2011 Conference Talks are now available on CD and MP3.

What: This year’s conference theme is “Right and Freedom: Catholic Considerations on Misused Concepts”

Where: Saint Benedict Center, 95 Fay Martin Road, Richmond, New Hampshire, 03470.

When: Friday and Saturday, October 7 and 8, 2011. Both will be full conference days, same as last year.

How Much: $125 per person for both days before August 31, $80 without. $150 after that with meals, $90 without. Single days with meals are $65, without meals, $45. No early bird discount for single days.

Who: Mr. Gary Potter, Dr. Robert Hickson, Mr. Charles Coulombe, Dr. G.C. Dilsaver, Mr. C. Joseph Doyle, Sr. Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M., Br. André Marie, M.I.C.M., and Mr. Brian Kelly.

There is a limited number of Saint Benedict Center community members who are willing to host conference attendees on a first-come, first-serve basis. There are hotels in the Keene vicinity, but reservations should be made early because of tourism during the foliage season. Some area hotels include: Best Western Hotel & Suites (603) 357-3038; Holiday Inn Express Keene (603) 352-7616; Days Inn (603) 352-9780; and Super 8 Keene (603) 352-9780.

Register now — early bird discount until August 31, 2011!

To register online click here or call (603) 239-6485 for more information.

Friday, October 7

7:00 Holy Rosary
7:30 Holy Mass
8:45 Breakfast
9:30 Registration Opens
10:00 Brother André Marie’s Opening Remarks
10:30 Dr. Robert Hickson — “Helping the Truth Along A Little: Some Nuanced Catholic Understandings of ‘Right’ and ‘Freedom’”
12:00 Angelus / Lunch
1:30 Brother André Marie, M.I.C.M. — “Freemen Established Under Grace”
3:00 Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. — “‘Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide’: Was Jiminy Cricket Right?”
4:30 Gary Potter — “Democracy and the Illusion of Freedom”
6:00 Dinner

Saturday, October 8

7:00 Holy Rosary
7:30 Holy Mass
8:45 Breakfast
10:00 Dr. G.C. Dilsaver — “Rights & Wrongs: Ecclesiastically, Socially, and Personally”
11:15 Mr. Charles Coulombe — “Kingship and Sacrament: What the Coronation Rites Tell Us”
12:30 Angelus / Lunch
2:00 Brian Kelly — “The Liberty of the Children of God”
4:00 C. J. Doyle — “Considering Two Ideas of ‘Right’: Catholic and American”
6:00 Dinner
8:00 Panel Discussion (all speakers / moderated)

Updates: The conference schedule is at the bottom of this posting. You can now register online for our conference.

What: “The Romance of Wisdom” is our theme this year.

How: This year, Friday and Saturday will both be full days. There will be eight speakers giving presentations in addition to the master of ceremonies, our Prior, Brother Andre Marie.

Who: Sr. Marie Therese, M.I.C.M., Sr. Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M., Gary Potter, Dr. Robert Hickson, Dr. William Fahey, C. Joseph Doyle, Brian Kelly, and Christine Bryan.

Where: Saint Benedict Center, 95 Fay Martin Road, Richmond, New Hampshire, 03470

When: October 8 and 9, 2010. This year, Friday and Saturday, will be full conference days.

How Much: $100 for both days (Friday and Saturday). This includes meals. Single days without meals are $40.

There is a limited number of Saint Benedict Center community members who are willing to host conference attendees on a first-come, first-serve basis. There are hotels in the Keene vicinity, but reservations should be made early because of tourism during the foliage season. Some area hotels include: Best Western Hotel & Suites (603) 357-3038; Holiday Inn Express Keene (603) 352-7616; Days Inn (603) 352-9780, and Super 8 Keene (603) 352-9780.

Call (603) 239-6485 to register or for more information.

Her have I loved, and have sought her out from my youth, and have desired
to take her for my spouse, and I became a lover of her beauty. — Wisdom 8:2

Friday, October 8

7:00 Holy Rosary
7:30 Holy Mass
8:45 Breakfast
9:30 Registration Opens
10:00 Brother André Marie’s Opening Remarks
10:30 Dr. William Fahey
12:00 Angelus / Lunch
1:30 Christine Bryan
3:00 Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M.
4:30 Gary Potter
6:00 Dinner

Saturday, October 9

7:00 Holy Rosary
7:30 Holy Mass
8:45 Breakfast
10:00 Sister Marie Thérèse, M.I.C.M.
11:15 Dr. Robert Hickson
12:30 Angelus / Lunch
2:00 Brian Kelly
4:00 C. J. Doyle
6:00 Dinner
8:00 Panel Discussion (all speakers / moderated)

Friday

11:30 am Registration Opens
12:00 pm Angelus and Brother André Marie’s Opening Remarks
12:30 Sister Marie Thérèse, M.I.C.M.: “On the Origin of Cultural Integration”
2:15 Brian Kelly: “The Royal Priesthood of the Laity”
4:00 Gary Potter: “Getting Culture”
6:00 Dinner
8:00 Holy Rosary

Saturday

7:00 am Holy Rosary
7:30 Holy Mass
8:45 Breakfast
10:00 Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M.: “Towards Deeper Understanding of the Powers of Life as they Transcend the Material: Arguing Wisdom and Transmitting Culture”
11:15 Jack McManus: “The Place of Sound Money in an Integral Catholic Culture”
12:30 pm Angelus / Lunch
2:00 Robert Hickson: “What Is It, Then, To Be a Priest? – Some Examples from the Culture of Catholic Literature and Their Effects”
4:00 C. J. Doyle: “The Pope, the Liturgy, and the Anglicans”
6:00 Dinner
8:00 Panel Discussion (all speakers / moderated)

On Sunday, November 1 (All Saints Day), in the place of the regular brunch/lecture, we will have our All-Saint’s Day party, with children dressing up as saints to stump our “expert panel” (some of the brothers and sisters).

The lineup of speakers for our 2009 Saint Benedict Center Conference is now complete. Our speakers will be Sister Marie Therese, Sister Maria Philomena, Doctor Robert Hickson, Mister Gary Potter, Mister John McManus, Mister C. Joseph Doyle, and Mister Brian Kelly. Your humble servant — not listed on the roster — will be the master of ceremonies, so my comments will be spread throughout the two days.

The theme our speakers will be addressing is “Toward an Integral Catholic Culture: Variations on a Theme of Father Feeney.” Having a bit of a musical background, the phrase, “variations on a theme,” is something that came natural, especially considering the fact that all of this year’s speakers are men and women who explicitly consider themselves disciples (directly or indirectly) of Father Feeney. The “theme” upon which they will be improvising “variations” (i.e., their own insights) is summarized by Gary Potter on page 63 of After the Boston Heresy Case. Read the rest of this entry »

Plans are in the works for a Summer Catholic America Tour (CAT) to Wisconsin and Illinois. The trip is scheduled for July 24 to August 10.

If you reside in either of these states and would like to find out how you can organize a talk, please e-mail Mr. Russell LaPlume or call him at the Center: 603-239-6485. (What is the Catholic America Tour?)

The information currently available on our annual conference is as follows…

The dates are October 30-31. This is a Friday and Saturday.

The location is at Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire.

The speakers are to be announced.

The price is to be announced. (But it will be less than last year’s.)

Hotels: There is a block of rooms reserved at the Super 8 Motel in Keene. For our conference goers, they are available for the special price of $75.59 a night. Please call 603-352-9780 (not their toll-free number) to reserve your rooms at that special price. Tell them you are with the Saint Benedict Center conference to get the special pricing.

Other hotels in the area include the Best Western (603-357-3617), and the Holiday Inn (603-352-7616).

For those on a budget, there will be some rooms available at the Center, as well as the hospitality of some of the layfolk in our Richmond community. For availability, please call Russell at our offices after May 15 (603-239-6485 or rlp@catholicism.org).

Below is the list of talks for the California and Arizona CAT trip (May 8-26). Note: We are listing all the talks in this single posting, rather than in separate postings. For this reason, there will be periodic updates as new information becomes available.

To find out how you can organize a talk, please e-mail Mr. Russell LaPlume or call him at the Center: 603-239-6485. (What is the Catholic America Tour?)

May 11: Duarte, CA

Catholic Treasures
1823 Business Ctr. Dr.
Duarte , CA

Time: 7:00 PM

Contact: Phyllis at 626-359-4893

May 13: Sacramento, CA

Marriott Courtyard, Sacramento Midtown
4422 Y Street
Sacramento, CA

Time: 6:00 PM

Contact: Ed at 530-666-3593

May 16:  Phoenix, Arizona

Irish Cultural Center
1106 No. Central Ave.
Phoenix,  AZ

Time: 4:00 PM

Contact: Glenn at 623-221-8817

May 18: Lakeside, CA

Community Center
9841 Vine St.
Lakeside, CA

Time: 5:00 PM

Contact: Curtis at 760-451-1726

May 20: Redding, CA

Private Home
1422 Willis Street
Redding, CA

Time: 7:00 PM

Contact: James at 530-238-2021

May 23: Brentwood, CA

Private Home
943 Oxford Lane
Brentwood, CA

Time: 2:00 PM

Contact: Suzanne at 925-308-7926

May 24: Vacaville, CA

St. Mary’s Church
350 Stinson Ave.
Vacaville, CA 95688-2619

Time: After the 4:00 PM Mass

Contact: Father Talcott at 707-963-2231

More talks may soon be posted. Please bear in mind: We are listing all the May talks in this single posting, rather than in separate postings. For this reason, there will be periodic updates as new information becomes available.

This year’s conference — a two day event — will be Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10. [UPDATE: The conference will be October 30-31.] This is Columbus Day weekend. We’ve moved our annual gathering to the Fall, when New England puts on its best colors. Another change is in location: The Conference will be hosted entirely at Saint Benedict Center, in Richmond New Hampshire.

Further details on speakers, cost, etc., are forthcoming. Mark your calendars now!

 Here is a reminder of our last talk in the current Catholic America Tour

This CAT talk will be at the Riverdale Senior Community Center, 57 Loy Avenue, in Riverdale. The talk will begin at 7:30 PM. For directions, see the Riverdale, New Jersey web site. For further information, contact Mr. William Budesheim, the event’s organizer, at 201-400-5000.

The talk is on a Wednesday, in special honor of Saint Joseph, patron and protector of the Universal Church, who is honored on Wednesdays.

Tags: February-March 2009 CAT

Join us Tuesday, March 10 at 7:00 PM at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family to meet Brother André Marie, M.I.C.M. as he gives his talk entitled:

Toward a Catholic America: History, Goals, and Methods.

This is a program meant to inform, motivate, and equip Catholics to be better laborers in the project of converting our Republic to the one true Faith. It is a wonderful opportunity to spend time with your fellow Catholics. In addition to hearing the presentation, you can browse books and audio products. As part of the event, Brother André Marie will also field questions pertinent to his apostolate, or various topics of a Catholic interest.

We welcome all to attend.

The talk will be at the

Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family
4250 Harewood Road Northeast
Washington D.C. 20017

Go to the Holy Family Shrine web site to see a map.

Upon arriving, please seek out Joe Chabot in the Social Room. For more information, contact Joe Chabot at 301-908-7615.