First “Business Trip”

Last week I went on my first business trip for my job.  Every year, the Office of Christian Formation for the Diocese of Richmond hosts the Sullivan Conference.  For the conference, they usually bring in a speaker to talk about some sort of catechesis, as well as have breakout sessions, opportunities for prayer and fellowship and visits from different vendors for our textbooks and other materials.  This year, the Office of Christian Formation teamed up with the Office of Worship to plan the conference.  The theme was “Mass as Catechesis” and focused on the changes that are going to be taking place with the new translation of the Roman Missal.

The keynote speaker for the conference was Fr. Paul Turner who is a pastor of a parish in the Diocese of Kansas City—St. Joseph and has done much study and writing on the revision of the missal.  His four presentations were wonderful, and shed so much light on the new translations that will be going into effect sometime in the next two years. 

Attending the conference was such a great experience for me.  It was so nice to be surrounded by many others who have chosen to dedicate their lives to passing on the faith, whether it be in the educational field as I have, or in the area of worship.  I was able to bring back many ideas and new resources to improve my programs for the upcoming year. 

The conference lasted for two days, and in addition to Fr. Turner’s presentations, included mass celebrated by our bishop, morning prayer celebrated by our bishop emeritus, breakout sessions presented by many of the diocesan leaders and a stand-up comedy act by one of the priests.  It was a really good time!

The conference as not all roses and sunshine though—one of our prayer writers fell while she was there and ended up in the hospital.  She is at home back in Norfolk, and is recovering well, but please keep her in your prayers.