
It is essential that the men take the spiritual lead in the family and in the parish. Too often the women are the pillars of the parish. According to Fr. Larry Richards, our 2013 speaker, the probability that the children will remain faithful to the Church in later life is about 40% if the mother takes the spiritual lead. However, if the father does his job as spiritual leader, that probability of later faithfulness doubles to about 80%!!!! According to Danny Abramowicz, the children love Mom, but tend to follow Dad. The great majority of your male students are the future fathers and husbands in the Church.
To complement the Mass presided
by Bishop Monforton and Penance Service the featured speaker is Capt. Guy
Gruters (USAF). After graduation from
the Air Force Academy with a B.S. in Engineering Science, Capt. Gruters flew
more than 400 combat missions in Vietnam and received over 30 combat medals and
awards. He was shot down twice and
captured the second time in 1967. After
leaving the Air Force, he captained DC-9s and Boeing 727s for Eastern Airlines
until retiring in 1991. Later Capt.
Gruters was an account rep. for IBM and President of PC Software Systems.
In
his morning talk Guy Gruters will reveal how his faith and trust in God carried
him through the ordeal as a Prisoner of War in the notorious “Hanoi Hilton” and
other camps for five years. Since
bitterness is self-destructing, he will share in the afternoon talk how he
learned to show mercy and forgive his brutal captors who tortured him and deal
with people in a business environment.
The participants will discover how they can apply the lessons learned by
Capt. Gruters to their daily lives. He
is a 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus.
Drawing
from his diverse experience and being a father of seven children, he will also
touch on “Leadership and Teamwork in the Family, Church, and the Community”. An excellent and dynamic speaker, Mr. Gruters
gives talks all over the country and is the author of the book, “Locked
Up With God”.
Another
alternative is to invite Capt. Guy Gruters to speak on campus. If interested, I could easily put you in contact
with him.
This background puts Capt. Gruters
in a position to speak on the theme of this year’s Diocese of Steubenville
Men’s Conference, “Mercy and Forgiveness, Faith and Trust……..Means of Developing
Strength and Holiness in Difficult Times”
and apply it to our daily lives. That is
through the power of faith rise up to be the spiritual leaders of their
families, to do their part in renewing their parishes, be servant leaders in
the community, and to make a difference for Christ by applying the social
teachings of the Church to their professions.
The goal of the Men's Day of
Renewal is to focus on the spiritual development of the men of our diocese.
Having spiritually strong men of faith and character translates into more solid
families, more dynamic parishes, and better communities. This is crucial to the
Church, now and in the future. It is also critical for nurturing
vocations. It involves sacrificing most
of a Saturday with some travel, but Lent is all about sacrifice and the quest
for holiness. That gives a pilgrimage
flavor. During the middle ages, pilgrims
would travel for days by foot or horseback.
The men will see how the
participants are moved by the beauty
and power of the faith. The
experience of seeing so many men enthusiastically participating and lifting up
their voices in song is uplifting. There
will be a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration and optional Lenten Confession. In the past the men have returned spiritually
refreshed, reinvigorated, and enthusiastic.
Registration will be taken at the door.
There’s more information on the
diocesan website, www.diosteub.org and the Conference
Blog, “Becoming a True Man of God” at diosteubmen.blogspot.com
which is also devoted to articles to keep men in spiritual shape after the
Conference. For a greater variety, go to
“A
Little Bit for God and His People” at paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com. One may also contact paulrsebastian@yahoo.com
or call 740-245-9404.
It
should be a great day of enjoyable fellowship and spiritual reinvigoration.
But most of all, the organizers expect that through grace there will be a few
more good spiritually strong men for the kingdom of God in the battle against
secularism and other evils and problems that our troubled society must
confront.......men --not spiritual weaklings and wimps-- who will put Christ
into their professions. Finally, the men
will become more knowledgeable, firmer in their faith, and better prepared for
a more joyful Easter, not to mention a greater closeness to God and eternity
which life on earth is all about.
Often the enthusiasm generated at a men's conference is contagious and there could be a spillover onto campus since the students see fellow participants moved by
the beauty and power of the faith.
Non-Catholics are also welcome.
This is all a part of the New Evangelization in this Year of
Faith......to fire up the apathetic Catholic who doesn't do much beyond
attending Sunday Mass, the minimalist; to touch the drifting Catholic and the
fallen away through the publicity and inviting them to attend. Your students and their youth could stand out
and be most effective witnesses for the faith and it would be a great
experience for them.
You could appoint a student committee to mobilize
students and professors with one on one selling, organize a van pool, and
register the men. Filling out the
registration form in the easily duplicated brochure in advance and giving it
with payment to a representative would speed things up at the door. If sufficient time, please send them to Roger
Huck; %Men’s Day of Renewal, P.O. Box 54; Beverly, OH 45715. That
would help our planning.
A
layman could briefly talk about the conference at the end of Mass. This would be a great supplement to any promotion
that you care to make in the bulletin, from the pulpit, etc. I know that there are almost two weeks and
only one week-end left before the Conference, which is not much time. I'm sorry about not being earlier, but it is
still very doable.
Please
don't hesitate to call me at 740-245-9404 or e-mail me at paulrsebastian@yahoo.com if I can be
of help. Hopefully, students and professors will return on fire which would
make your university parish more dynamic.
Thank you so much and God bless.
SUMMARY OF WHAT THE MEN'S CONFERENCE CAN DO FOR
YOU.....BENEFITS
·
Get into good spiritual shape and
avoid being a spiritual weakling, i.e., a spiritual wimp.
·
Have a great day of enjoyable fellowship
and spiritual invigoration in the parish van and at the conference,
resulting in deeper friendships and parish cohesion.
·
Develop ourselves as men of
character and spiritual strength as we obtain the graces to conquer
ourselves and cope with the problems that our troubled society and economy
brings to us.
·
Be a more effective spiritual leader of
your family as a better husband and father.
·
Prepare our hearts for the great feast of
Easter and for eternity as we become closer to God..
·
Become knowledgeable about the faith
and grow in Christian maturity. We know
so little about Church teaching.
·
Become a more effective soldier of Christ
as you do your part in establishing the kingdom, winning the spiritual-culture
war against secularism, and put Christ into your profession.
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St. Joseph, model of a true
man of God, pray for us and for the success of the Men's Conference.
AS A SHORT ANNOUNCEMENT
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