Photos from the La Crosse Men's conference

Organizers reported they made to about 400 guys attending.  Not bad for a first event.  Most were not from La Crosse but elsewhere in the diocese.  I don't get replies for information so that's as much as I know from that side.

It went pretty well.  Tom Peterson was better than advertised.  Threw in a couple of ads they are planning on showing during the college football championship game I think(the one with Lou Holtz).  Fr. Larry was Fr. Larry.  Not my cup of tea beer, but guys appeared engaged.  Mass was at the Viterbo chapel, definitely looks better than it did before the recent renovations.  So of course there are no kneelers, 'cause who does that really.  At the consecration all 399 guys, old, young, get down on their knees spontaneously without instruction.  Great work men!  Bp. Callahan talked devotion to St. Joseph and St. Michael I believe.  I missed Doug Berry until towards the end but still well attended.  Fr. Targonski, the Franciscan former Army chaplain now Viterbo chaplain was actually pretty good.  He had some good insights into PTSD of which he suffered from and the stigmata.  He was the only Catholic chaplain during the siege of Fallujah, and shared some of the darkness of war.  Unfortunately by the end it went long and scattered all over the place.

Decent attendance and well run.  Hoping it continues to grow.

I have an excessive amount of photos on Flickr, but left a bunch in case the organizers want to use to help promote for next year or if speakers want to use any.







The embed changed and might not be working, if not you can view here.


2 comments:

Jennifer said...

What't was wrong with Fr Larry? I like his boldness. Just wondering.

Badger Catholic said...

Like I said, just not my cup of tea, nothing "wrong" with him of course.

Well he's a little too sentimental for me to some extent. I think he's more geared to reach guys a bit older than me with maybe adult children - talks about writing letters to kids on why you love them, etc. I've hear this talk before, also he talks about the mortal sins of "drunkenness and smoking." Smoking is not a sin(CCC 2290) , and like I said it's not a big deal but comes across as sort of that Fundamentalist type you might also find in traditionalist circles.

That said, he's entertaining and guys were engaged, so it was good, like I said he's fine, just not my top pick.