The Second Annual Men of Christ Conference will take place on Saturday, Oct. 29, at St. Maria Goretti Parish, 5313 Flad Ave., Madison.
It will feature Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison, “Dynamic Deacon” Harold Burke-Sivers, lay speaker Tim Francis, and — if the first Men of Christ Conference was any indication — an astonishingly large crowd of local Catholic men. (Over 500 attended last year!)
Cue from Eucharistic Revival
Taking its cue from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ inauguration of a three-year campaign of Eucharistic Revival, the conference will focus on the true Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament.
The day begins with Mass, followed by the lineup of speakers, opportunities for Confession, and more.
I fully expect this year’s event to be a continuation of what I saw — and was very moved by at last year’s conference — a huge, enthusiastic crowd of men getting geared up to “stand up for Jesus” in all their various walks of life.
I use that phrase because the lyrics of the all-American hymn “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” match the attitude and motivation behind Madison’s Men of Christ: “Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross! Lift high His royal banner, He must not suffer loss!”
Written by Presbyterian minister George Duffield not long before the Civil War, the hymn represents its author’s conviction that Christian men ought to bring our Lord with them into public affairs.
More pointedly, Duffield was an abolitionist and wrote the hymn with his enslaved fellowmen in mind. For Duffield, the great evils and social maladies of his time were every bit the business of Christian men, because they were the business of the Lord whom Christian men are obliged to serve.
A few short years ago, the Catholic Church in America was rocked by a poll that found some 70 percent of self-professed Catholics did not believe in Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist.
More recently, faithful Catholics have found the Eucharist — in a way the most intimate and cherished aspect of their devotional lives — dragged more and more into the public square whether they liked it or not.
Public figures who profess to be Catholic but have dedicated themselves to promoting evils such as abortion have stirred up a national controversy by publicly claiming a “right” to present themselves for Communion without repenting, despite the Church’s firm teachings to the contrary.
And in 2021, dozens of Catholic political figures wrote a confrontational letter to America’s bishops, warning them to keep the Church’s teachings to themselves. Significantly, the two teachings these politicians simultaneously confronted the bishops about were those pertaining to the Holy Eucharist and the sanctity of human life in the womb.
George Duffield saw in slavery not only an injustice but a direct offense against Jesus Christ, Who insisted on associating Himself with “the least of these brethren” and commanded His followers to treat such people as if they were Himself.
Many Catholic leaders have pointed out that the least of our brethren today are, among others, the preborn. In fact, Deacon Burke-Sivers, slated to speak at the upcoming conference, has noted a “great parallel” between the plight of American slaves in the antebellum era and American children in the womb today.
The two groups share in common the same lack of legal status, the same court-upheld deprivation of human rights, and — perhaps most disturbing of all — the same place in society as human beings whom it is socially acceptable even among many Christians to hold in contempt. And not only the unborn, but a growing number of others who live under grave threat, from the would-be victims of elite-backed wars to children targeted for sexual experimentation.
“We are the abolitionists,” Deacon Burke-Sivers said.
And abolitionists, they are — these “soldiers of the Cross” who will gather at the upcoming Men of Christ Conference.
Last year’s conference was not a pro-life rally, and its speakers — including returning speaker Bishop Hying — focused on many more issues than abortion. The same is likely to apply to this year’s conference. And, in a way, that’s just the point.
Christ’s love demands an answer
The organizers of the Men of Christ Conference have hit on the same great insight that George Duffield discovered a century-and-a-half earlier, that Christ’s great love for us demands an answer and that our answer must include returning that love to the people. He showed so much special affection for all of those most ravaged by injustice and most neglected and ignored by polite society.
After all, true “religion, clean and undefiled before God and the Father,” Scripture tells us, “is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one’s self unspotted from this world.”
Duffield wrote the all-American hymn. He did not, however, have the full truth that America’s bishops have asked Catholics to revive during our own dark chapter of history: the truth of Our Lord’s incredible gift of Himself in the Eucharist.
St. John Chrysostom preached as early as the 300s: “How many of you say: I should like to see His face, His garments, His shoes. You do see Him, you touch Him, you eat Him. He gives Himself to you, not only that you may see Him, but also to be your food and nourishment.”
Chrysostom is also purported to have said that the Eucharist is “a fire that inflames us, that, like lions breathing fire, we may retire from the altar being made terrible to the devil.”
So following the leadership of America’s bishops, those who attend the Men of Christ Conference will also be acting under the inspiration of an even fuller insight than Duffield’s. That, in serving and receiving Christ in the Eucharist, men can find all the grace they need to bring His justice and His love to the afflicted in today’s world and heal our land.
That is how Christ intended from the start to lead Catholic men.
On October 29, we pray you will join us. And in the days and years that follow, we look forward to seeing how the men who gather at St. Maria Goretti Parish this month, having banded together under His “royal banner,” lead their neighbors toward a more just and Christian future.
“From vict’ry unto vict’ry God’s army shall He lead,” goes Duffield’s hymn, “till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed.”