In this session we will first discuss four challenges to Christian belief and practice posed by contemporary American culture: a pervasive skepticism about any claims to universal truth; a rejection of external authority; a suspicion of comprehensive "master" narratives; and disillusionment in the face of empty promises and broken myths. Then, we will identify the responses and resources of Catholics and other Americans under 40 and the best ways to welcome them more fully into the Catholic community.

We are blessed by a rapidly growing Catholic population. However, accompanying this growth there is a significant decline in the number of priests available for parish ministry. This brings the challenge of providing a resident pastor to all parish communities. Throughout the United States there are parishes without resident pastors for whom alternative types of staffing for pastoral leadership encourage the parish to continue to be a vital community of faith and ministry.

"Humans are integrated into networks, networks that reveal God," says Andrew Greeley. Small church communities in parish life develop these networks, networks that can also connect us with the traditions of our faith and mission in the world. This workshop will address the qualities of a small church community that empower and develop leadership for our church and our world.

The biblical ideas of justice are rooted in our relationship with God as revealed in the many-sided experiences of creation, covenant, liberation, prophecy and wisdom in the Old Testament, and the death and resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament. It is a rich and comprehensive "blueprint" for our spirituality today.

The multi-tasking youth of today enjoy a multimedia approach to faith. Come fill up your idea box with creative ways of making faith lessons come alive.

Come see how we can sing a new song that lifts us up to greater praise.

The names we have for God shape our spirituality. Most of those names are given to us in childhood. Because of those names, some of us have trouble believing in a personal, loving God. This workshop looks at discovering new ways to talk with a personal God and new ways to share that God with our children.

This workshop will outline the nature of clergy sexual abuse in the context of the abuse of children and the problems facing the Church in the United States in 2004. This session will be pastorally oriented in order to understand the questions of pedophilia, homosexuality and the Church’s response to these concerns.

Devotion to Mary remains a touchstone for many Catholics, but such devotion – or the rejection of this devotion – sometimes seems to be more an ideological position than a response of faith. Using recent work from across the spectrum, this session will have feminist women and men in mind as we explore, rethink and retrieve Marian devotion in its many dimensions.

Pope Paul VI’s apostolic exhortation on evangelization in the modern world, Evangelii Nunciandi, reminds us that the Church "exists in order to evangelize." How is our catechizing faithful to that mission? We will identify ways to see and to serve evangelization as the goal and measure of our catechetical efforts.

We live in extraordinary times: On the one hand we experience unprecedented darkness, confusion and violence, on the other hand creativity and insights abound. There is a transformation of consciousness emerging and calling us to responsible stewardship. This is the time when both authentic spirituality and religion can play a major role in supporting us in our quest for meaning. What is asked of us is courage in the wilderness and trust in the Presence that pervades what looks like chaos and meaninglessness. We will reflect on this process together.

So many people today are really struggling with moral-ethical questions about human sexuality. Issues of sexual identity and moral development are of a particular concern as homosexual and heterosexual people alike attempt to figure out what it means to be sexually responsible adult believers. This session will address homosexuality and issues related to same-sex unions. We will look at Church teachings in relation to the theological statements of other Christian communities, as the Church universal attempts to respond to this complex question.

Most Church documents over the past 50 years have restated that the family is the primary religious educator of its children. But in practice, this has been little more than rhetoric. We need to turn our thinking about catechists upside down if we are to honor, engage and support "where faith begins." This workshop will offer practical ways for how any family can be the primary catechist.

Everyone’s talking about adult education in the church today. But who are we kidding? How will we ever succeed in providing adult formation, given our heavily child-centered parish and school programs? This workshop will provide a series of alternatives for adult formation – which fit into everyday home and parish life and do not require attending "classes at church." It will help you make better use of "Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us," the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter on adult education. Everyone who attends will be given samples.

Very soon, the Church in the United States will be given a substantial yet wonderfully user-friendly new resource for the work of adult faith formation: the new "National Adult Catechism." Come for a preview of this exciting development, and get ready to make the best possible use of this new blessing in adult ministry.

In our efforts to embrace our diversity while striving for unity, best intentions have, at worse, resulted in tokenism and alienation and, at best, tolerance. In a desire to move through and beyond tokenism and tolerance, let’s discuss the questions, the "answers," and explore possible solutions for the people of God to move from stranger and guest to full fledged family members!

Knowing how early Christians’ experience and memory of Jesus came to comprise the four Gospels enhances our capacity to understand, believe, cherish and pray with the Sacred Scriptures. This workshop examines the formation of the Gospel tradition from historical events in the life of Jesus to the church’s acceptance of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the official canonical Gospels some four centuries later. It is recommended that participants bring their Bibles to this workshop.

The Book of Revelation is a hot topic among fundamentalists and televangelists. As a result, Catholic educators are frequently called upon to explain the Church’s understanding of the Book of Revelation to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. This workshop will offer clear and simple guidelines for understanding apocalyptic literature in general, and for interpreting Revelation according to solid Catholic teaching.

Are you a catechist with adults or with youth or with children – in a parish or school? Wherever you minister as a catechist, do you draw upon the catechumenate to inspire your catechizing activity? How is lifelong catechesis "enriched by those principal elements which characterize the catechumenate"? This workshop is intended to deepen an understanding of the catechumenate for anyone who ministers anywhere as a catechist.

Reconciliation – how can we help children understand the meaning and importance of Reconciliation? This presentation will move beyond the ordinary approaches to Reconciliation to an understanding of the wideness of God’s mercy and love. It will offer a foundation for younger children on which to build a moral life. For the older child it will provide challenges that encourage growth and deeper understanding of forgiveness. Our world needs peacemakers and people who carry God’s mercy to all. Let us teach our children well.

Sr. Helen Prejean is a Southern storyteller. She will share her journey of being spiritual advisor at Louisiana State Penitentiary to six death row inmates, five of whom have been executed. She will reveal how she wrote the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book "Dead Man Walking," how the movie came to be, and about the opera version. She will share details from her soon-to-be-released book about two possibly innocent men on death row, the legal system, and whether the whole justice system can be fixed.

This workshop invites participants into an experience of moving prayer and praise. Is it possible to animate our liturgical assemblies with ritual gesture that can become a fuller expression of movement and danced prayer? Come and see!

"The glory of God is the human person fully alive!" In this compelling image, St. Irenaeus, second-century bishop of Lyons, describes the goal of Christian spirituality. In this session the Whiteheads examine the contemporary significance of this ancient hope, by exploring the links between passion and spirituality, between eros and grace.

The 50 ways to remain spiritually and psychologically healthy – no matter what is going on – that are taught to professional helpers and "healers" are shared here for anyone interested in keeping perspective in today’s intense world.