Women's Conference October 25, 2008 Empowering Women to Make a Difference in the World   Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Mulieris Dignitatem

 

The annual Catholic Women's Conference gathers women from throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit and sisters in faith from Canada, surrounding dioceses and neighboring states. It is sponsored by the archdiocesan Office for Evangelization and Women's Ministry. The planning for an event of this magnitude takes almost a year and the time and talent of many.

 

In awe of the work of many dedicated women who organized past conferences, I sent out a call for assistance with the 2008 event. I was amazed at the February meeting held at the seminary. The room was filled with women eager to work, many of whom I recognized as former classmates at Sacred Heart. Around thirty of the approximately forty women who subsequently became members of the conference planning committee and its sub-committees are seminary graduates or current students.

 

"For me, it is an honor to work with so many who care about the well-being of the women of this archdiocese," says Mary Garlow, a current MAPS student, on why she stepped forward as a planning committee member.

 

"Attending Sacred Heart has been an asset to my role as conference event coordinator in several ways," she says. "My education has opened my eyes to the various threads of spiritualities existing in the Church, proper procedures for conducting liturgical, catechetical and formational events, and how to work as a Team."
 
Planning committee member Linda Franklin (MAPS 2005) says, "Working on the Women's Conference is a wonderful evangelistic opportunity. The conference's dynamic program richly embraces the fullness of the Church's teachings on Scripture and tradition through a celebration of vibrant liturgy, the sacramental life, fervent prayer and spirit-filled presenters."

 

MAPS 2004 graduate Pat Ernst, conference liturgy chair, feels strongly that "the 'Heart' remains at the center of all we do, whether in a parish, diocesan office, or special project, like the Women's Conference."

The theme of the 2008 Catholic Women's Conference is "Empowering Women to Make a Difference in the World: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Mulieris Dignitatem." Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter on the dignity and vocation of women opens with a call to women everywhere:

 

"The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. . . . Women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling."

 

All women of every faith are invited to the conference. We will reflect on the lives and work of women who have, in the words of St. Catherine of Siena, conformed their will to God's, so as to "set the world ablaze."

Judith Maten is coordinator for the Office for Evangelization and Women's Ministry for the Archdiocese of Detroit. She is a MAPS 2005 graduate.