Summer Conferences

Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, the author of Heart of the Redeemer and Swords Around the Cross: The Nine Years War, presented a talk on the essential role of the family as a Domestic Church. He explained how the fight for our culture is rooted in our understanding of the family.

“The key to the Church’s teaching on marriage and family and its role in society lies in the family’s identity as a Church in miniature: a place of prayer, a place of communion, a place where virtue is taught. If we as a Church–as laity, as married couples, as grandparents–don’t emphasize the centrality of the sacrament of marriage, who is going to do it?”

Dr. Scott Hahn, the bestselling author of numerous books, presented a talk on the uniquely-Christian understanding of God as Father, “from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named” (Eph. 3:15). He explained the connection between Divine and human fatherhood, emphasizing that true fatherhood is “more theological than biological.”

“Why are we here? To raise Godly families. But we can’t do it apart from the Trinity. Our fatherhood is a participation in God’s, but His Fatherhood alone is perfect and eternal. And this is God’s truest identity.”

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the Archbishop of San Francisco, gave a homily on the modern attack on marriage and the steps we can take to combat it, reflecting on readings from the Mass of the Holy Family.

“We profess to be Christians; our family life must look different from those who do not have faith.  And we do so precisely because we live according to this high call of virtue and mutual respect, of which Saint Paul speaks.”

Mary Stanford, a theology professor at Christendom College, reflects on four points which Adam, the first man, discovered in the Garden of Eden about the nature of the human person and God’s plan for marriage.

“Without a generous giver and trusting receiver, there can be no gift. Without gift, there can be no love. And without an environment of love, human persons start to lose their humanity. Our capacity to experience intimacy in our marriages involves restoring a gift-giving dynamic, which yields a peace and a happiness utterly beyond the devil’s imagination.”

Senator Rick Santorum gave the touching account of his daughter Bella, showing the impact that one child can have on a community and the blessings that come with being a parent.

“I hope, in communicating to you the story of my life, the journey of my marriage, and what I’ve done in raising these two children in particular, to show how they had profound effect on me and my family, and subsequently on many more as a result of that.”

Mary Beth Bonacci, an internationally recognized speaker, gave a talk on the importance of true love and the differences between how men and women express love.

“The abuse of the word ‘love’ has grown so much worse. We conflate attraction and desire with love, and now, we conflate agreement with love, and conversely, disagreement with hate. We urgently need to figure out what real love it, what it means, how we live it in our lives.”

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the Archbishop of San Fransisco, gave a talk in which he encouraged the laity to transform our culture by living out God’s plan for marriage.

“It is no surprise that, yes, we do have a lot to fix in our society.  A society of justice, peace, and prosperity for all–these are the fruits of a society with a strong culture of marriage and the family. So let us steel ourselves, with the help of God’s grace, to bear witness to the Truth, in love.”

Dr. O'Donnell discusses the importance of evangelization in the midst of adversity. He reflects on the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, and what it means to encounter Christ.

  Dr. O’Donnell is the president of Christendom College, where he also teaches courses in history and theology. He was the first layman to receive both his licentiate and doctoral degrees in Ascetical and Mystical Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. He has taught at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California and at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.

He is a Knight Grand Cross of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, and is a popular speaker worldwide, most recently being asked to speak at the Pontifical Council on the Family’s World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. Additionally, he is the author of Heart of the Redeemer and Swords Around the Cross: The Nine Years War.

Dr. Scott Hahn, the author or editor of over forty books, including best-selling works The Lamb’s Supper, Reasons to Believe, and Answering the New Atheism, spoke on the need to renew a covenant with God through encountering Christ in the New Testament. Pointing out that a “massive amnesia has soaked into our age,” Hahn argued that all Christians must restore their “deep memory” again by truly doing all things in memory of Christ.

“The fact is, you can be a saint in the middle of the world, and through friendship you can share the joy of the Gospel — and that is what people are looking for, more than any argument, more than any proof-text. Joy is what people find irresistible.”