Bishop DiNardo to be featured speaker at DMC

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
September 11, 2003

FORT DODGE - The Diocese of Sioux City Diocesan Ministries Conference is inching closer. The conference slated for Oct. 3 and 4 at St. Edmond in Fort Dodge will surround itself with the theme, "Lead Me, Lord."

Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo will give the keynote address to the attendees of the conference. His address will encompass the theme of the conference along with aspects of the different workshops.

"This is the first time that I have ever been the keynote in the years that I have been here," said Bishop DiNardo. "They have asked me to do the keynote. I am gratified. At first I thought, 'They hear me a lot. Do they want to hear me again?' They said, 'We'll hear you.' I am pleased with that as bishop of the diocese. I look forward to it."

The bishop will take this opportunity to address those in the diocese that are interested in enhancing their knowledge on Catholic social teaching to further their service to the Diocese of Sioux City.

"Because the title of the conference is 'Lead Me, Lord,' and wants to interpret the Gospel message through Catholic social teaching, my emphasis will be on the development of our Catholic social teaching in the church with emphasis on the human person and on human solidarity," said Bishop DiNardo. "I'm doing that because those are some major thrusts of Pope John Paul II's work on the issues related to Catholic social teaching. I will try to stay with some of the principles that we use in our teaching."

The conference gives those that attend the opportunity to gain knowledge about topics that some may know little or nothing about.

"One of the things we want to do is to make more clear, why we teach what we teach - whether the issue is abortion and stem-cell research or why we act the way we do relative to immigration; why we are so concerned about end of life issues right now in the church. This impacts our understanding and living of our Catholic faith. I think it's a good basic topic," said Bishop DiNardo about the value of the Diocesan Ministries Conference.

There are a plethora of workshops to be offered to those attending the conference.

"I noticed the workshops are quite varied," said Bishop DiNardo. "Some deal with the liturgy. There is a good workshop on Catholic social teaching. There is an interesting one on ministering to elderly as well as one on Hispanic ministry. There's a great variety of workshops, but their unifying themes are the human person and their solidarity together."

The titles of the sessions range from "Eating is a Moral Act" to "Coloring the Four Seasons of the Church Year" to "Sex, Lies and Media Messages" to "I Can Sleep When the Wind Blows." The sessions are designed for small groups to allow more discussion and sharing on the topics.

"One of the things it permits is ongoing formation for our Catholic school teachers and our catechists," Bishop DiNardo stated. "You need that ongoing formation, which is spiritual, intellectual, moral, social - you need all of those components. Gathering everyone together for a two day activity like this helps our teachers, catechists, our various volunteers and workers in variety of ministries in the diocese to enhance their knowledge."

It will allow people to meet others in the diocese that share interests as well as their faith.

"This kind of social gathering is also good for people to get to know one another and to reemphasize our common Catholic commitment for those who do a great job for us," the bishop added.

Oct. 3 will be a staff development day for Catholic school personnel so the conference will try to inspire, motivate and encourage them. Generally 700 to 800 people attend that day and around 200 attend the second day. Both days are open to anyone who would like to attend.

In addition, numerous vendors and exhibitors with assorted education materials and religious goods will be on hand for the conference.

The deadline to register for the Diocesan Ministries Conference is Sept. 23. The cost is $20, including lunch. For more information contact the Central Catholic Offices at (712) 255-7933.