Diocese teaming up with the Midwest Catholic Family Conference this summer for a Eucharistic Congress

Catholic apologist and author Tim Staples has been a frequent speaker at the Midwest Catholic Family Conference. Recent health problems have limited his ability to travel. This year’s conference will be held Aug. 5-7. (Advance file photo)

The Diocese of Wichita is teaming up with the Midwest Catholic Family Conference this summer for a Eucharist-centered weekend Aug. 5-7.

Jake Samour, director of the Office of Marriage and Family, said a committee assisting Bishop Carl A. Kemme with Year of the Eucharist plans thought joining the conference – which is always Eucharist-centered – was a good fit.
“We contacted the leadership and they thought we could we could do something amazing for the Year of the Eucharist,” he said.

This year’s conference will incorporate a Eucharistic Congress, Samour said.

A Eucharistic Congress is a gathering of church officials and the laity to celebrate and glorify the Holy Eucharist and explore means to spread knowledge about the Eucharist throughout the world.
Mass on Saturday and Sunday and a Saturday evening Eucharistic Procession are already a part of the annual Midwest Catholic Family Conference, he said.

“This will amplify what they do,” he said. “All of the talks in the conference are going to be Eucharist-centered. Whether it’s about devotion, the meaning of the liturgy, or what we celebrate at Mass; whether it’s catechetical, devotional, or liturgical, it’s going to be centered on celebrating this Year of the Eucharist.”

The bishop is encouraging all of the priests of the diocese and all of the faithful to take part in the conference and congress, Samour said.

Those associated with the conference are excited about teaming up with the diocese.

“We saw this as an opportunity to reach many more in our diocese that we haven’t before,” said Kathleen Timmermeyer, co-director of the Midwest Catholic Family Conference. “We have found that many in our diocese may have heard of the conference but have never attended and this would provide an occasion for them to experience what the Midwest Catholic Family Conference is all about. It is often said it is because of the good priests we have in our diocese that the faithful are being spiritually fed in their parishes.”