Group revitalizing diocesan women's conference

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

A diocesan women’s conference – inspired by insufficient catechesis decades ago and men’s conferences recently – is to be held Nov. 10 at Assumption College. It’s an attempt to help women serve God and others.
Organizer Corinn Dahm, of St. Bernadette Parish in Northborough, said she was inspired to help put together a women’s conference after being an exhibitor at the diocesan men’s conference.
“It was just so awesome to see men so into their faith and being treated to awesome speakers” at a multi-generational conference, Mrs. Dahm said. The clincher was seeing a young man emerge from confession in tears.
“We really need this,” she and other women exhibitors decided.
The last women’s conference was held in November 2013, sponsored by the diocesan Commission for Women. Starting in 2002, the commission held seven conferences, according to Joan M. Talbot, a former co-chairwoman.
Mrs. Dahm said she was introduced to Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, a men’s conference organizer and pastor of Christ the King Parish in Worcester, and later called him for advice about organizing a women’s conference.
“He was so receptive,” and told her to approach Bishop McManus, she said. She said the bishop was excited, and suggested adding Helen Alvaré to the list of possible speakers that she and three other women had put together.
They invited others to help plan a conference and about 20 came forward, she said.
“It’s multi-generational,” she said. “We have women in their 20s to women in their 60s.” They joined subcommittees to handle different aspects of the conference – even “goody bags” for attendees.
“The men invited me to their planning meetings,” Mrs. Dahm said. “We plagiarized their conference. … They gave us their list of vendors. They have been phenomenal. We would not be doing this without them; we can’t thank them enough.”
Nor could the women afford to hold the conference without exhibitors, she said, expressing a desire to make it a good experience for these representatives of organizations and businesses who rent tables.
“It’s right before Christmas,” she said. “We’re hoping women will start their Christmas shopping early.”
The Worcester Catholic Women’s Conference is to feature Mass, confessions, talks by national speakers and the opportunity to meet them and other women.
Explaining the theme, “To Know Him, To Love Him, To Serve Him,” Mrs. Dahm said: “I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s. It was a time when women were trying to find themselves and the meaning of life. It wasn’t until I had kids that I realized I was so poorly catechized. It’s hard to teach your kids something that you don’t know.”
When her children received the “Baltimore Catechism” at a school she helped start in Connecticut, “I was just astonished to know that the Church had been teaching the meaning of life” – to know, love and serve God –  all along, she said.
“We’re hoping that this experience will reignite the fire of faith in women – to serve God,” Mrs. Dahm said of the conference. “So one of the things we want to do is give women a list of contact information for different ministries” and a list of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. “I think women, especially, need to do things. … That’s why I love the closing of Mass: ‘Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.’”
She said she does not yet have speakers’ themes, but she asked them to remember that “the Catholic Church is the most pro-woman church.” And “Humanae Vitae” is “probably one of the most pro-woman documents ever written,” she said. 2018 is the 50th anniversary of this encyclical by Pope Paul VI about the regulation of birth, she said.
She said they booked “Humanae Vitae” expert Janet E. Smith early because she was a top speaker on their list, and now she’s in high demand. She holds the Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, is a consultor to the Pontifical Council on the Family and serves the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. She has authored books and articles and appeared on television shows.
Other speakers:
Helen M. Alvaré, an associate professor of law at George Mason University in Arlington, Va., is a consultor for the Pontifical Council of the Laity, an adviser to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and founder of WomenSpeakforThemselves.com.
Mother Mary Assumpta Long is prioress general of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, Mich., a community she helped found in 1997. She has a licentiate degree in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, has taught school and is a former president of the Forum of Major Superiors.
Susan Conroy worked with, and wrote books about, Mother Teresa of Kolkata and translated books about St. Thérèse of Lisieux. On EWTN’s global television network, she hosted the mini-series “Speaking of Saints” and “Coming to Christ.”
Susie Loyd is a wife, mother of seven, “homeschool lifer” and an award-winning author. Her books include “Please Don’t Drink the Holy Water” and “Bless Me, Father, for I Have Kids.”
The conference costs $45 per person, or $25 for students ages 16-22. Seating is limited to 425 women, and about 70 have registered. Vendors and exhibitors can watch the conference on screens in the college’s Tsotis Building ballroom, where their tables will be set up, said Mrs. Dahm.

– To register or for more information go to www.worcestercatholicwomensconference.com or email worcesterwomen2018@aol.com or call Mrs. Dahm at 508-277-3969.