Evangelizing the Heartland
Mark S. Roberti, Director of Stewardship
Heartland Parishes of Ellis County

The mission of the Church is to evangelize. The very soul of the Church is oriented toward this purpose. Stewardship’s role is directed toward assisting in evangelization. Evangelizing is meant to fill our pews and force us to grow the household of God. Pews filled with stewards will allow the Church to do just that.

Please read this personal invitation closely and completely.  We invite all of our brother and sister parishioners in the Salina Diocese to join us for our second annual stewardship and evangelization conference which will be held at the newly renovated auditorium at Thomas More Prep-Marian High School on Saturday, October 8, 2005 from 9:00 A.M. to 3:45 P.M.  Sunday Mass will follow in the chapel at 4:00 P.M.

First, let me tell you that last year’s conference was spiritually invigorating. We were filled to near capacity. More importantly those who attended, from all parts of the diocese left more excited about their faith, more excited about evangelizing, and more excited about stewardship.

Our sessions are structured such that the morning sessions will cover stewardship topics and the afternoon sessions evangelization. The subject material and speakers will, again, be exceptional. Stewardship’s in the morning because we want our priests of the Salina Diocese to see those presentations before having to return to their parishes for Saturday evening Mass. The afternoon evangelization session is meant to excite – and ignite – our laity!

Bishop Coakley will start us off with a brief reflection on stewardship and evangelization. He will be followed by our keynote speaker, Fr. John Lanzrath, who is the director of the Spiritual Life Center for the Diocese of Wichita. His talk is titled the Four Pillars of Stewardship and is just excellent. He will be followed by Dan Loughman, the Director of Stewardship for the Diocese of Wichita. Dan will explain how to effectively implement a stewardship effort in your parish.  Both of these speakers are very much sought after at national and regional stewardship conferences throughout the country. It just so happens that Bishop Coakley was also from the Diocese of Wichita.  So, we have a little pull! 

After lunch, Fr. Dana Clark from Sacred Heart Parish, Colby, will speak about Divine Mercy and the Eucharist. As you probably know, Sr. Faustina Kowalska, the Apostle of Divine Mercy, was the first saint canonized in the Third Millennium. Not only is her message mystically linked to Jesus, the Eucharist, and Mary, she is likewise mystically linked to Pope John Paul II and several other spiritual greats of this century.   There was a certain convergence to their paths.

Divine Mercy is a message of God’s incredible love for us. We need to hear, understand, and continuously meditate this message of love.

Michael and Kathy Volker from St. Nicholas of Myra Parish, Hays, will follow with a personal witness of how stewardship has strengthened them and their family on their faith journey. What I so like about the Volker’s journey is that, for the most part, it is "every person’s journey." There was no thunderbolt from the blue. They were challenged by their parish pastoral administrator at the time, a woman religious. They accepted the challenge and began to walk the walk. They’ve been walking that walk – step by step -- for more than ten years now. And they are the first to say, they are still on the journey. It’s a truly wonderful witness.

Our final speaker is Fr. Fred Gatschet, who is the Campus Chaplain at the Comeau Catholic Campus Center of Fort Hays State University. This man is a great, great teacher. I asked him to speak on the subject of birth control. I did so for two reasons. First, in a recent monthly mail out to our priests, administrators, and educators of the dioceses, the bishop included a little booklet encouraging that birth control be discussed more openly. Secondly, we can’t really understand where we have been over the last forty years -- or where we are going -- without fully addressing the birth control issue.   It has crippled us as a Church. Discussing its impact on families, society, and the Church will help us heal.

The Heartland Parishes Stewardship & Evangelization Conference will close with a Mass at the Thomas More Prep-Marian High School at 4:00 P.M., celebrated by Fr. Kevin Weber. Fr. Kevin very much believes in both stewardship and evangelization. We will thus integrate the Stewardship & Evangelization message into the Mass... exactly where it belongs, exactly from where if flows.

There’s a money back guarantee to this conference. If, after attending, you don’t think it was superb, we’ll give you your money back. Put other things aside for this conference. Make a commitment to be present. Contact me at 785-625-7356 or stjstewardship@eaglecom.net for a registration form of for more information.

The purpose of this conference is to excite parishioners of the Salina Diocese, to set us on fire, to help make the mission of the Church a reality.