“Spirit of Jesus, Renew Us” was the theme of the 14th annual diocesan men’s conference, Oct. 19 at St. Joseph the Worker Parish, Orefield.
Speakers at the event were author and EWTN radio host Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers of the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., and Father Wade Menezes, C.P.M., a member of the missionary preaching congregation the Fathers of Mercy.
Sponsored by the Diocese of Allentown Commission for Men, the daylong event included presentations, vendor displays, a Vigil Mass, and confessions heard by several visiting priests.
“I want to talk about three men of the Bible,” Deacon Burke-Sivers told the gathering of approximately 400 men. “David, St. Joseph, and the prodigal son, and how they teach us about becoming the men Christ created us to be.
“First, David tells Saul, ‘I want to fight Goliath.’ Saul offers David his armor, but when David tries it on, he says, ‘I’m not used to these,’ and takes it off. Instead, David gets a sling and five smooth stones. I believe David fought Goliath using a weapon that resembles a rosary—the sling. The five stones can represent the five Our Father beads or the five mysteries of the rosary. In this way, David fought Goliath with the weapons of God!”
“Men, we have an arsenal against the power of Satan. Pick up a weapon: the rosary! It's not an offensive weapon, you're not going to go out and kill somebody. You're going to kill the power of sin in your life.”
Deacon Burke-Sivers remarked that St. Joseph was “an interesting dude” because none of his words are recorded in Scripture. Why the omission? “Joseph's actions speak louder than his words.”
The deacon then noted that, at the finding in the temple, Mary referred to St. Joseph as Jesus’ father, not stepfather or foster father.
“In Hebrew, there is no word for stepfather, because if you took responsibility, you were the father of that child. Fatherhood is not biological. Any man can be a dad, but it takes a real man to be a father. God allows us men to borrow His sacred name for the brief time that we're here on this earth.”
In a stirring reflection on the prodigal son, Deacon Burke-Sivers emphatically stated, “There are men in this church who haven’t been to confession in years because you think all you gotta do is be a good person to get to heaven. Jesus nowhere, nowhere teaches that. You think you make the rules?
“Get yourself in that box and let Jesus wipe the stain of sin from your hearts. So when you leave this place today, you are a new man of God.”
Indeed, one of the conferees had a reversion experience at the conference “He went to confession after a 25-year lapse,” explained Deacon Tony Campanell, co-founder of the annual diocesan men’s conference. “He was deeply touched by the talks.”
In his presentation, Father Wade Menezes, author of “Stand Firm, Be Strong: A Men’s Catholic Daily Devotional,” shared “three great things about monthly confession.”
“Number one, you automatically end up going to confession during each liturgical season of the Church year. Number two, you will only have mortal sins to confess because every time you receive another Sacrament, such as the Holy Eucharist, you receive grace which remits venial sins. And number three, monthly confession puts you so at peace with your past that you are literally only looking back on the past four or five weeks of your life. Nothing haunts you anymore.”
Attendees at the conference ranged in age from 12 to 92, and represented 50 parishes and 68 different geographic areas, including Maine, New Jersey, West Virginia, and the UK.
The Men’s Commission will sponsor a Men’s Morning of Reflection on March 1, 2025, at St. Catherine of Siena, Reading. For more information, go to www.menaliveinchrist.org/events/.
By Celeste Behe
