Faith Formation Conference 2006
1750 participants at Faith Formation Conference 2006
Empowering Those in Ministry
November 10 - 11, 2006 Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA
"Rooted in Faith, Embracing our Future, Arraigados en la Fe, Abrazando Nuestro Futuro"
Sponsored by the Dioceses of San Jose, Monterey, Oakland and Stockton and the Archdiocese of San Francisco
"Rooted in Faith, Embracing our Future, Arraigados en la Fe, Abrazando Nuestro Futuro"
Sponsored by the Dioceses of San Jose, Monterey, Oakland and Stockton and the Archdiocese of San Francisco
On November 10-11, the Diocese of San Jose co-sponsored a Faith Formation Conference with the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Dioceses of Monterey, Oakland and Stockton. It was a visionary undertaking that saw the peaks and valleys of a collaborative effort. As a planning team we experienced it all, the discouragement of the naysayer, the joy of unexpected support, and mounting expenses coupled with registration straggling in drips and drabs.
This year, our Office of Pastoral Ministry decided we would collaborate to host the conference with the other dioceses. The planning committee consisted of staff from each diocese. With new players at the table, we needed to broaden the vision of the conference. We expanded the vision to help all ministers and leaders connect Christian Faith with their daily lives in the culturally diverse Church in Northern California. We moved the site of the conference from the city of San Francisco to the centrally located Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley. We adjusted tasks and responsibilities to include the different gifts and talents represented on the planning committee. This did not come about easily. There were frustrations, irritations and miscommunications. The conference theme, Rooted in Faith, Embracing Our Future, inspired the committee to forge onward.
I was the first to arrive in the conference center parking lot as the sun rose over the mountains. It was a gorgeous day full of promise. The planning team armed with walkie-talkies functioned like a well oiled machine. Every request was answered with a helpful response. It was show time! The people began to stream in, expectation on their faces. I greeted speakers, exhibiters, colleagues and strangers who represented a diversity of ages and cultures, all there for a faith formation conference that we had built for them to experience. The buzz was in the air, and I could feel the anticipation.
This year, our Office of Pastoral Ministry decided we would collaborate to host the conference with the other dioceses. The planning committee consisted of staff from each diocese. With new players at the table, we needed to broaden the vision of the conference. We expanded the vision to help all ministers and leaders connect Christian Faith with their daily lives in the culturally diverse Church in Northern California. We moved the site of the conference from the city of San Francisco to the centrally located Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley. We adjusted tasks and responsibilities to include the different gifts and talents represented on the planning committee. This did not come about easily. There were frustrations, irritations and miscommunications. The conference theme, Rooted in Faith, Embracing Our Future, inspired the committee to forge onward.
I was the first to arrive in the conference center parking lot as the sun rose over the mountains. It was a gorgeous day full of promise. The planning team armed with walkie-talkies functioned like a well oiled machine. Every request was answered with a helpful response. It was show time! The people began to stream in, expectation on their faces. I greeted speakers, exhibiters, colleagues and strangers who represented a diversity of ages and cultures, all there for a faith formation conference that we had built for them to experience. The buzz was in the air, and I could feel the anticipation.
The purpose of all the hard preparation work of the conference was made clear in the experience of the bilingual reflection following the Morning Prayer. The assembly, (all 1700 of them!) was invited to move out of their seats, place a hand on the person in front of them, until all of us were connected by touch and song in blessing of our two speakers, Bishop Sylvester Ryan and Sister Maria Elena Martinez. After the blessing these two speakers reflected mystagogically upon what we had just experienced in prayer together. They spoke with passion and rhythm, becoming the voice of faithful disciples before our eyes and ears. In the same way that we had connected physically they connected poetically with the soul of the assembly in an intimate movement of gift, grace, and call.
posted by To Echo Christ @ 2:43 PM
