Peter Kreeft to speak at conference Saturday

The election of a new pope even has consequences for the Worcester Diocesan Catholic Men’s Conference. One of the scheduled speakers is covering the election for a Jesuit magazine so he is unable to attend.
It was announced that Peter Kreeft, a professor of philosophy at Boston College and King’s College in New York, and widely known author, will speak at the 13th annual conference scheduled for tomorrow at the DCU Center.
Mr. Kreeft takes the place of Jesuit Father James Martin who was assigned to cover the papal election for America magazine, for which he is an editor.
Mr. Kreeft’s talk will be “The Church on Sex and Marriage: 22 Common-sense Theses.”
Says Kreeft, “Almost all ‘dissent’ from the Church today concerns her teachings about sex and marriage, directly or indirectly.”  He’ll present 22 common sense ideas about this (in 44 minutes!), showing that reason and philosophy (“the love of wisdom”) supports rather than refutes the Church’s controversial teachings.
Other speakers for the day include Joe McClane (“A Life Worth Living: Discovering True Manhood at the Top of Calvary’s Peak!”), Father Sammie Maletta (“I didn’t stop to ask for direction...Now, I’m lost.  But with God’s amazing grace, I am found.”) and Catholic Mountain’s founder, Joe Klinker (“Using our Talents in the 21st Century”).
“The stage is now set for another wonderful conference for Catholic men,” said Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, diocesan chancellor and one of the organizers.

Mr. Kreeft is a regular contributor to several Christian publications, is in wide demand as a speaker at conferences, and is the author of more than 67 books.  He took his bachelor’s degree at Calvin College in Michigan in 1959 and a master’s and doctorate at Fordham University in the years that followed.  He briefly did post-graduate studies at Yale University.
He has received several honors for achievements in philosophical reasoning. They include the following: Woodrow Wilson, Yale-Sterling Fellowship, Newman Alumni Scholarship, Danforth Asian Religions Fellowship, and Weathersfield Homeland Foundation Fellowship.
He joined the philosophy faculty of the Department of Philosophy of Boston College in 1965. His intellectual reputation stems from his strengths in debating and summarizing the philosophical arguments of the major Western philosophers. He has debated several academics in issues related to God’s existence.
Shortly after he began teaching at Boston College he was challenged to a debate on the existence of God between himself and Paul Breines, an atheist and history professor, which was attended by a majority of undergraduate students. Mr. Kreeft later used many of the arguments in this debate to create the Handbook of Christian Apologetics with then undergraduate student Ronald K. Tacelli, S.J.
In 1994, he was a signer of the document “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.”
More than 50 area priests will participate again this year by hearing confessions at midday.  The sacrament of reconciliation has been a conference feature in its first 12 years.
Bishop McManus will be the principal concelebrant and homilist for the Conference Mass at 4 p.m.
Tickets may be purchased at the DCU Center for $60.  Student tickets are $30 and available at the door.