Canadian bishops' evangelization summit returns to sell out crowd

OTTAWA – After a 15-year hiatus, an evangelization conference organized by Canada’s bishops will return in April and is already sold out.

The National Conference on Evangelization and Catechesis Apr. 4-6 in Ottawa is being run by the CCCB’s National Office for Evangelization and Catechesis. 

This is the first conference organized by the CCCB’s evangelization office. The last CCCB conference of this nature was held in 2004, organized by the CCCB’s National Office for Religious Education (NORE), the predecessor of the evangelization and catechesis office. 

The conference theme is He Thirsts for You and features speakers Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, a popular author and columnist, Josephine Lombardi, a theology professor and Director of Lay Formation at St. Augustine’s Seminary, and Bishop William McGrattan of Calgary.

The conference will also feature a one-woman play by Elisa Lollino, entitled He Thirsts for You, about the Samaritan woman Jesus encounters at the well in John 4:4-42.

Rolheiser, a religious priest of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, began his writing as a columnist in 1982 for the Western Catholic Reporter, the former newspaper of the Edmonton archdiocese. Now dozens of newspapers around the world, including The Catholic Register, carry his column. A prolific author, Rolheiser has written more than a dozen books. 

The 200 people who will attend the conference are coming from across Canada, including northern dioceses. Among them are pastoral workers, catechists, members of movements and associations and those involved in Catholic education. 

Although the conference is sold out, those who wish to attend may contact the CCCB to be put on a waiting list.