Amid preparations for a new school year, 1,400 educators in the Diocese of Columbus paused to gather for the first diocesan Catholic Schools Evangelization Conference on Aug. 21.
The event, with the theme “Hope is Here,” was an opportunity for rest and spiritual rejuvenation for teachers and principals of the diocese’s 39 Catholic elementary and 11 Catholic high schools.
“It is truly a day for prayer,” Dr. Adam Dufault, diocesan school superintendent, said in his opening remarks.
He encouraged educators to turn off cellphones and set aside to-do lists.
“I invite you today to give yourself the gift of presence.”
The evangelization conference, held at Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School, was the first time since 2019 that all diocesan educators met together, Dufault said, and the gathering had been “in the works” for two years.
An evangelization plan for the diocese first took shape under Bishop Robert Brennan. The plan included a model of evangelization for diocesan parishes and schools. The Catholic Schools evangelization conference was the “kickoff event” for the effort in schools, Dufault said.
“Evangelization always starts with an encounter, and we’ve said, years ago, we want to have some kind of encounter event for teachers, so that we bring them all together in one place, and they’re all shaped and inspired by the same thing.”
The diocese partnered with Franciscan University of Steubenville and organized a team to plan the conference.
“Ultimately, the message for our teachers is that we love them, and we’re grateful to them for everything that they do, so much so that we want to make sure they’re taken care of.
“If our teachers are tasked with forming our students in their faith, we need to take care of them, as well, and set that example for them.”
The conference began with praying the Liturgy of the Hours. Live praise and worship music was provided by Damascus Worship from Damascus Catholic Mission Campus in Centerburg, Ohio.
There was also the celebration of Mass, a Eucharistic Holy Hour and an opportunity to receive the sacrament of reconciliation.
Katie Prejean McGrady, a speaker, award-winning author and columnist from Lake Charles, Louisiana, served as conference emcee. She hosts three podcasts and The Katie McGrady Show radio program on The Catholic Channel.
McGrady said the “Hope is Here” conference was a day for educators to “hit the reset button” and invest in their spiritual life.
Father David Pivonka, a member of the Franciscan Third Order Regular (TOR) and president of Franciscan University, offered a keynote address titled “Hope in Him.”
He was ordained a priest in 1996 and has served as university president since 2019. Father Pivonka has written seven books and hosted video series for TOR’s evangelistic outreach.
He recalled St. Paul’s words on hope in his Letter to the Romans. St. Paul wrote that “affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint.” (Romans 5:3-5)
Father Pivonka noted that it is “interesting” St. Paul began by writing about affliction. He said people often focus on the cross, on their suffering and think they suffer because Jesus suffered, but it is the “other way around,” and “Jesus suffered because we suffer.”
Father Pivonka also reflected on St. Paul’s message that hope is tested amid affliction, and it does not disappoint.
“Either Paul was wrong, or we don’t understand what hope is,” he said.
Father Pivonka encouraged the audience to ask themselves, “Why doesn’t hope disappoint?” He said the answer is, “Because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts.” (Romans 5:5)
“I suppose some of you are thinking, ‘That’s it?’”
Father Pivonka said people have grown cold to hearing “God loves you,” but if they truly understood the love of God, nothing else matters.
He said it is common to hope for a cure to sickness, and he referred to his mother, who has suffered from multiple sclerosis for years. He said he can want or wish that her disease be cured, but he cannot put his hope in it.
Rather, Father Pivonka said, it is necessary to put hope into that which will not disappoint and is guaranteed – the love of God.
He reminded the audience that Jesus appeared to the Apostles and first disciples and said, “Peace be with you.”
Amid disappointment, sin, brokenness and affliction, Father Pivonka said, hope does not disappoint.
“In the midst of the struggle you’re experiencing, Jesus enters, and He says, ‘Peace be with you.’”
In a recorded video played at the conference, Bishop Earl Fernandes offered encouragement and consolation to the conference attendees.
He reminded educators that, just as Jesus accompanied His disciples on their journey to Emmaus, Jesus accompanies each of them on their journey, too.
“Even in our darkest moments, He is with us – our true hope,” the bishop said.
He encouraged educators to walk with Christ and bring that same hope to their students.
During his homily at Mass, Father Pivonka recounted the Gospel story of the young man who asked Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life. (Matthew 19:16-22)
The man’s question could be the most “important question asked in history,” he said.
The young man was the asking the question for himself, what he must give up to inherit eternal life, Father Pivonka said, and it is different for each person.
For some, Father Pivonka said, it is fear – fear of what might happen to a friendship or a relationship by choosing to follow Christ. For others, he said, it is their past, a feeling that they could never follow Jesus because of what they have done.
Father Pivonka asked each educator to determine what separates them from Jesus and surrender it. He said each person must answer the question for himself.
“The invitation is to surrender whatever it is that keeps you from Jesus,” he said.
In the afternoon, McGrady offered a keynote address, “He is Enough, and So am I.”
“The most important thing you can do as a Catholic educator is to know the heart of Jesus and share that with your students,” she said.
McGrady asked the educators to consider the impact on students if educators contemplated the mystery of God’s perfect love.
Every person wants to be seen, known and loved, she said, but many convince themselves that God loves them only “because, or when, or if.” Rather, “God loves me for who I am,” McGrady said.
She encouraged the educators to see each student as a beloved child of God, noting that Catholic schools are “where students are able to encounter the love of Jesus in a profound way.”
McGrady encouraged educators to bring their worries and concerns to Jesus and ask Him for a spirit of gratitude. She recalled one of her high school teachers, a deacon, who, she said, took time to see, know and love her for who she was.
“That was a man who loved Jesus so much that it changed our town, our school, our life,” she said.
Going forward, Dufault said, the next steps in evangelization will happen at the school level.
He said the plan is for each diocesan Catholic school to be “a place where people are teaching and living their faith together and (schools) that are faith communities.”
Dufault said he hopes that the conference inspires a culture of prayer and shared ministry in each diocesan school, and he looks forward to seeing the impact from the conference.
“Wherever those seeds fall, they were planted, … and we’ll see what takes root, what grows in each of our schools.
“We needed to be reinspired. We needed to be reinvigorated. We needed to be reminded of why we do what we do and have that hope to carry us forward.”