HADDONFIELD – Calling the day “worth it for your spiritual life, worth it for your growth as a man in Christ, and worth it for your families, friends and coworkers,” Bishop Dennis Sullivan welcomed around 425 men to the annual ManUp South Jersey Spirituality Conference Nov. 12 at Paul VI High School.
After a recitation of Psalm 23 – “To me you give the wild-ox’s strength; you anoint me with the purest oil” – Bishop Sullivan said, “We need the strength of an ox, the anointing of oil, to touch our lives [and help us know God’s mercy], which can straighten us out, can widen our hearts, can help us accept others, can spiritually remake us and can restore us as sons of God.”
PHOTO GALLERY: 2022 ManUp South Jersey
Bishop Sullivan’s exhortations were just the beginning of the all-day retreat, which brought together fathers and sons, brothers, cousins, friends and a handful of youth. They gathered in the school auditorium to hear well-known Catholic clergy and speakers discuss the day’s theme – “Bring Christ to the World”; there were also opportunities for fellowship, prayer, music, Adoration and Confession. Translation devices were available for the Spanish-speaking community.
“It was a good day to see other men of faith … on the same journey,” said Spencer Parcells of the Church of the Incarnation in Mantua. He attended with his son, Thomas, 12.
“We talk a lot in our family about what it means to be a man of faith in this day and age – how it comes to be, and what it looks like against the world. I’m trying to keep [my children] on the right path,” he said, explaining why it was important for him to bring his son to the event.
‘Be a Saint’
The speakers for the day were all notable names: Father Larry Richards, founder of The Reason For Our Hope Foundation; Dr. Hosffman Ospino, Catholic author, researcher and associate professor of Hispanic ministry and religious education at Boston College; Ed Wade, former general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, and Dr. Thomas D. Jones, a veteran U.S. astronaut, pilot, scientist and author.
In his talk, Father Richards called sainthood “the call of the Gospel,” which happens when “[we fulfill] our whole purpose in life: to know God’s will, to learn God’s will, to live God’s will.”
With this deepening relationship, and knowing that God “lives inside of us,” men can confidently “bring him into any situation and transform it; we are sent by him to lay down our lives and redeem the world with Christ.”
Father Richards urged the men to embrace their Christian identity and mission. “Knowing that you’re loved by the father, you can do anything, because you know who you are. Stop doing it your way, and start doing it God’s way. If God isn’t the Lord of everything [in your life], he’s the Lord of nothing in your life.”
“Show people Jesus,” he continued. As an example, he challenged the crowd to write frequent letters to their loved ones.
He also shared a personal story of telling his father for the first time that he loved him, only on the older man’s deathbed.
“I spent my whole life judging him, instead of loving him,” Father Richards said.
‘God’s Shining Light’
“God’s been with me on my adventures in orbit; I couldn’t have succeeded without his help,” said Dr. Jones, a veteran NASA astronaut who spoke on “Bringing Christ to the Universe: An Astronaut’s Faith Journey.”
Utilizing images of spacecraft and the cosmos from a career that included 52-plus days in space, he shared memories of his most moving day above the planet, on the Space Shuttle Endeavour. A fellow astronaut was a eucharistic minister who had brought the Eucharist aboard.
“In the darkness of the cockpit, we shared the Blessed Sacrament. With Jesus in our hearts, we thanked him for this mission,” Dr. Jones recalled.
An emotional Jones then looked out the shuttle window to see the sun appear and shine on Earth’s oceans below.
“That’s the blue of the Virgin’s veil,” Jones recalled telling his fellow astronauts about the waters.
Where Dr. Jones’ story entailed a literal world-view experience, Wade shared how God’s light can shine down on someone from a small town. He explained “how a kid from Carbondale, Pa., ended up on a path where family members, casual acquaintances, friends and total strangers were used by God to illuminate my 41-year baseball career path and a tremendously blessed personal journey.”
Using humor to trace the arc of his life from a young sportswriter to baseball executive and now to “limo service, Lego master, and potty custodian” to three grandchildren, Wade hoped to “be a beacon for others to achieve what God has intended for them,” and help men to “assess the mile markers in your life and see if you can spot God’s shining light.”
Church Architects
Urging the men to consider their roles in the Catholic Church, Dr. Ospino reminded those gathered that “we build the Church in different ways.”
The creation of the Catholic Church up can take many different forms, he said, such as being “an architect; welcoming refugees and people in need in our community; being a catechist and forming the faith in families, or being a faith presence in our own families.”
“We need men like you to construct the Church of the future,” he said.
Among those men was Jeff Hill, from Gibbstown’s Saint Clare of Assisi Parish. A recent convert to the Catholic faith, he called ManUp “a good opportunity for me to learn more.”
Omar Bravo of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish, Millville, agreed. “This conference helped me to grow and encouraged me to keep learning in my faith.” He said it was satisfying to know that “there are people out there like you with the same beliefs; God has a strong army of people with him.”
Anthony Cioe, ManUp executive director and one of the day’s emcees, said he was pleased with the day and the feedback he had already received. For a few hours, men were able to leave life’s cares behind “and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to them,” he said, confident that the attendees “felt the presence of the Lord.”
Also part of the day: Members of the ManUp committee presented Bishop Sullivan with a plaque and $1,000 check in recognition of his “leadership, wisdom and vision” that opened the path for the creation of the men’s spirituality conference.
“You have brought the words of Christ to every corner of our Diocese. We thank you for your passion in sharing the Good News and your devotion to your ministry,” the committee said.
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