Anesthesiologist, author and speaker Heidi Klessig, MD, will speak about changing standards in the definition of death for the purposes of procurement of organs from donors. Much has been written lately about the grisly practice of “death by organ donation”, and Dr. Klessig, author of the 2023 book The Brain Death Fallacy, will offer an illuminating review of the medical, anthropological and ethical issues involved in this increasingly common practice.

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Matthew Giambrone, publisher of the beautiful journal Hearth & Field will discuss the frantic chaos that so pervades modern life, and why Catholic anthropology holds the solution to it. This conviction inspired his curious decision to start a print periodical in an age when paper is – allegedly – dying. Mr. Giambrone’s wide ranging talk will look at patterns in culture, technology, and media and how they have distorted our understanding of ourselves. He will offer practical recommendations for reclaiming a peaceful, well-ordered perspective on life and work. As we begin to light candles, decorate Christmas trees, and prepare our homes for Christmas, this energetic yet reflective presentation will reveal how the incarnational basis of our Faith can help us prepare ourselves for Christ’s arrival while calming the chaos and helping us to savor the daily graces that God grants us. Make this luncheon a Christmas gift to yourselves and those dear to you!!

Massimo Scapin, music director at St. John Cantius Parish in Chicago, will speak about the principles that govern sacred music in light of tradition and Magisterial teaching. The restoration of sacred music at St. John Cantius has gained that parish and its reverent liturgies world-wide recognition and has drawn hundreds of new parishioners, old and young, to attend Mass in that church in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Form. These principles should be applied, at one level or another, to the music program at every Catholic church and will contribute to the edification of the culture in general.

As part of our ongoing participation in the 250th anniversary of this great nation, on 12 February 2027, Prof. Susan Hanssen of the University of Dallas will speak about the three “great awakenings” in American history. These awakenings coincide with the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and the “Second Spring” of the Catholic Faith in the English-speaking Protestant world during the Second World War and Cold War. America’s freedom of religion has enabled repeated revivals of religious and moral life, showing that freedom and religion are not opposed to each other. Christianity from the beginning has been the true seedbed of freedom.

We are all familiar with the ancient spiritual practice of lectio divina which involves reading Scripture slowly, deeply and contemplatively, allowing its Divine Author to speak to the soul in a personal and profound way. This kind of immersion in God’s word has been the consolation and sanctification of countless saints over the millennia. But God may be encountered not only through words but through images as well – the multifarious and superabundant images of the natural world – and the images created by the sacred artist whom, as John Paul II noted in his Letter to Artists, God has wished to associate with His own mystery of creation. Derek Rotty, the author of Praying with Sacred Art: Pondering the Mystery of Redemption through Visio Divina, will speak about the practice of visio divina, a way to experience sacred truth by praying with sacred images, both Western and Eastern.

Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a catechetical program specifically geared to the natural spiritual openness and desire for God of young children. Like the acclaimed method of early childhood education developed by Maria Montessori, the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, developed by Sofia Cavaletti in the 1950’s, is keenly attuned to and works with the natural developmental stages of the child. Children between the ages of 3 and 6 are particularly receptive to a personal and filial relationship with God, especially in the context of His likeness to a loving Shepherd Who loves and is willing to give His life for His beloved sheep.

Bethany Janeiro is a certified CGS instructor and will speak to us about the methods and materials of this program which has been adopted successfully by many Catholic schools and homeschoolers. The objective is gradually to develop the spiritual potential of the child and to bring the little ones to a warm and trusting relationship to our Lord and will keep them close to Him throughout their lives.