Spirit & Truth Conference 2007

On Sat, 15 Sept 2007 I attended the 3rd Annual Spirit & Truth Conference that was put on by Springtime of Hope. It was held in the Marie Graber Ballroom at Loras College. The speakers were Steve Ray, Teresa Tomeo & Fr. Richard T. Simon (Archdiocese of Chicago). I will admit that even as I write this, I still am processing all I learned at the conference.

Steve Ray gave 3 talks. His 1st talk (The Unintended Journey) told the story of his journey from Baptist to Catholic. He explained how, as he studied Scripture & the writings of the Early Church Fathers he came to see that the Catholic Church WAS the early Church & still is the Church founded by Jesus Christ.

His 2nd talk was Peter, the Rock, the Keys & the Chair. The title pretty much sumarizes the talk. In it he answers the objections to Peter being the 1st Pope by going back to Scripture & showing not only what the New Testament has to say, but also using the Old Testement to show the Scriptural foundations for both the Keys & Chair of Peter.

His 3rd talk was on The Eucharist. He showed the Scriptural foundations for the belief in the Real Presence. He also looked at some of the writings of the Church Fathers to show that the view of the Catholic Church has been the view of the Church from the begining.

Teresa Tomeo's talk was on the media. She talked about the liberal slant in the news media as well as the garbage that the entertainment media spewing out. But she did more than merely talk about the problem. She gave some very practical ideas for dealing with what is found on the internet as well as the broadcast media. Much of this can be found in her new book (which I purchased & look forward to reading) Noise: How Our Media-Saturated Culture Dominates Lives and Dismantles Families. (As an aside, I found out her Italiana roots are from the same part of Southern Italia as mine are.)

Fr. Simon's talk probably had my favorite title: Mommy, They're Using Our Bible. In the talk he shows how it was the Catholic Church who discerned what was in the Bible & how it wasn't until the Reformation that parts were taken out by the Protestants because they undermined their claims.

They also had 2 teen sessions. The speakers at those were Fr. Simon & Teresa Tomeo.

The day concluded with the celebration of the Mass.

These short little blurbs do not fully describe how powerfully the Holy Spirit was working throughout the day to teach, inspire, encourage & strengthen the faith of those in attendance. It was truly a blessing to be able to serve as a part of the staff helping with the weekend as well as to be able to fellowship with those in attendance.

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A Little About Springtime of Hope:

The start of Springtime of Hope came about when Ruth Becker & Colleen Pasnik attended a Catholic Conference in Vandalia, IL. On the way to the conference they were talking about the lack of a Women's conference in the Archdiocese of DBQ, never thinking that God was leading them to start 1. On 6 March 2004 the 1st Martha & Mary Women's Conference was held. In the Fall of 2005 they expanded to add the 1st Spirit & Truth Conference as well as Exploring the Faith on 1st Saturdays. In 2006 they took their 1st group of High School students to a Franciscan University of Steubenville High School Youth Conference.

(Picture l-r: Fr. Simon, Colleen Pasnik, Teresa Tomeo, Ruth Becker, and Steve Ray.)