By John Rohlf and Megan Erbacher
Earlier this month, the Diocese of Evansville hosted a conference aimed at forming Christ-centered families.
On Dec. 6, the Diocese of Evansville hosted Encounter Hope/Encuentro de Esperanza, two diocesan-wide gatherings dedicated to building Christ-centered families and set as a capstone of our diocesan observance of the Jubilee Year of Hope.
Speakers for the Encounter Hope English gathering were Father Alex Zenthoefer, diocesan Vicar General and rector of St. Benedict Cathedral; Mark Hart, a best-selling author, radio host and popular speaker; and Bobby and Jackie Angel, best-selling authors and well known speakers.
Father Tyler Tenbarge, diocesan Director of Vocations, served as emcee for the event. He said at the event, they were supposed to encounter what God wants to give them.
“This morning, that’s what I think we should each ask for,” Father Tenbarge said. “Maybe you came here looking for joy or for hope. Maybe you came here looking for ideas about your own specific family, your own specific marriage or faith life. Maybe you came here looking for an answer to a prayer. And so, this morning, I want to invite you intimately and genuinely to ask for it. Ask the Lord for what you need.”
Father Zenthoefer said the desire in our diocese is for every single person to encounter Christ in such a way “that everything would change for them” and that suddenly, their entire lives would revolve around the desire to be with him, even if they would fail or forget at times.
“When we call this event Encounter Hope, we mean to encounter Christ who is our hope,” Father Zenthoefer said. “But not to brush up against him in the street just to kind of run up against him, but to meet him in such a way that our heart leaps with joy that we have found him or that he has found us.”
Father Zenthoefer said we hear from St. Paul that God has so exalted the covenant of marriage that it is an image of that love Christ has for the church. It is then through married couples that the world sees the love of God most fully, Father Zenthoefer said.
“It’s through your relationship that the world sees the relationship that God has for us,” Father Zenthoefer said. “And so we need you really to love each other and sacrifice for each other. Not just because the family is the building block of civilization. It’s a pretty big deal. But because we need to know that the father has not abandoned us in the face of despair.”
Mark Hart said throughout the scripture, the one image that God uses more than any other to explain his great love for humanity is not the love even of a parent for a child. It is the love of a husband for a wife and a wife for a husband, Hart said.
“God says this is the best visual I can come up with and give you is the mutually self-sacrificial love is a man for a woman and a woman for a man,” he said. “And this is the visual I’m (God) going to use to explain my love for my people.”
During the two afternoon sessions, Bobby and Jackie Angel offered practical and biblical help to building a Christ-centered family by sharing examples from their lives of praying together, building an environment of Christian support for each other, playing together, listening to each other and spending intentional time together. The Angels shared how all of this can look in a Catholic home.
“The whole purpose of our marriage is to lead each other to Jesus,” Jackie Angel said. “In fact, on our wedding day, we said vows over a crucifix because we heard that there is a town in Croatia that has a zero divorce rate because they say their vows over a crucifix … I remember on our wedding day, we were kneeling and the bishop was holding up Jesus in the Eucharist, and I remember thinking, ‘Jesus, you are my bridegroom, and this here is the best man,’ because Jesus is the love of our lives. He is our ultimate bridegroom.”
Bobby Angel stressed that Jesus is ready to meet everyone where they are at, mess and all.
“Wherever you are today on this Saturday morning, Jesus is OK with your mess,” Bobby Angel said. “He is OK with you being a work in progress. … Wherever you are at today, Jesus wants to meet you in it.”
The Angels’ second talk focused on healing family and individual wounds with biblical help, keeping your kids Catholic and bringing loved ones back to the Catholic faith.
At the conclusion of Encounter Hope/Encuentro de Esperanza, both the English and Spanish conferences came together at Reitz Memorial High School for a Eucharistic Procession led by Bishop Siegel and a bilingual rosary.