Women ‘embrace the cross’

Bishop McManus praises annual gathering


By Tanya Connor
and Christina Galeone
The Catholic Free Press

WEBSTER – Stories of intense personal suffering and Jesus’ torture and death were told at the 2022 Worcester Catholic Women’s Conference that drew nearly 500 people to St. Joseph Elementary School Saturday.
But speakers did not leave listeners despairing in the proverbial desert – they gave practical pointers for ways to heal and draw closer to Jesus, and challenges for helping others.
Called “Embrace the Cross,” the conference included opportunities to venerate relics of Christ’s cross and the pray the Stations of the Cross. Bishop McManus celebrated Mass and led attendees in eucharistic adoration and praying the rosary.
“I’m very impressed with the number of people and quality of speakers,” the bishop told The Catholic Free Press. “The concluding liturgy was wonderful, very well prepared. The music was beautiful. A great addition to the diocese.”
Organizer Corinn Dahm said conference music director Michael Olbash played the organ and assembled a choir for the Mass, which  Bishop McManus and three priests celebrated in St. Joseph Basilica. The bishop preached about the necessity of embracing the cross to be Christ’s disciples and about how St. Therese of Lisiuex, whose feast day was that day, did that.
Mrs. Dahm, emcee, had earlier led attendees in a chaplet of 24 Glory Be’s, each followed by “St. Therese of the Child Jesus, please pray for Bishop McManus.” She said the live roses attendees were given were “from St. Therese,” who is known for promising to send roses from heaven.
Marie France, who worships at St. Peter and Holy Family parishes in Worcester, was delighted to receive a deep-pink rose that matched her cheery outfit. She was also delighted that she was invited to join the conference planning committee; she said she believes the Holy Spirit inspires members as they seek speakers.
“It’s like you are renewed – your spirit,” she said, in reference to the conference. “It was really worth it for us to come here.”
  “I love it,” said Beverly Luthman, of North American Martyrs Parish in Auburn, who was attending the annual conference for the second time. “It brings you closer to God for sure.”
She said she was especially grateful to see teenage girls enriching their faith there. And seeing them happy was an even greater joy.  
Mrs. Dahm said there were more students than ever; 16 of the approximately 430 attendees from several states were aged 16-22. There were about 10 young adults, 20 planning committee members and 37 exhibits, she said.
Among exhibitors was Kathryn Griffin Swegart, a Maine-based author of Catholic children’s books. She won first place for “Lucia of Fatima” in the 2022 Catholic Media Association’s Book Awards, in the category Best Books for Youth Ages 11-16.
“I really enjoyed meeting people and sharing the books; I love the Catholic faith,” said the Secular Franciscan, who was attending the women’s conference for the first time.
She said Sonja Corbitt’s talk resonated with her; she too believes it’s important to be aware of the impact our thoughts have on our faith.  
Mrs. Corbitt made some excellent points about the importance of overcoming negative thought patterns, said Suzanne Ciccolo, of North American Martyrs Parish. She said she really enjoyed the conference, which she was attending for the fourth time; “It’s a renewal of my faith.”
One of several exhibitors representing non-profit organizations and ministries was Allison LeDoux, director of the Worcester Diocese’s Respect Life Office. She said she enjoyed talking with people at the conference.
She commented about how the last speaker, Constance T. Hull, who suffered multiple miscarriages, viewed her suffering as crosses to carry with love.
“She really reached people in the heart,” said Mrs. LeDoux. “I think that gives hope to a lot of people.”   
Cecile Sauro, of Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish in Spencer, said Mrs. Hull “was exceptional” in how God used her and her suffering.
“What a gift to her to be able to nurture and pray for these priests,” she said, in reference to the speaker’s ministry.
But what touched Ms. Sauro most was the video “The Veil Removed,” which depicted worshippers seeing angels at Mass, where blood from the crucifix dripped into the chalice at the consecration, and the priest was transformed into Christ.
“I never know how to visualize that,” but the video provided a way to do that, Ms. Sauro said.  
Several priests came to hear confessions at Saturday’s conference, and seminarians from the Boston Archdiocese gave brief talks about the sacrament of penance.
“It’s our way to access God’s mercy,” said Marcelo Ferrari, who told the story of the prodigal son.
Matthew Harrington gave pointers for making a good confession which is humble, sincere and entire.
David Joanis talked about examining one’s conscience three times a day.

– Videos of the conference will be available on the website, wcwconference.com. Attendees and others are to be notified when available.


PHOTO ALBUM

Carry your crosses with love

By Christina Galeone
CFP Correspondent

In “The Story of a Soul” by St. Therese of Lisieux, the 2022 Worcester Catholic Women’s Conference patroness, the saint described her overwhelming love for Jesus and God the Father even as a child, and how that love inspired her to long for suffering. “I felt arising in my heart a great desire for suffering and at the same time the intimate assurance that Jesus was reserving for me a great number of crosses,” she wrote. “I felt myself flooded with such great consolations that I see them as one of the greatest graces of my life.”
Both Laura Mary Phelps and Constance T. Hull, who gave the two afternoon presentations at the conference at St. Joseph Elementary School in Webster, have carried some heavy crosses. But instead of being crushed by them, they shared how those crosses have strengthened their faith and helped them to help others in life-enhancing and life-saving ways. They even embraced the additional crosses of exposing their wounds to attendees to strengthen them and build up the kingdom of God.  
Mrs. Phelps, the author of Victorious Secret: Everyday Battles and How to Win Them and Sweet Cross: A Marian Guide to Suffering, gave the first afternoon presentation. “Standing at the Foot of the Cross” focused on the fact that we can’t avoid all the crosses in our lives, but we can embrace them to become stronger in our faith. She advised that the best way to learn how to do so was by reading Scripture often and by learning from Mary.
With heart-wrenching emotion, at times, she shared her experience of being a mom of kids who survived the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, which she said reminded her that “the devil is real.” And she shared some of the ongoing aftermath of that nightmare. Part of that aftermath is a substance addiction that one of her four kids fell victim to. After trying relentlessly, for years, to help free him from addiction, she had to finally turn her attention back to her other three kids and her husband and turn the situation completely over to God.      
Throughout her presentation, she reflected on how reading Scripture, learning from Mary, and enduring her own crosses has helped her to realize that there are only two responses to tragedies and traumas – walking away from God or running toward him. And she said the first response never brings peace or healing. She emphasized that three of the most important things she learned from Mary are to stop asking why, do whatever God says, and stand at the foot of the cross.
“From Mary, I learned to take my eyes off of the crisis and put them on God,” she revealed to attendees, later noting that it’s not human tendency to embrace suffering, but, “thankfully, we have Mary” to help us. “By showing up in his suffering, we get to share in his glory,” she said.
“The Cross: Our Surrender to God’s Will,” the second presentation, was given by Mrs. Hull, a wife, mother, theologian, writer and spiritual mother to various priests and seminarians. She shared with attendees that she believes Christ asked her to speak about redemptive suffering.
Like Mrs. Phelps, with heart-wrenching emotion, she shared her journey of faith. That eventually led her to being called by Christ, through a charism – and after the most recent tragic clergy sex abuse scandal, – to become an earthly spiritual mother to priests and seminarians who weren’t part of that scandal. Along with one of them, she now ministers to many lost souls of the secular culture.
She shared her experiences of being in the U.S. Navy in 2001, and feeling called, at 20-years-old, to “stand at the foot of the cross” with grieving families who lost loved ones to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Because of her missionary work with the families, she developed PTSD, which required hospitalization, and which she said the Blessed Mother carried her through. Later, she also endured her husband’s battle with a rare and frequently deadly disease, from which he’s, thankfully, now in remission.  
Although she’s clearly grateful beyond words for her daughter, she also shared the suffering caused by five miscarriages that she endured. And she shared how, at one point, she believes Jesus called her to meet with a pregnant woman considering aborting her unborn child, who had the same due date as one of her unborn children she had lost. Mrs. Hull not only helped convince the woman to choose life for her child, she answered what she believes was Christ’s call to give the woman the clothes and items she had bought for her unborn child who had passed away.
“That’s what loving with the love of the cross is,” she told attendees. “It’s the willingness to give everything. That’s the moment of redemption. Not, ‘What about me?’ What can I give?”
By the time the last presentation ended, tears had been shed, applause had been given, and eyes had been drawn to a front corner of the school’s gymnasium, where relics from the True Cross graced everyone with their presence. And when the attendees, as they left, were handed roses – with thorns – the two women’s heroic yet humble messages surely resonated in many hearts.


Practical advice for bearing hardship and healing

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

WEBSTER – “Embrace the cross – Who wants to do that?”
Bryan Mercier asked that question in his talk at the Worcester Catholic Women’s Conference Saturday, using the conference theme. But, he noted, Jesus calls us to carry our crosses.
A speaker, author and founder of the Catholic Truth ministry, he laid the groundwork in his talk, “Why Jesus had to die.”
Sonja Corbitt, who promotes Bible study through her radio and television shows, followed with practical advice for bearing crosses and finding healing in her talk, “Just Rest: Thoughts, emotions, body and soul.”
Mr. Mercier said Jesus didn’t have to die; God could have forgiven us another way. But Jesus came to die for us.
“He came down to walk as a human being … to conquer the devil … to take our side … to renew us … make us perfect so we can go to heaven,” Mr. Mercier explained.
He could have come as king and beat us, but “he gave us the whip and allowed us to beat him,” Mr. Mercier said. Huge spikes nailed him to the cross.
He undid Adam and Eve’s sin and reconnected mankind to God. He seeks the lost sheep, the people who are considered bad.
“Don’t judge those people, because God loves them” as much as he loves you, Mr. Mercier said. “Pray for them harder. Fast for them more.”
He said he used to dress in all black and carry weapons, but Jesus changed him; his mother prayed and fasted for him.
He also said, “We can’t love somebody we don’t know,” and urged listeners to pray, listen to God and do spiritual reading. Some people mistakenly think: “I’m a religious education director, a youth minister; I should pray more, but I’m doing God’s work.” But Mr. Mercier said what Jesus really wants from us is for us to have a relationship with him, trust him and give him everything, including our suffering. Some saints suffered much, but experienced peace through their relationship with Christ.
“Saints change the world,” Mr. Mercier said. “Christ is calling you to that.”
In her talk, Mrs. Corbitt, a Catholic convert from the Southern Baptist church, offered steps for finding healing by looking at Scripture.
She applied Heb 3:9-11 and Ps 95:8-11 to us. The passages tell of God saying the Israelites in the desert would not enter into his rest. They had hardened their hearts and did not know his ways.
After God rescues us from “the sin place” of Egypt he puts us in the desert before leading us to promised land, she said.
“It’s part of the process; the desert is full of deprivation,” she said. “The desert is meant to teach you to trust him” when you have nothing else to trust.
But, if we’re like the Israelites in Ex 15:22-24, we complain.
“If you stop a negative thought, it will go away,” Mrs. Corbitt said. If not, it becomes part of you, affecting your emotions, making you sick in body and soul, producing unrest.
We are sinned against, which wounds us, and then we sin, Mrs. Corbitt said. We need love. We need to believe God has always loved us, even when we don’t feel it.
To become fully integrated, we need to get control of our thoughts, take our fears to God and get healed.