Men of Christ conference in Milwaukee March 9th

Archbishop Jerome Listecki
Archdiocese of Milwaukee
Archbishop Listecki will lead the morning Mass, and open the conference with a prayer and blessing.

Auxiliary Bishop Donald J. Hying
Auxiliary Bishop of Milwaukee
Bishop Hying will be our main celebrant for the 4:00 p.m. Mass.

Joe Lombardi
Title: The Importance of the Catholic Faith in Your Life
Joe is a dynamic speaker, professional football coach who has a family lineage steeped in Packer tradition. He will share his story, the importance of the Catholic faith, how to apply it to work, home, and family life.

Joe McClane
Title: Leave No Man Behind!
Joe is the director and events coordinator for Fullness of Truth Catholic Evangelization Ministries, as well as a Catholic New Media producer & Evangelist. He will passionately present the importance of prayer, the power of the sacraments, and how to evangelize

Steve Bollman
Title: That Man is You!
Steve is the Founder and President of Paradisus Dei, and program developer and speaker for That Man is You! His talk will include topics dealing with today’s challenges while remaining faithful to Christ and His church, and the importance of male friendship.

Bob Dolan
Master of Ceremonies
Bob Dolan has been a media professional for over three decades, and brother of Cardinal Dolan. He will guide us through the day, and provide some humorous stories of his faith journey
details at Men of Christ

To be honest I'm a little disappointed in the lineup.  Also the opening Mass used to be in the Extraordinary Form and now they turned the table on that.  But I may go just for the Joe Lombardi talk.  Joe is the grandson of legendary coach Vince Lombardi and currently quarterbacks coach for the New Orleans Saints.  The fact a man in his position is willing to spend time talking about his faith is a testament to those running Men of Christ to get him on the ticket.  Plus I love making a trip to Milwaukee every year just for Catholic stuff. 

9 comments:

Cassandra said...



>>>> opening Mass used to be in the Extraordinary Form

Well they had to accommodate +Listecki who is allergic to it, and probably doesn't know how to say it.

Anonymous said...

Who does the music? What's it like?

JoshD said...

Cassandra, why is this comment necessary? His Excellency would hardly be alone among the priests/bishops who were trained and formed in seminary (late 60's, early 70's) if he does not know how to celebrate the EF. I think we have to remember this reality when we reflect on ignorance about the EF, which for full disclosure I do love.

To my knowledge (please correct me if I'm wrong), Archbishop Listecki has not suppressed the celebration of the EF in any way at all in either Milwaukee or LaCrosse, and in fact it has grown here in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee with the addition of several priests in Kenosha who came here from Chicago at the specific request of Archbishop Listecki. There are also a couple wornderfully traditional (they celebrate the OF beautifully and reverently every week, and may also know the EF, I'm not sure) former Legionares who also came to Milwaukee who had good relationships with Listecki in Chicago.

While the Archbishop may or may not know how to celebrate the EF, I don't think the cynical comments were necessary.

Badger Catholic said...

Anon, the music is okay. That actually reminds me that I never did a post on the conference from last year. If memory serves me correct, they take a patriotic theme, so they don't actually sing any Catholic hymns or even Faith of Our Fathers which I would think would be the staple of a mens conference. Two years ago the music was bad. I did find my post on that. http://badgercatholic.blogspot.com/2011/03/men-of-christ-conference-in-milwaukee.html

They had chant interlude music last year I believe but would probably be best off to have a good Catholic music guy put something together for them.

Cassandra said...

@JoshD: I tire of your kind of retorts. Contrary to popular belief, I do not make such comments lightly, and stand behind them. Since you assume my motivation, let me return the favor and assume yours stems from unintentional false loyalty to the bishops, leading to your undue distress at criticism of bishops that are not overtly causing scandal. There’s a devastating crisis in the Church that originates in the episcopacy and can only be addressed by changes in the episcopacy. By devastating, I mean we are headed for the likes of Elizabethan England (though only imprisonment and not public drawing and quartering).

Part of the reason that such as you react negatively to comments is because there is a widespread tendency to look only at a current incident regarding a bishop, and if it is borderline, the bishop is given a pass. I look at incidents in view of the historical pattern of the particular bishop. I am beginning to feel that I need to put up an online database of bishops where people can see the whole picture of a bishop at once.

To understand +Listecki you have to realize that he is a very shrewd man and a career and company man. He is an administrator bishop, not an evangelizing bishop. I’m not saying he is unorthodox, but rather that his orthodoxy appears to derive more from his company disposition than from a fervent faith. I defend that by pointing out that a bishop with a fervent faith would necessarily be evangelistic in practice.

I can go down a lengthy list of past incidents to defend my assessment of +Listecki. He is sometimes so shrewd that I believe it occasionally has risen to the level of scandal, though not overtly so. For instance, when the State of WI was deliberating the emergency contraceptive bill and it was still in committee where it could have been squashed, I cornered +Listecki after a Mass to plead with him to oppose it. Among a number of troubling statements, he pointed out that opposing it would lead to a shellacking in the media and it was better to conserve one’s clout for other battles. This is a particularly un-Catholic response. The Church fails in her saving mission when she allows negative responses from the world to goad her into silence. Only at the 11th hour did he join Morlino in opposing it. Too late for the press to skewer him but in time for a good career move---I speculate that it helped him land the Milwaukee post afterwards.

In regard to the EF in particular, I would point out that while +Listecki once sat in choir at a Mass in Wausau (he was after all in the midst of a $50 million capital campaign and rich donors patronize St. Mary’s), he would not administer confirmation for Wausau and the ICK had to import bishops from outside the diocese. Callahan, in contrast, has administered confirmation for them in the EF form (since being able to say the Mass is not required). Furthermore, a friend of mine once gave +Listecki a check to be used for training priests in the EF which +Listecki received graciously (it was money after all). But at a later meeting when that friend thanked +Listecki for support of the EF, +Listecki drew back and said, “that’s not my doing”, effectively distancing himself from the EF.

If +Listecki is supporting the EF in Milwaukee, it is because that causes less problems for him than opposing it. I’ll even give you (and other readers) a challenge to find out for yourself. Catch +Listecki in a public Novus Ordo environment (not an EF one) like a reception line after a Mass where there are NO advocates around to hear. Kneel and kiss his ring (as one should do) to catch the attention of the NOs and proclaim loudly enough for those around to hear: “I want to thank you, your Grace, for *actively* encouraging the TLM especially since so many other bishops are reluctant to implement the Motu Proprio.” Listen carefully to his response. I think you will find it enlightening.

James K Savonarola said...

@Cassandra, I know know the disposition of his excellency as regards to what he knows nor how he feel about the different forms of the liturgy. And quite frankly we should not be scandalized by it because he wasnt trained in it and feels comfort in the ordinary form. But I do take issue with the false statement that he wont confirm in the EF, when he has done so at St. Stans as stated in the link below: http://www.institute-christ-king.org/news/178/92/Confirmations-at-St-Stanislaus-in-Milwaukee/

Cassandra said...

@Kohn, if he's confirming now, then it is something new. My statement that he would not administer in Wausau, however, remains true. I made no statement on that beyond the historical fact. You read more into it.

James K Savonarola said...

@Cassandra
I just wanted it known that in fact he has done the confirmations in the EF thats all. I dont know anything about the Wausau thing other than real change in the church comes about slowly and I for one am greatful that the archdiocese has not devolved into nothing but apostates, but im looking on the bright side of things

Unknown said...

I agree, Matt. There's nothing in the lineup that really grabs my attention either. I probably won't be there this year.