I have had some fantastic faith experiences as a presenter whenever I have worked in the state of Wisconsin. I’ve been blessed to have been invited to speak in Madison, Green Bay and now Milwaukee. I have been so impressed with the volunteers and paid professionals who are working “for” the Church.

I had the awesome privilege of returning to Milwaukee for their lifelong faith conference. This conference had to be a huge undertaking. It was a very neat model, allowing people a wide variety of options and a great amount of choices.

I was also impressed with the staff; I don’t know all of them but I was blessed to work with Randy Nohl, Laurie Kish, Kathie Amidei, Jennifer Turner and Lisa Marie Calderone Stewart. The work that these folks and the others in the planning did was fantastic. I remember what went into planning those events and I know this was a lot of work. All involved deserve a huge thanks (and some rest!)

I did 7 sessions in the 3 days. The theme was based one of my favorite Scripture passages: the Emmaus story (Luke 24:13-35). My titles were: A Good Case of Heartburn, This Was Not in the Brochure, Can you Hear (Here) Me Now? and Receive Who You Are, Become Who You Receive.

I got to hang out with ministry colleagues, which is always an added blessing. I visited with Mike Theisen of Rochester NY (who will soon be working for the NFCYM—National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry) and Ela M. (a lovely Polish last name that I am too lazy to look up as I type) of Cultivation Ministries, as well as Laurie and Lisa Marie. Laughter and updating one another about life and ministry was good for me.

The people who came to the conference were awesome; I had some very neat informal chats with people about their work at the parish and school level.

I was so touched by the generous gifts of 2 people:

–Lynn, a youth minister with whom I’d chatted a few times gave me a stuffed Snoopy (so I could remember Pepi, my dog when on the road)

–Kathy, a Racine Dominican, who gave me a delightful book, Love Poems from God, which I have started reading.

I left Milwaukee tired and refreshed at the same time…with the Good News being that I would be HOME for a week.