Our charism will be well represented by close to 50 people of the 400 who will gether at Iona College for the Feast of Pentecost.A record gathering of over four hundred Lay Associates and Vowed Religious will meet at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York on Pentecost weekend, May 28 to 30, 2004 to “Fan into Flame the Gifts of the Spirit.”
Among this number will be thirty Associates and Sisters of Charity of New York and twenty members of the Sisters of Charity Federation Congregations. Sponsored by NACAR, The North American Conference of Associates and Religious, and hosted by Iona College and the Congregation of Christian Brothers, this conference occurs every two years.
The opening session will feature a procession of delegates from geographic areas of the United States and Canada as well as eighteen local Religious Congregations from the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut who planned the events of the weekend.
Opening speaker, Ann Carr M.D., a Maryknoll affiliate from Philadelphia will share her ministry experiences as a missionary and as a medical doctor ministering to the disenfranchised of Latin America and the United States.
Keynote speaker, Edwina Gateley, will continue the story-telling on Saturday and Sunday, sharing her experiences as founder of the Volunteer Missionary Movement and as minister to the women of the street in Chicago. Her theme will be to bring their gifts of Associates and religious to the margins of society as Jesus did.
A special welcome will be given to Spanish-speaking Associates, Religious and guests by Terrence Moran, CSsR, who coordinates Hispanic ministry for the Diocese of Paterson, NJ. At breakout sessions on Saturday afternoon, hosted by Sandy Figueroa, SC Associate and Maria Iglesias, SC, local Latina Associates and Religious will speak of their experiences of community and their involvement as Associates.
Other breakout sessions will feature Margaret Thompson, SSJ on the Gift of Art and Prayer; Suzanne Golas, CSJP on the Gift of Earth Community; John Freund C.M. on The Electronic Age: Gift of Technology; Sue Elsesser of the Ignatian Lay Volunteers on Organizing Volunteer Ministry for Mission; Colleen Kelly on The Gift of Peaceful Tomorrows; Grace Ann Troisi, SC on Leadership to Develop Leadership in Others and Gail De Maria, CSJP on Issues for Associates When Congregations Merge.
Pentecost Liturgy will be celebrated by the Congregation, with John Freund, CM presiding and Kathleen Deignan, CND leading liturgical worship with Schola Ministries. Following Pentecost Liturgy, the Conference Dinner will feature Zeni Fox, Ph.D., well-known teacher of lay ministry, speaker and author, who will speak on Believing in the Gift of Writing. Co-Chairs for this weekend are Betty Begley, Maryknoll Affiliate and Bernadette Dougherty, SSJ.
The North American Conference of Associates and Religious was founded in 1996 to assist Religious Congregations in the development of Lay Associate relationships with Religious. Since its founding, NACAR has built a network of support for Associate leaders.
It conducts workshops for Religious Congregations and Intercongregational groups on Associate issues, publishes a magazine, The Associate, which has become a voice for the movement. NACAR also conducts research on the Associate movement. Individual and Congregational memberships support the work of NACAR along with grants from Religious Congregations.
In a recently published Study conducted with CARA, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, the number of Associates in the United States was counted at 27,400.
For more information on this study, on NACAR memberships and subscriptions to The Associate, contact NACAR Executive Director, Ellen O’Connell SC at eocsc@aol.com or at our website: http://www.catholic-church.org/nacar .
Registration for the May 28 to 30th Conference is now closed.
