Week of
October 18, 2000
Inside the Register
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All invited to attend Scripture Conference 2000
Was Jesus a vegetarian? Mass communications can quickly lead to mass confusion as a chorus of messages about the Bible and the Church compete for the public's attention. A recent series of billboards sponsored by "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals" asserts that "Jesus was a vegetarian." Yet Jesus fully participated in Passover rituals, ate lamb, cooked fish on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and multiplied the loaves and fishes in Gospel accounts.
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Where can people turn for a solid grounding in the teachings of the Catholic faith?
"Scripture Conference 2000," this weekend at the Hilton Denver Tech Center South, will offer dynamic talks and vast resources for people at every level of faith formation, according to Religious Sister of Mercy Timothea Elliott, a conference organizer.
A pre-conference for continuing education of priests and deacons will open "Scripture Conference 2000" on Oct. 20. The event features the same speakers who will address the conference program for the general public, which begins on Friday evening and continues throughout the day on Saturday.
Archbishop Chaput will open the conference program for the general public at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 20 with his address, "Dei Verbum Thirty Five Years Later: Understanding the Word of God."
"Dei Verbum," promulgated at the Second Vatican Council in 1965, is widely considered to have opened a new chapter in the study of Sacred Scripture by Catholics.
The conference for the general public will continue on the morning of Oct. 21 with an 8 a.m. Mass celebrated by Archbishop Chaput. The morning continues with a keynote presentation by Father Francis Martin on "Historical Criticism and the Spiritual Sense of Scripture: Friends or Enemies?"
Father Martin, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., is a nationally recognized speaker who holds a doctorate in Sacred Scripture from the Biblicum in Rome.
A three-year cycle of conferences was instituted in 1999 to replace the archdiocesan Mile Hi Congress. The cycle began with last year's Liturgy Conference and continues with this year's Scripture Conference, and with a Catechetical Conference in 2001.
Following the keynote presentation, breakout sessions will be offered on subjects including: "The Jesus Seminar and its Contemporary Challenge," "God's Word for Little Ones: Opening Sacred Scripture for Young Children," "The God of Justice and Mercy?: The Unity of the Old and New Testaments," "Transforming the Family through Jubilee Graces," "Practical Tools for Breaking Open the Word," and "Lectio Divina: Teaching Children to Pray the Word of God."
The afternoon keynote presentation will be offered by Msgr. Kevin Irwin, professor of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology at the Catholic University of America. He will speak on, "How the Liturgy Structures our Hearing the Word of God."
Registration for Scripture Conference 2000 is $65. To register, or for more information, call Christina Patarino, 303-715-3245.