A Life-Changing Event: Now It’s Your Turn

Catholic Exchange ^ | June 13, 2006 | Shannon Breedlove

[NYer]

It was described as “elegant,” “Spirit-filled,” and “awesome.” One man said he’d learned more Scripture in two hours on that Saturday than he had in his entire life! Two Protestants who attended are now headed to the Catholic Church.

International Flavor

One said she cried tears of joy all the way home. The other, a resident of Missouri, came because she didn’t think Catholics studied Scripture and wanted to see for herself what this conference was about. She said she was flabbergasted and awestruck. To the delight of her husband, who took her to the event, she bought a Catholic Bible and has left her Protestant church and begun attending Mass with him.

What is the event that had such a soul-stirring effect on so many people? It was Catholic Scripture Study International’s first annual conference in April of this year. The fastest-growing Catholic Bible study in the world held the event at the Omni Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, bringing Catholics together from all over the world to enjoy fellowship with one another. Those in attendance represented 27 states and 5 countries. Here are the highlights.

John Morales, host of CE Today, was the Master of Ceremonies for the three-day event. Featured speakers included such noted Catholic authors as Dr. Scott Hahn, Steve Ray, Mark Shea, Carl Olson and Catholic apologist John Martignoni. Additionally there were fascinating breakout sessions led by members of the talented CSS staff on topics such as Bible resources, facilitating group discussions, understanding the Catechism, and how to start a CSS program in your local parish.

The conference began with Friday night’s social hour and silent auction followed by a formal dinner and live auction. Dr. Scott Hahn, the keynote speaker at dinner, gave a thought-provoking talk entitled “Letter and Spirit: The Living Word in the Liturgy.” After dinner, conference participants were introduced to the CSS staff members who were present, including the CSS European regional director, who traveled all the way from Norway to be present.

Food for Body and Spirit

Saturday morning began early with celebration of the Mass followed by multiple talks and breakout sessions throughout the day. The Saturday evening banquet was appropriately Southern-themed — barbeque pork and chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, coleslaw and cornbread, with pecan pie and banana pudding for dessert — appropriate because those present, sharing a common faith, enthusiasm and love of one another, appeared to be members of one big family enjoying their annual reunion. Not surprisingly, the menu was very well received by the large contingency of Texans in attendance, some of whom wore their cowboy hats to dinner.

In addition to the delicious food on Saturday night, conference participants were treated to an “Ask the Priest” session after dinner, when the floor was open for participants to pose questions of two popular priests, Father Patrick Winslow and Father Matthew Kauth. CSS participants have come to know and love these two dynamic priests as lecturers for the CSS studies. Many were very excited at the opportunity to finally meet them in person and express thanks for the vast insight they have brought to the CSS program. .

Everyone immensely enjoyed their friendly back-and-forth banter as well as their informative answers to questions. Fathers Kauth and Winslow showed not only their engaging personalities but their great knowledge of and deep reverence for our Catholic faith and Scripture

Awarding and Rewarding

Another highlight from Saturday evening was the surprise recognition awards presented by Gail Buckley to three CSS Study Leaders for outstanding service and commitment to CSS: Barbara Melanson of Maryland, Gary Goedde of Indiana, and Betty Thomm of Illinois. Gail was then herself surprised by an unexpected presentation of roses and a gift from the CSS team for her untiring dedication, service, and commitment to bringing about the very best Catholic Scripture study program available, one which is now enjoyed by people all over the world.

The final day of the conference was very eventful as well, beginning with a continental breakfast followed by Gail Buckley’s talk on her conversion and the CSS story and then Carl Olson’s dynamic talk on the errors of the book and movie The Da Vinci Code. The conference concluded with a beautiful Mass celebrated by Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte.

Don’t miss out next year! Mark your calendars now to attend. Plans are to hold next year’s conference in same place (Omni Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina) two weeks after Easter, April 20-22, 2007. The big challenge for next year’s conference will be topping this year's!

[NYer]

Shannon Breedlove lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with her husband Tim and two small boys. She and her husband both converted to Catholicism in 1998. In her search for a quality Bible study in 2003, Shannon discovered Catholic Scripture Study International and soon became a member of the CSS volunteer team as a Regional Director. Earlier this year Shannon was appointed National Regional Director of CSS.

[AliVeritas]

Excellent.

[ikka]

Welcome Catholics! to Bible study. Y'all are a few hundred years late, but I am sure you will catch up fast.

[mckenzie7]

Another great conference:

http://www.catholicresourcecenter.org/conferences.shtml

My husband and I have been blessed to be able to attend this conference for the last three years and are going back again. The dates are July 8th and 9th at Anaheim, CA.
Check out the above web site for more info.

[Alex Murphy]

Welcome Catholics! to Bible study. Y'all are a few hundred years late, but I am sure you will catch up fast.

ROTFL - notice that not once do they mention how many individuals were actually in attendance, except to say "those in attendance represented 27 states and 5 countries" - and you have to remember that this was their first annual event. For example, "27 states and 5 countries could very well mean that only 32 people attended. If you start with 20 people and have 12 more join you, that's better than a 50% increase in membership in just one year! It's real easy is it to get branded as "the fastest-growing Catholic Bible study in the world" when you start exceedingly small.

BTW, it's not cheap to take part in this. According to their website's FAQ:

$59.99 per person study materials for our regular program (less than $2.00 per week—less than the price of a caffe latte). Please note that the Ephesians study is a short "off season" study and doesn't include DVD or audio lectures, so the price is lower for this study ($20. per person)...
-----------
"Your initial order must include the Basic Study Package. This package includes 10 study binders and the complete lecture DVD set. It is priced at the cost of 9 study binders to provide the study leader with a FREE study binder ($539.91).
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Q: Is there a minimum or maximum size for CSS study groups?
A: Only that we require a minimum order of ten studies.

[siunevada]

Y'all are a few hundred years late, but I am sure you will catch up fast.

Good one.

You know the old Catholic slogan uttered by St. Jerome circa 400 A.D., don't you?

Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.

[Claud]

Y'all are a few hundred years late, but I am sure you will catch up fast.

But youse wouldn't have it, if we didn't write it, copy it, and translate it.

Even ol' Doctor Luther conceded as much. :)

[Tax-chick]

I just read about this in the Diocesan newspaper. Can't wait until next year, when maybe I won't be nursing full time ...

We're getting good people for events in Charlotte. Patrick Madrid is coming to a Eucharistic Conference (one day) in Asheville this month. I wonder if they'll parade the Blessed Sacrament through the People's Republic there ... buildings might fall ...

Campion, maybe you know the folks from Franklin?

[ikka]

I know many Catholics, even devout ones from the Philippines and their knowledge of the Bible is nearly non-existent. Glad to see that they are turning it around.

[AlaninSA]

I know many beer drinking, spouse cheating, non-church attending Baptists.

Glad to see that you're as unable to stereotype as we are.

[phatus maximus]

Not that I'm defending Ikia or whatver his/her name is, but is it stereotyping if in fact the Catholics he knows don't read/know scripture?

I've always wondered that about all stereotypes not just in this case...like for instance if I know 8 white guys and they all use slang about Mexicans who come to America, am i wrong in saying the white guys I know are racist toward Mexicans..I think I'm gonna have to chalk that up to things that make me go Hmmmm...

Blessings to you and yours in Christ!!

[siunevada]

I know many Catholics, even devout ones from the Philippines and their knowledge of the Bible is nearly non-existent. Glad to see that they are turning it around.

Well, I would only hope that their lack of knowledge is actually a lack of confidence in what they actually do know. The first half of any Catholic Mass is "all Bible, all the time": Tuesday readings.

Apparently, it's been like that for a very long time, as Justin Martyr notes in 155 A.D., "on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things".

Of course, being Catholic, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that nearly every Catholic you know "zones out" during the Liturgy of the Word. But, I would be hopeful that maybe they know more about Sacred Scripture than they think they do.

[AlaninSA]

It's a common Protestant accusation that Catholics "don't know the Bible."

It's also a commonly wrong thing to say...and it is a stereotype.

My grandmother's funeral was in a Baptist church (yes, I'm the child of a "mixed marriage" between a Protestant and a Catholic). I served as lector (or whatever they call it in a Baptist church) for the funeral service.

Oh, we had many readings selected by the "preacher," all right. We must have read from eight or nine different parts of the Bible before the "preacher" gave his "message."

But we only read a sentence or two from each section.

We Catholics read the entire Bible during our liturgical cycle...cover to cover. Our readings are an entire segment, not a conveniently picked line or two. There is always an OT reading, a reading from one of the NT letters and a Gospel reading.

I don't know if the Baptists can claim to be that complete in their readings at their services...

...there's more to knowing the Bible than memorizing a few verses and the laundry list of Bible books.

[mrs. a]

Actually, have you ever been to a Catholic mass? We have three scripture readings and a Psalm at every Sunday mass (two readings and a Psalm on weekdays).

That's a lot more Bible-thumping than most folks get!

So maybe we won't be too long catching up ;-)

Cheers!

[ikka]

Actually my wife is Catholic, went to Catholic schools all her life, in a more conservative-Catholic country than the USA.

I have been attending Mass with her, say 48 times per year, for the last 4 or more years.

[phatus maximus]

"We Catholics read the entire Bible during our liturgical cycle...cover to cover. Our readings are an entire segment, not a conveniently picked line or two. There is always an OT reading, a reading from one of the NT letters and a Gospel reading."

We do the same (Wisconsin Lutheran)and it's a good thing to do as that is after our Lord's revelation of Himself and His plan of salvation which seems to me to be pretty important material to cover......I'm not sure we cover every single word of Scripture in a year, but we always have the three readings and over time I'm sure we get most of it all...

Anyhew, I know it's ridiculous to stereotype any group or members of said group and I do my best not to do so...however that poster was describing the individuals s/he actually knew and I guess I don't think that's stereotyping, that's why I threw that example in my post, but I digress...

I think it's great you find it useful to read the Bible as you know it will strengthen you!!...I'm in Ezekiel now (started the OT in Nov of last year I think) and so will be through the OT in a few months...It's been awesome to see the immense amount of proclamations of Christ in the OT and how God consistently says the same things in the OT as in the NT in terms of His people and how we should act, etc...God certainly makes it clear as He, through his inspired writers, tells us what He expects and how He will save us...it's truly beautiful. It's a shame more Lutherans, Baptists and Catholics alike don't devote time to read God's Holy Word consistently...Encourage your brothers, I shall do the same...

Blessings in Christ!