Spring Conference

April 8, 2017

Michael Morwood in Fort Worth, TX

 

Theologian, Author, Adult Faith Educator

 

 

Theme: Jesus Through a Twenty-first Century Lens.

Context: Reflection for Holy Week and Easter.

 

 

Dear Friends,

 

All the logistics are in place for our day-long seminar with Michael Morwood . He was our guest presenter  once before, in 2012. We asked if he would come back from his home in Australia to continue our conversation. We are excited that he accepted our invitation. Let me tell you why as briefly as I can.

 

First and foremost, Michael helped us articulate our spirituality in Jesus and his message with twenty-first century science and religion references. He was interesting. Folks still speak of him. To paraphrase comments I’ve heard in the past month: “Morwood addressed questions I had been afraid to ask.” “That afternoon Q & A session was incredible, like a conversation at my kitchen table, but actually there were eighty-some people in the room!” And, “For a long while after, I didn’t know how to pray, at least not with words. I finally found my own words.”

 

My own experience with Michael began when I joined a local book club reading his benchmark work, Tomorrow’s Catholic: Understanding God and Jesus in a New Millennium . I struggled with the book more than others because I had to work past a lot of theology I had been taught in seminary. It would be more accurate to say that the group’s year-long discussion of the book helped me re-imagine my Catholic faith. My big discovery moment? A companionable Jesus, and his message intelligible as never before in my life. That’s how I began the Millennium.

 

Now, please check the link on this page to the April 8, 2017, registration information. Save the date on your calendar. Please come, and bring a friend. Adult faith formation is one of the aims of our group, Voices For Renewal (VFR) of North Texas. This is the ninth Spring Conference we have sponsored. Our intent is to bring you today’s voices in the living Catholic tradition of Vatican Council II. We invite experts in their fields that you are not likely to hear and to converse with otherwise.

 

Raymond Szempruch,  president, Voices For Renewal.