Bishop Ricard Conference 2017

NAVARRE – Almost 300 people attended the Bishop Ricard Conference at St. Sylvester Catholic Church in Navarre over the weekend. Sponsored by the Office of Faith Formation of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, this conference titled Living as Missionary Disciples, was focused on just that—living as disciples of Christ with a mission, which is to “let our lives be good news for others,” as Bishop William Wack CSC stated in his opening talk.
Bishop Bill kicked off the conference with his keynote address on who we are as Christians and what it means to be missionary disciples. He began with a familiar phrase: “Go in peace, the mass has ended.”
 “We celebrate the presence of the Lord in word and sacrament and then the priest or the deacon says, as they would in Latin Mass, ‘Ite, missa est,’ or ‘Go, you are sent,’” said Bishop Bill. “This is not just a command or an invitation. This describes who we are—people who are sent. An apostle is one who is sent to proclaim the good news. We use those words interchangeably sometimes, ‘disciple’ and ‘apostle.’ But a disciple is one who comes to learn and an apostle is one who goes out to teach. Jesus invites us to be disciples, He sends us out to be apostles.”
Putting emphasis on the importance of “learning” before “doing,” Bishop Bill later brought up the well-known Biblical story of sisters Martha and Mary.
“A lot of us are like Martha, we like to do the work. And yet, Mary is the one who gets rewarded for sitting at the feet of Jesus,” said Bishop Bill. “There is a time to be Martha and there is a time, like now, to be like Mary, just to listen, to be refreshed, to learn from the Lord.”
He concluded his address by simply saying how good it was for us to come together as a community to listen and learn and answer the call of the Lord so that we can be sent out into the world and share his Word. “Listen to the Lord Jesus,” Bishop Bill said, “It is Him who calls us. ‘Come, Follow me. Go, make disciples of all nations. And behold, I am with you always, even until the end of time.’”
Three breakout sessions took place during the conference, with seven talks each that attendees could choose from. The topics for the workshops ranged from “Sacramental Preparation for Children with Special Needs” to “Music in Liturgy.” Among the 21 speakers were Fathers James Grebe, Dustin Feddon, Luke Farabaugh, and Monsignor James Flaherty.
Conference attendees came from parishes all over the diocese, as far away as Blessed Sacrament in Tallahassee to Holy Spirit in Perdido Key. Abbie Kane, Director of Faith Formation at St. Paul Parish in Pensacola, said she particularly enjoyed how Bishop Bill explained the theme of “Living as Missionary Disciples.”
“He really made me think about new ways that I can serve to make sure that peoples' physical and spiritual needs are truly being met. I loved the opportunity for so many people in our spread-out diocese to come together to pray and learn how to better serve God's people.”
Another attendee, Debbie Ridder, said, “The breakouts I attended were engaging and thoughtful. We are thinking ‘out-of-the-box’ in our new evangelization and I am looking forward to using what I learned in the ministries I serve, and personally.”