GREENVILLE — The 2009 Greenville Marian Conference, “Mary, Mother of the Eucharist,” will be June 26-27 at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts.
The conference will include the following speakers: Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone, Father Benedict Groeschel, Father Donald Kline, Mother Assumpta Long, Father Dwight Longenecker, Marcus Grodi, Franciscan Friar Paul Williams and Char Vance, according to a press release.
Bishop Guglielmone will celebrate the 6 p.m. Mass and give the homily on June 27.
Father Groeschel, CFR, will give the homily at the 6 p.m. June 26 Mass and speak on June 27. He is one of the founders of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal based in New York, whose mission is to preach reform and serving the poor. He is known for his writing and television appearances. He has a regular program on EWTN’s “Sunday Night Live with Father Benedict Groeschel.”
Father Kline is the vocations director for the Diocese of Phoenix where he is the pastor of St. Joan of Ark Church. He combines Catholic apologetics with an infusion of humor and will give the keynote conference address June 26 on “Mary and the Eucharist.”
Mother Assumpta is the prioress general of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, Mich. She will speak on June 27. Mother Assumpta assisted Cardinal John O’Connor with the initial formation of the Sisters of Life in New York. She holds a license in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
Three other Sisters of Mary will attend the conference and will be available to share information about the community’s mission. The Dominican Sisters of Mary have teaching missions in South Carolina, Florida, Arizona and California. Their numbers have increased to over 80 sisters in 12 years.
Grodi is the president and executive director of The Coming Home Network International, a nonprofit Catholic lay apostolate which helps both clergy and laity who have fallen away from the church return home. He also hosts “The Journey Home,” a weekly television program on EWTN. He has taught at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Pontifical College Josephinum, and writes regularly for The Catholic Answer magazine.
Father Longenecker is a speaker, writer and frequent guest on EWTN. He is a former Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Charleston in 2006. He is the chaplain to St. Joseph’s High School in Greenville, and will speak on the subject of one of his books, “Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing.”
Franciscan Father Williams is dean of the Midlands Deanery, a member of the diocesan College of Consultors, vicar for African-American Catholics, a member of the diocesan priests personnel board, and pastor of St. Martin de Porres Church in Columbia. He is the diocesan representative advisor to the 2009 Greenville Marian conference, and will speak on “Mary’s Role in Our Salvation.”
Irishman and Catholic Deacon Martin Henry, the emcee for the conference, will sing.
Registration for both days of the conference is $50 for adults and $20 for youth. Some limited financial assistance is available. Register on-site, online or by mail. Send check or money order to Greenville Marian Conference, P.O. Box 1443, Greenville, SC 29602.
For more information visit www.greenvillemarianconference.org or call Carleen Maher at (864) 255-5646.