Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Conference: Women empowered to make a difference
Conference: Women empowered to make a difference
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published October 31, 2008
|
Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
The sixth Women's Catholic Conference, with more than 1,000 women, ended the day with a Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Flores. |
Warren As Sherron Jenkins told the gathering of more than 1,000 women last weekend, the sixth annual Catholic Women's Conference was about "we as women saying 'yes.'"
"Ladies, we have to step up," Jenkins, director of the St. Dominic Outreach Center in Detroit, told the attendees. "We are the foundation. We are the community, we are the mothers, we are the sisters, we are the friends.
"We're the ones that carry on God's work."
Jenkins was one of four presenters who spoke to attendees of the conference, "Empowering Women to Make a Difference in the World," which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's "Mulieris Dignitatem", ("On the Dignity and Vocations of Women"). Other speakers included Eleanor Josaitis, co-founder of Focus: HOPE; Sr. Nancy Murray, OP, performing her one-woman play of the life of St. Catherine of Siena; and Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Flores of Detroit.
|
Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
The women's conference attracted women of many generations, including the family of Jane Cwiek, Sara Cwiek, Margaret Tenbusch and Lori Tenbusch. |
Bishop Flores, who got a standing ovation both before and after his presentation, discussed his take on "Mulieris Dignitatem," including examples in his own life. One time he was literally speechless about the sanctity of life was when his younger sister was preparing to give birth to her oldest son "This is my little sister! She used to pull my hair!" he said. But when she did deliver her child, "I was speechless in the midst of this mystery," he said.
And now that she has four children, the oldest now in the Navy, she has been not only a daughter to her mother but also a mother to her children "giving life not just on that day, but every single day," he said.
Another experience he related was when he was scheduled to celebrate Mass with the Missionaries of Charity in southwest Detroit, not sure if it was a special occasion or not and finding himself being introduced to Sr. Mary Nirmala Joshi, the order's superior, who succeeded Mother Teresa. "I almost fell on the floor," he said, he was so in awe of their service to the poor.
He also read a powerful passage from the book "Faith at the Edge: A New Generation of Catholic Writers Reflects on Life, Love, Sex and Other Mysteries" joking that "new generation" really means "younger than me" by Elizabeth Wirth about her first pregnancy and how, for nine months, her body was taken over by someone else. She concluded that giving your body up to your child was much like Jesus giving up His body for us, because what was happening to her body was life which caused many women to wipe tears from their eyes.
The sacrifice required to bring life into the world is something that women can only teach men, he said. And the only hierarchy of the Church that matters is love which is why Mary is at the top. "It's about life and it's about love," he said.
Jenkins, who followed Bishop Flores, also talked about her own path to finding the Catholic Church. She told how, in her own Christian roots as a Baptist, her grandmother would quiz her grandchildren on Bible passages, knowing them all by heart. It was later in life that Jenkins found out her grandmother couldn't read.
"She loved God so much, she memorized the whole Bible," she said.
She talked about how she started as a volunteer at St. Dominic's and never left the outreach center, although parish is now closed. "You think you know what you want in life, but God shows you what you need in life," she said.
The conference attracted women as young as middle school students and well into their later years. For Margaret Tenbusch, a senior attendee and member of St. Perpetua Parish in Waterford Township, the conference offered "spiritual and emotional support for our vocation as mothers and women," she said.
She learned many things at the conference, including how to feel good about the pride she has in supporting her family and her station in life, she said. "I feel grateful for this wonderful presentation, which imparts a confidence in our dignity and our gift of love for our families as well as each other," she said.
Jenni Suppa, of St. John the Divine Parish in London, Ontario, attended with her 4-month-old son, Sullivan. She'll be coming into the Church at Easter, she said, and said she felt the conference brought her closer to her faith. "I really enjoyed it," she said of the conference.
Heather Nofar, music minister at St. Edith, Livonia and part of the St. Thomas Chaldean Church community, said she enjoyed the presentation of Sr. Murray and how it showed us how, no matter what kinds of mistakes we make in life, we always have to speak the truth. She said whether you're conservative or liberal, Catholics have to unite for the dignity of life, especially with the upcoming election.
"You can't close your mouth always proclaim God's love to people," she said. Judy Maten, coordinator of the archdiocesan Office of Evangelization and Women's Ministry, said that women realized what a big "yes" women such as Josaitis and St. Catherine said to the Lord, and were moved by that. "I think women were really inspired to do more," she said.
At the end of the day, she said, one woman commented she felt she was with friends "friends in the faith," Maten added. "We're already looking forward to next year," she said.
Digital audio copies of the presentations of the women's conference can be ordered at www.aodwomensministry.org, or call (313) 237-5806.
Related Link:
|
