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).

Update: You can now register online for our conference!

Our 2010 conference will be held on October 8 and 9 at Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire.

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: Gary Potter, Dr. Robert Hickson, C. Joseph Doyle, Brian Kelly, Christine Bryan, and more… .

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

It is an annual gathering wherein informative Catholic speakers address important topics of timely and enduring interest. Daily Mass is offered in the traditional Roman Rite. Vendors carrying religious articles (books, statues, multimedia, etc.) offer their goods for sale. Past conferences have resulted in vocations, returns to a sacramental life, and other life changes. The event presents a wonderful opportunity for Catholic camaraderie.

Don’t miss it. It comes only once a year!

This year’s conference will be early. The dates for the 2008 Saint Benedict Center Conference are July 17-20. Please mark your calendars!

The theme this year is “The Light of our Faith in the Darkest of Times.”

Thursday July 17 will be our Open House at the monastery in Richmond, New Hampshire. Friday to Sunday (the 18^th-20^th) will be the main conference at the hotel in Nashua.

Details will be announced on this web site as they become known.

If you have questions about our conference, please send an email to info@SbcConference.com. Someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you prefer, give us a call at (603) 239-6485 or (toll-free) at (877) 773-1773.

Worried about the current economic situation and how much worse it may become, many families are cutting back on non-essentials. In these circumstances, some who would  ordinarily consider attending the SBC conference may decide they can’t afford it. We want to assure everyone that we are doing what we can to make it possible for all to attend by keeping our costs to the absolute minimum. Beyond that, we’d like to suggest that the truths of the Catholic Faith, including the social teaching derived from it, are  never a “luxury”. In difficult times they become more important than ever. Learning about them and how they help us live, and weighing issues of the day in their light, is what SBC conferences are about. It’s an added bonus that for the duration of the event you’re able to get together with others who see the things that matter the same way you do.

For a copy of our recently-mailed flyer, with all the pertinent conference information on it, please click here. Feel free to copy and distribute.

There was an impressive turnout for both the Thursday Open House and the Conference in Nashua — better than expected, considering the cost of traveling today. Inspiring and very informative presentations by the thirteen speakers made the sacrifice well worth it.

Here at the monastery in Richmond, Dr. Maike Hickson, Joseph Topalian, and Third Order Prefect, Brother John Marie Vianney, M.I.C.M., Tert. gave very inspiring talks on their respective topics. Mrs. Hickson, with her husband and their new born, Isabella Maria, in the audience, whetted the listeners’ appetites for good Catholic literature. Mr. Topalian provided a fascinating tour of his own eventful life, filled with adventure and challenge, in the navy during World War II, in an eastern-rite seminary, and as a Catholic Armenian in America. The Tertiary Prefect spoke about the most holy and most intimate of all “unions,” the holy “Communion” that is achieved by the Son of God and the members of His Mystical Body through the worthy reception of the Blessed Sacrament, which, the speaker stressed, ought to be our “daily Bread.” Guests were served a delicious pork roast dinner afterwards.

The line up of speakers for the three days in Nashua provided an impressive variety of expertise. Host Gary Potter challenged the theme of the Conference that these days are “the darkest of times” by highlighting days not long gone past where horrific crimes were committed against Catholics on account of their Faith. Gary’s point was that the light of Faith shines more brilliantly and the charity of the just radiates more intensely when fueled by persecution.

All of the speakers, from a variety of angles, contributed magnificently to the theme of the Conference by demonstrating, either through examples in the lives of the martyrs or through instructive knowledge concerning the incorporation of Catholic principles in family and social life, that no matter how evil the age, nothing can stop one from being a light in the darkness. The presentations, as you can see from the titles of the Conference recordings that we are offering, cover a wide range of Catholic erudition, all of which can equip us to confront more powerfully the wiles of Satan, the grand architect of today’s pervasive confusion.

Lastly, lest we imagine that evil can ever really triumph, or that suffering accepted in hope is not a means of perfect purification, Saint Paul was inspired to write these assuring words: “[W]e know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28). May the Holy Ghost sear this divine truth into our hearts.