Missionary Parish Conference

I was at the missionary parish conference in Breda these past few days with Canadian priest Fr. James Mallon as the keynote speaker. The first day began with Holy Mass. That was truly a celebration. After Mass there was time for meeting. I met many different people from my recent past in half an hour, as well as people I hadn't seen for more than 10 years in some cases. It was a great reunion.

During the conference, the situation of the church in the Netherlands was outlined using clear examples. There was also a lot of humor in it. I thought at the last part that fr. James Mallon was like a comedian. He is a priest, who can outline difficult problems with such light-heartedness. But it was a good mix of lightheartedness and prayer.

The first day, fr. James Mallon that he wished us sleepless nights. Well that worked out. I could barely get to sleep last night. I was still full of energy from the fantastic conference. It was truly a post-Corona party. There was nothing of COVID-19, just the joy of sharing in faith. It was kind of like World Youth Days, yet not at all. I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It was truly an enrichment of my faith.

But now, now comes the hardest part. Putting it into practice. There is so much discussed that makes your head explode. But as Fr. James Mallon said, "Eucharistic adoration in the engine room of the parish." So I will probably need hours to digest all this and put it into practice.

In any case, I got something concrete out of the conference: a new favorite.