Catholic Women’s Conference to focus on the Eucharist

Jackie Francois Angel urges women to give it up.

Give it all up … to God.

“Sometimes we’re afraid that if we give God everything, if we trust him with everything, we’ll lose something. And we won’t truly be ourselves,” said Angel, a full-time worship leader, vlogger, singer-songwriter and homeschooling mom of four.

“But the truth is he gives us so much more and we become more like him, so we gain everything.

“We gain him.”

Angel is one of three keynote speakers for the Oklahoma Catholic Women’s Conference scheduled for March 2 in Norman. She will be joined by Father Chris Alar, director of the Association of Marian Helpers and head of Marian Press, as well as host of the EWTN show “Living Divine Mercy;” and Sister Mary Bethany, a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, who also teaches second grade at a Catholic school in Findlay, Ohio, and works in the sisters’ OpenLight Media evangelization.

Registration for the conference is open at okcatholicwomen.com, with admission $75 for adults, $49 for students.

The conference theme: “That Nothing May Be Lost.”

Stephanie Stovall, formation chair for the conference, explains:
“After miraculously feeding the thousands in the Gospel of John, Jesus asked his disciples to gather up the fragments, ‘so that nothing may be lost.’ In the Most Blessed Sacrament, an abundance is again given to God’s people.

“We want our women to come away with more belief, love, desire, and reverence for the Eucharist, so that nothing may be lost – from the physical crumbs of the Host that sometimes fall to the ground, to all the spiritual graces we receive from the Holy Eucharist.

“We want this to be a day of going deeper into the magnificence of the Greatest Gift we have on earth.”

The Oklahoma Catholic Women’s Conference, while a presence in the metro area for 17 years, has enjoyed significant growth in recent years, with attendees stretching from the panhandle to Tulsa and beyond.

When the conference was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, the team regrouped with an eye on the future.

“That quiet year we took time to ask the Lord what he wanted us to do,” said Johanna Sanchez, treasurer. “Using the gifts he had brought together in each of us, we rebranded/redesigned, updated and expanded our digital and social media reach, and started planning for the next conference.

“The work that had gone into upgrading our digital infrastructure proved to be inspired.”

The crowds keep coming, larger and larger each year.

“Word of mouth, along with a newly established social media presence has let to tremendous growth since 2021,” said Laura Murray, hospitality chair.

The conference organizers hoped for 500 attendees in 2022 and quickly sold 800 tickets. Last year, they planned for 1,000 and again swiftly sold out, before they scrambled to add seats for another 100.

“Ultimately, we truly believe that the Lord is using this conference to speak to the hearts of the women who attend, and they want to come back and bring others along because of him and him alone,” said Natalie Mollman, marketing chair.

For this conference, expectations have been set at 1,200 women. And if that number swells, there’s room to expand thanks to a recent move to the Embassy Suites in Norman.

When the women arrive this year, they’ll be greeted with messaging that’s not always clear in their everyday lives – that they are valued, if not by society, always by God.

And they’ll be led to the Eucharist.

“We all desire intimacy,” Angel said. “And the most intimate we can be on this earth with God is in the Eucharist, when we become one flesh with him.”

John Helsley is the editor of the Sooner Catholic.