Men’s Conference set to welcome national speakers tomorrow at DCU

Advance sales for the 14th Anniversary Worcester Diocesan Catholic Men’s Conference have been brisk and about 1,000 men from throughout the Worcester Diocese and others dioceses are expected to participate.
Dozens of Catholic organizations and exhibitors will be on hand as well.
The conference is scheduled for Saturday at Worcester DCU Center and tickets are still available at the door. All conference activities will take place in the large gathering halls at street level.
The day’s keynote speakers include Relevant Radio’s executive director, Father Francis Hoffman (“What’s That Sound in the Camp? - How Confession Can Keep You from Worshipping the Golden Calf”); film producer Steve Ray (“The Gospel: Back Then and All Over Again”); Kevin Reilly, former NFL player (“Adversity with Faith and Persistence”); Gus Lloyd, Sirius Radio host (“Christianity”) and Christopher West, an educator who has popularized Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body (“Redemption: Untwisting the Lies and Rejoicing in the Truth”).
Fifty-eight area priests, including all the three bishops of the diocese, will participate again this year by hearing confessions at mid-day. The sacrament of reconciliation has become a conference feature in its first 13 years.
Bishop McManus will be the principal concelebrant and homilist for the closing Mass at 4 p.m.
“I’m so grateful to my brother priests throughout the diocese, as well as the men who serve as our parish contacts, and to the organizing committee itself, all of whom put so much work into the conference.  They have all done such an admirable job in promoting the event that many men from the diocese really reap the fruit of their collaborative efforts,” said Monsignor Thomas J. Sullivan, co-chairman of the annual event and pastor of Christ the King Parish in Worcester.
Tickets at the door are $60 for adults and $30 for students and include a hosted luncheon.
In addition to reaching out to men of all ages a special effort is being made to invite teens and young adults this year.  “The program is ideal for young men,” said Msgr. Sullivan. “We want to continue to strengthen the conference by welcoming young men, an important part of the Church’s future, and each year the conference gets a younger audience.”