Catholics on Call

Last week, I attended a week long conference at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois called Catholics on Call. It was a week of learning, growing and making friends. The purpose of the conference was to help those discerning a call to lay ministry and/or religious life. A beautiful group of young men and women ages 18-30 gathered at CTU for the conference. The speakers at the conference were extraordinary. There was a panel for religious life, lay ecclesial ministry, prayer and discernment.

One of the most amazing moments I had on this conference was on Monday evening . A friend that I had met just the day before and I decided we wanted to have a crazy dance party. Well, everyone else was preoccupied so Sarah and I decided to rock out by ourselves. We had chairs set up as a stage and salt and pepper shaker microphones. After a while, instead of a dance party, it became a cabaret ... we even had an audience! ;) Anyway, on that night "Don't Stop Believing" became my theme song and Sarah became a friend for life.

There were many mindsplosions (a term coined by my friend for moments that completely blow your mind away)   throughout the week. I came away refreshed, healed and, in an very real sense, a little more mature. Not in the mature, as in mature behavior, but spiritually mature. I just want to share a few of the stories from Catholics on Call.

Mindsplosion #1 -- We need to look at all aspects of ourselves with honesty. I like most of the world am guilty of being extremely hard on myself. For every one good thing about myself, I could find at least ten things but to truly find our call we need to be honest with ourselves. Frederick Buechner said that "Vocation is where our greatest passion meets the world's greatest need." To understand where and how we can meet the world's greatest need we need to honestly look out our strengths and weaknesses. Now none of this is new to me, but after much reflection, I grew in my ability to minister to others by understanding my abilities.

Mindsplosion #2 -- We sang "Humpty Dumpty" with Bishop Morneau...we also found out about the Sauerkraut Queen in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Enough said.

Mindsplosion #3 -- The Body of Christ not only came to be during the liturgies and Holy Hour, but it became present in the community time. On Thursday night after a long week and in preparation for our parting on Friday, we spent quality time together as a group. It started out when I told a new friend my life story, which then sparked someone else to share. In the end, we sat in a circle and heard everyones stories. Some were deep, others inspiring, while others were very light. That night we opened up and there was definite healing going on.

Wow, that was a long post! Well, that is what happens when you jampack a week with awesomeness! If anyone is interested, the link for Catholics on Call is at the bottom of my page. Thanks for listening.

Until the whole world hears,
Cassie

"Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur."

What you see and what you hear all depends on who you are and where you're standing.

~Bishop Morneau~