Story by Leigh Calfee
(SNR) - The Catholic Engaged Encounter (EE) national conference was held July 27-29 in Omaha, with attendees from both the United States and abroad.
The conference was the culmination of a two-year planning process, and it provided couples leading Engaged Encounter weekends an opportunity to strengthen their own marriages and refresh their faith.
Father Benjamin Holdren, pastor of St. Peter in Bellwood, helped with adoration and the Eucharistic procession at the conference. He also facilitated a breakout session on growing in holiness through the pre-marriage process.
Formerly assistant pastor at the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center in Lincoln, Father Holdren has helped many engaged couples prepare for the sacrament of marriage. Every couple he worked with at the Newman Center participated in an Engaged Encounter retreat, where they got a chance to focus on their relationship with God and each other.
Father Holdren enjoyed the recent EE conference, saying, “It was just a roomful of people committed to the Engaged Encounter movement, recognizing that everything good, beautiful and true flows from the heart of Jesus.”
Jude Werner, director of development for the Newman Center, and his wife, Stephanie, were part of the planning committee for the EE conference. Werner said he was pleased to see people from the Diocese of Lincoln, the Archdiocese of Omaha and other areas of the country collaborate to host a retreat specifically geared toward those couples who normally spend their weekends as Engaged Encounter presenters.
“It was a chance for these couples to have their own marriage retreat to strengthen their marriages,” he said.
He also praised conference presenters for equipping EE leaders to reach out to a different generation of engaged couples. Topics discussed at the conference included incorporating technology into the EE process, pornography and its implications, and ministering to engaged couples when only one person is Catholic.
Father Ryan Kaup, of St. Cecilia Parish in Hastings, hosted a breakout session for Spanish-speaking participants on developing and sharing personal testimony.
“The goal is to include more Spanish-speaking couples in the diocese in the Engaged Encounter process.” he said. “Now more than ever, helping to build strong families is important, and Engaged Encounter is a big part of that.”
The Engaged Encounter conference also provided an opportunity for EE leaders to share ideas with others who lead EE weekends. Maeg Meyers and her husband, Kelby, who serve as coordinators for the Lincoln Catholic Engaged Encounter community, said conference participants were excited to be well equipped in order to equip others.
“It was beautiful to see the growth and openness to new ideas,” she said. “It was so neat to see our diocese come together to push each other to do better. The conference confirmed we’re doing things well.”
With inspiring keynote speakers; 13 breakout session leaders; amazing musicians; Eucharistic adoration; and mass with Bishop James Conley, Archbishop George Lucas and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky., the two-year planning process was well worth it. The conference provided a time of learning, refreshing and spiritual renewal for those couples who work so diligently to help others prepare for the sacrament of marriage.
Meyers considered the conference a great success.
“It gave participants a renewed enthusiasm for Engaged Encounter,” she said. “We gained a bigger, global, universal perspective on the Catholic faith, and there is a renewed excitement for sharing the Gospel.”
