Posted by Mary, Catholic Studies staff member

(Pictured above: Donald Codden and Kecia Rehkamp actors in the “I Do I Do!” conference segments)
The Center for Catholic Studies continues to keep busy over the summer months. One recent event that Catholic Studies co-sponsored was the National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers’ conference, “Becoming a Marriage-Building Church.” As co-sponsor of the event, the Center for Catholic Studies was brought in at the early planning stages of the event. The conference and pre-conference was held June 22-28th on the St. Thomas campus. The focus of the conference was to encourage Church members to be an active part of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ National Pastoral Initiative for Marriage (NPIM).
The days were filled with guest lecturers ranging from bestselling author Christopher West to our very own Father Peter Laird (who graciously filled in for a keynote speaker, only days before the event started).
Before each keynote lecture there was prayer followed by a fun scene from the play “I Do I Do!” performed by the Donald Codden and Kecia Rehkamp. The play’s only prop was a large poster style bed donated from the local Slumberland store, which was kept on stage for the duration of the conference. The bed served to transition the scenes of the life of a marriage from getting married, to having children, to monitoring teenagers out past their curfews, to the quiet blankness of an empty nest. Throughout the week many conference participants could be seen quickly walking from the various residence halls to the OEC Auditorium so as not to miss the next scene of the play. This very clever tactic thought up by Chris Codden helped to keep attendees on time and ready for the keynote speakers!
The warm, somewhat muggy week was filled with prayer, business meetings, workshop sessions, three floors of vendors in Murray-Herrick atriums, celebration of the Eucharist at the St. Thomas Chapel, as well as Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul to close the Pauline year. The Mass, presided over by Archbishop John Nienstedt, S.T.D., was followed by a wedding cake reception. Attending the Mass was particularly exciting for many of the conference attendees, especially those who traveled from other states and countries, as the Cathedral had just received the special distinction of shrine status, being the only shrine in North America dedicated to Saint Paul.
A little fun was also thrown in with an ice-cream social and barbeque dinner with a very special guest appearance – the Father Guido Sarducci character of Saturday Night Live fame! Father Sarducci entertained the all-ages crowd before the Karaoke fun began and finished the night.
Chris Codden, President of the National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers, summed the week up: “The conference hosted more than 500 people from the United States, Canada, the Bahamas and Australia, which included nine archbishops and bishops and 50 clergy. We feel the conference was a great success and look forward to the fruit of the work begun here; to the impact on the culture and society; to becoming a “Marriage-Building Church”.

(Pictured above: Conference Mass at the University of St. Thomas Chapel)