The Conference: Friday

After breakfast, the day began with morning prayer in the gym.

Then there were various talks to choose from.

Sr. Amelia, OP

Fr. Tim talks about the kerygma (his favorite topic)

Fr. Joseph Mary Brown finds a rather original place to prepare for his workshop!

After lunch, there was Mass......

We had the loveliest music during Mass!

Here are three of the organizers of the Washington State Ignite Your Torch, to be held in August.

Fr. Tim, the conference's spiritual director, with Matt Sohl, one of the "green shirts" 

without whom we would really be lost.

 Sr. Joseph Marie and her brother Andrew

Sr. Mary Anthony and her sister Mary

After Mass and more workshops, there was recreation with the religious.

Corn hole with the Dominican brothers

Somebody wanted religious to sit at their table!

The day concluded with a very special holy hour, in which the priest (Fr. Tony Stephens of the Fathers of Mercy) brought the monstrance to each person individually, and confessions.

Commercial break!

I haven't finished posting about the conference yet, but I have to sneak in these pictures of the dress I finished for Molly yesterday, and of the princess herself wearing it....

I am very proud of myself because I put a zipper into the dress, something I have not done in sewing before.

Thursday: The Conference Begins!

 St. Catharine College, the conference venue, is beautiful, and it was a beautiful day.

Fr. Tim O'Connor gave us a meditation on the privilege of serving the youth.

Soon the guests began to arrive.

Sara checking the groups in

 Our religious and priest friends also began arriving......

Nashville Dominicans: Sr. Mary Olivia, Sr. Amelia, Sr. Mary Josephine

Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker: Sr. Cecilia and Sr. Elizabeth Ann

Sister Servants from Alabama: 

Sr. Louise Marie, Sr. Joseph Marie, Sr. Mary Anthony, Sr. Marie Therese

Unfortunately I didn't get photos of the men's communities: 

Dominican Friars and Fathers of Mercy, mostly. And some diocesan priests from here and there.

The dining room ladies always make us feel extra welcome.

Sr. Joseph Marie talking to the youth about the Angelic Warfare Confraternity

Fr. Joseph Aytona (Fathers of Mercy) urges the teens not to follow the crowd, 

and tells some of his own vocation story

Attentive audience

Meanwhile, our new statue of Our Lady of Ignite was being readied for the outdoor rosary procession.

For many of the youth, this is their first time taking part in a procession.

The procession ended our first day with prayer and song. 

Here we are walking alongside one of the dorms.

This is our conference Eucharistic adoration chapel at night.

Our Lady's statue (not visible in the photo) was brought here after the procession and placed on the left side, facing Her Son in the Eucharist.

Ignite: Wednesday, Set-Up Day

Packing the U-Haul here in New Hope

We start arriving at the conference location

We had 350 chairs to bring up a flight of stairs and into the gym, so we formed a human chain to do it. Teamwork gets it done fast!

Many hands make light work...

Assembling the altar backdrop

The finished backdrop—wow!

The volunteers take a rest. Tomorrow this place will be crowded with teens!

Clowning around in one of the dorms... are they in jail?! 

These are our hard-working young adult helpers, the "green shirts." And Fr. Tony Mendoza.

A Little Crazy!

I know some are wondering "where I've been" lately. Next week is our big Ignite Conference which I help organize as part of my job. Things are going well, but there's much activity at the office! Here's just a snapshot of what's going on here:

First of all, we have a new website for the conference! It's awesome, Sara! Take a look:

www.igniteyourtorch.com

I particularly love the countdown clock.

Tamara bought a new statue for our candlelight procession the first evening at Ignite. This one is ours to keep (we used to borrow one from some kind friends). It is light and easy to carry. We call her Our Lady of Ignite. See, her heart is even on fire! Here she is, sitting on my desk.

Here is Bill in the print shop, working on a cedar stand to which he will attach the statue so it can be carried in procession:

Tamara and Flannery working on items for small group activities:

Boxes, paper, folders, pens, pamphlets...... the list goes on and on.

Here I am working at my desk:

Sara making sure enough shirts have been ordered and everyone's rooms are assigned.....

We are trying to learn the names of all the religious before they come:

This is a laminated board I made, with sticky notes that can be moved around, to plan which workshops will be held when, and in which classrooms:

Tamara instructing Gianna on photography for the conference:

Stephanie creating a backdrop for the altar, which will be in the gym, so we want to try to create a more sacred atmosphere for Masses and holy hours:

Here we are playing with our fabric to see how to make the backdrop. The backdrop will be raised on the boxes.

Many others are also working on various tasks such as typesetting, printing, and copying. It is a very busy time, but we are joyful! I can't wait for next week. What I look forward to most is seeing all our wonderful priests, brothers and sisters who come each year! I will be taking lots of photos at the conference and will post them after it's over. Stay tuned!