Festival of Faith offers opportunities to learn, worship, grow

By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

When thousands of Catholics gather to learn, celebrate and deepen their faith for three days in February, it won’t be at a church or even a Catholic school or university.

Instead, they will take their faith into the world, as it were, convening the “Catholic Festival of Faith” at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.

The event will evangelize both believers—who are called to ongoing personal conversion—and those they meet, said Father Thomas Franzman, director of the archdiocese’s Office for Evangelization.

“We are more willing and able to share our faith with other people when we know more about it,” he said. “Evangelization is not just standing on a corner saying ‘Come to my church.’ It’s saying, ‘My life is so centered in Christ, I would like you to know what gives that intensity of joy.’”

That’s the point of the whole festival, from the keynote addresses by well-known Catholics to the workshops designed to help people minister to fellow Catholics to entertainment and liturgies meant to illuminate the heart.

The event is similar to the first Catholic Festical of Faith, held at Navy Pier in the fall of 2003. That festival—the first of its kind—was a bit larger and in a higher-profile venue, but Franzman said this year’s effort will be easier for many people to attend, with shorter walks between workshop rooms, assembly halls and the main exhibits.

About 8,000 to 10,000 people are expected to attend. Individual registration is $70 for the whole event or $35 for one day.

The speakers include Jesuit Father Ted Ross, who will speak on “Chicago Catholicism: A Conviction that Survived a Hundred Moods!” on Friday, Feb. 17. Msgr. Jim Lisante, a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., will speak Feb. 18 on “Parish Life: Called to Personal Conversion in a Parish Setting.”

Those who attend Thursday, Feb. 16’s pre-festival gathering, the Parish Best Practice Forum, will be reminded of the need to deal with issues that arise in parishes through open communication and trust in the Holy Spirit by Auxiliary Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller.

Bishop Garcia-Siller will also preach at the opening event Thuesday evening, an event Franzman expects to be a moving display of unity and faith.

The ceremony will include Catholics baptized last year at the Easter Vigil carrying water from the baptismal fonts of their parishes to pour into a single pool.

It will continue the theme started during the gathering time with the “Taste of the Archdiocese,” where various ethnic foods will be available for purchase and entertainment will be offered.

Arts and entertainment will play a large role throughout the festival, with singers, musicians and others performing throughout the three days and 21 pieces of Marian art by Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Brother Michael O’Neill McGrath on exhibit.

Friday’s special event is a dinner theater presentation of Marty Haugen’s “The Song of Mark,” a musical adaptation of St. Mark’s Gospel. Tickets were sold prior to the event.

Workshops running Friday and Saturday give participants more than 120 choices, from “Slow Change: Transformation through Personal Storytelling” with theologian and storyteller Jack Shea to “Eco-Spirituality; Reverence for Life” with BVM Sister Patricia Bombard.

Franzman himself will take on the topic of the day with “Evangelization: WWJD—What Would Jesus Do?” and Cardinal George will offer “Evangelization: Creating Something New.”

In addition, the cardinal will celebrate the closing liturgy Feb. 18, as well as hosting a conversation about the beginning of the papacy of Benedict XVI. He also will lead a youth session for teenagers on “Our Call to be Radically New.”

Franzman said he expects the youth sessions, with special gatherings and workshops on Feb. 17 and 18, to be a highlight of the conference.

“It will be a happy, clapping kind of experience,” said Franzman, noting that one of the presenters is Father Stan Fortuna, well-known in Catholic youth ministry circles for his high-energy presentations.

“The whole thing will have a wonderful atmosphere,” Franzman said. “When it comes to evangelization, it will help people to go back and do it better, with a better understanding of our own faith.”



For more information or to register, visit www.catholicfest.org or call (312) 751-8388.