By Caroline Smith
After success at its inaugural event last year, the Why Be Catholic Conference is returning to Perth in October, with visiting United States priest, Father Leo Patalinghug, set to lead discussion on how meals can bring people together and how individuals and families can learn to “feed the soul”.
Organiser and member of the Why Be Catholic Association, Dr Michael Chong, said Fr Patalinghug was an excellent choice of speaker at the event, which will be held at Balcatta Parish (St Lawrence and Mary Immaculate Church) from 20 to 22 October.
“He is a priest that is also a martial artist, break-dancer and chef,” Dr Chong said.
“His ministry, Grace Before Meals, focuses on feeding the soul through the ministry of food and to bring families together (physically and spiritually) one meal at a time.”
Dr Chong went on to say that nowadays, with the pace of life, the family meal has gone by the wayside, as has family attendance at Mass.
“We thought that Fr Leo would be the ideal speaker to speak to the people to address these and other issues from a pastoral and practical perspective,” he said.
Dr Chong said the Why Be Catholic Association was hoping to build on the success of their first conference, which was held at Bateman Parish last year.
“We organised a similar three-day event featuring Director of Apologetics and Evangelisation from Catholic Answers Live in San Diego, Tim Staples.
“Over the weekend there were over 750 participants including youths on a special Friday night rally,” he said.
“For us the greatest achievement was the ability to bring another approach to orthodox Catholic teaching to Perth. Tim is an apologist and has the unique ability to cite scripture off the top of his head, which was not only impressive but motivated many participants to be more familiar with Sacred Scripture.
“There appeared to be genuine hunger among those that attended for the truth that is the Catholic faith, and from that we learnt that we as an association have a role to play in bringing these other approaches to the people of Perth.”
A central theme of the conferences – both last year and this year – was the question of what it means to be Catholic and a follower of Jesus Christ.
“It is not so much about why someone should become Catholic, but more why is someone Catholic or do we know why we are Catholic,” Dr Chong said.
“In line with the New Evangelisation, a focus has to be to re-evangelise the faithful on the beauty that is their Catholic Faith.”
Dr Chong added that the event is open to anyone who would like to know about the Catholic faith. This year’s conference will also include guest speakers such as Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton, Assistant Priest at Willetton Parish, Fr Christian Irdi, and high school Religious Education teacher and public speaker, Stephen Spiteri.
For more information, go to www.whybecatholic.com.au or email info@whybecatholic.com.au