For 27 years, Catholic men have come together to attend the “In the Father’s Footsteps” Catholic men’s conference, organized by the Oklahoma Fellowship of Catholic Men, an affiliate of the National Fellowship of Catholic Men.
Founded in 1996, the conference is designed to provide Catholic men with an opportunity to make a small retreat from their daily lives to listen to speakers, reflect on their roles as husbands, fathers and men, participate in the sacrament of Reconciliation, adore Christ in the Eucharist and participate in the Mass.
On Feb. 25, the conference hosted nearly 1,000 men from across the state at the Embassy Suites hotel in Norman with the theme, “Blessed are the Peacemakers.” The speakers included Jon Leonetti, Father Dave Pivonka, T.O.R., Sister Mary Michael Fox, O.P. and Robert Rogers. There were also two lunch breakout sessions – one on the domestic church and one geared toward young men.
The first speaker was Jon Leonetti who gave a talk titled “What Are You Living For?” Leonetti challenged the attendees to evaluate their motivations in life and delivered a passionate plea for all the men to grow in holiness through regular participation in the sacraments.
Following Leonetti was Father Dave Pivonka, T.O.R., president of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Father Pivonka delivered a talk called “The Father’s Peace,” which focused on finding the peace of God the Father, as well as what it means to be “spiritually adopted” by God.
After the attendees spent time in Eucharistic adoration, participated in the sacrament of Reconciliation and had lunch, Sister Mary Michael Fox, O.P., took the stage to deliver a talk titled “Sons of Thunder – Children of God: Moving from Interior Chaos to Interior Peace.” Sister Mary Michael Fox is a sister of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia in Nashville, Tenn., and was the first female speaker in the history of the conference.
Sister Mary Michael encouraged the men present to be courageous in the pursuit of truth.
“You need the Holy Spirit to give you the courage to say the hard things,” she began her talk.
After an enthusiastic appeal to the audience to live out masculinity well, she concluded with “be a saint, or die trying.”
The final keynote talk was given by Robert Rogers, who in 2003 experienced a tragedy that changed his life forever. Rogers began his talk by playing a video on the overhead screens of news footage from more than 20 years ago detailing the tragic death of his wife and four children in a car accident.
Rogers drew laughter, applause and tears from the crowd of nearly 1,000 men. Throughout the talk, Rogers repeated his motto of “Know God, no regrets,” to explain how he was able to live a life of peace with God while enduring tremendous suffering and hardship.
Every year, the conference recognizes those who are attending for the first time. Andrew Horn, one of the first-time attendees – a husband, father and Catholic school teacher – spoke about the importance of being spiritually fed to live out his vocation of husband and father.
“The most important thing I will take away from the conference is that I need to be fed spiritually so I can do the same for my family. It is important to take time to spiritually recharge. One cannot give what they do not have,” Horn said.
After attending the breakout session on the domestic church, Horn went on to say: “I’ve always understood that I have a responsibility as a husband and a father to lead my family in the faith, but I’d not been given much in the way of practical advice on how to do that. This talk helped me better understand what my family needs and how to work toward that end.”
To learn more about the “In the Father’s Footsteps” conference, purchase copies of the talks or save the date for next year’s conference, visit catholicmen.net.
Avery Holt is the interim director of communications.