Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published April 6, 2007

Call to Holiness What it is: A daylong series of talks on Church beliefs and teachings, Mass, confessions, vendors and a youth session. Who’s speaking: Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb; Robert Fastiggi, Ph.D., professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit; Marcus Grodi, a convert and Catholic television host; Alice von Hildebrand, Ph.D., Catholic philosopher, theologian, author and lecturer; and Fr. Neil Roy, Ph.D., a priest of the Diocese of Peterborough, Canada, editor of Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal and president of The Research Institute for Catholic Liturgy. When and where: From 7 a.m. until about 5 p.m. at St. Rene Goupil Church, 35955 Ryan Road (between Fifteen Mile and Sixteen Mile roads), Sterling Heights; from 7 a.m. until about 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 976 Pope John Paul II Ave. (10th Street and Vinewood), Wyandotte. Cost: $40 per person; $20 per student; coffee, muffins and box lunch included. A $5 late fee will be assessed for registrations postmarked after April 12. For information: Visit www.calltoholiness.com, or call (586) 247-1497 or (734) 283-9753.

Detroit — Each person ought to decide what's right or wrong on his own, to best make decisions about how to live.

That's the kind of thinking prevalent in society — but it's not the message of Jesus Christ, and leaders of His Church don't "decide" what's moral or immoral so much as they interpret what the Lord has communicated to mankind.

"We believe that God established a moral order, and some of this can be perceived even by people who are not members of the Catholic Church through what is called right reason or the natural law," said Robert Fastiggi, a professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

Fastiggi is one of five noted speakers who on April 28 will take part in the 11th annual Call to Holiness conference in the Detroit area. The conference, keynoted by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., will take place in both Sterling Heights and Wyandotte. Conference speakers will travel between St. Rene Goupil and Our Lady of Mount Carmel parishes to give their talks at both churches.

The conference will address various issues of Church authority in relation to social beliefs, liturgy and whether the pope can mislead the Church in a significant way.

Fastiggi will give a talk titled "Can the Church Err in What She Teaches?" It will address the issue of papal infallibility. It also will touch on the distinction between what the Church teaches in individual matters involving the application of God's will, and her protection of the central teachings God gave to mankind explicitly through revelation.

"Some people say 'The pope's entitled to his own opinion and I have mine, and I can be a good Catholic and disagree on these matters,'" Fastiggi said. "There might be certain matters where prudence is involved or the Church could change her view on a particular application — but the law of God doesn't change."

What's happened especially in our culture, Fastiggi said, is that individuals have taken it upon themselves to openly disagree with Church teachings that are not the invention of man, but revealed by God — an act which has fractured today's Catholic community.

"It breaks up communion, and people are given the notion that these matters are open or up for grabs," Fastiggi said.

Central to his talk will be the Vatican II document "Lumen Gentium," which states "Bishops, therefore, with their helpers, the priests and deacons, have taken up the service of the community, presiding in place of God over the flock, whose shepherds they are, as teachers for doctrine, priests for sacred worship, and ministers for governing (20)."

Aside from talks, the Call to Holiness conference will feature Mass, confessions, Eucharistic adoration and a caucus for young people.

Teachers of religious education may earn up to five hours of credit for attending the presentations.