Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish to host Marian conference

By Sean Gallagher

On Oct. 13, Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish, 335 S. Meridian St., in Greenwood will host a conference dedicated to helping people understand what the Church teaches about the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The “Behold Your Mother” Marian conference is sponsored by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, an international religious order founded in 1990.

Members of the community staff the Mother of the Redeemer Retreat Center in Monroe County.

Franciscan Father Elias Mary Mills ministers there and is helping organize the conference that will focus on how Mary, as the mother of Christ, participates in a unique way in his role as redeemer.

He said that his order has held conferences about Mary in the past in England and Fatima, Portugal, but that they have been more academic in nature.

“This is the first time that we’ve done anything in a more popular vein,” he said, “to try and reach the general public to [help] them understand the

co-redemption … because there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding or just plain ignorance about what the

co-redemption means and what it’s all about.”

Father Elias said that the title of Mary as “co-redemptrix” emphasizes her closeness to Christ.

“It really explains what she is,” he said. “She’s with the redeemer. She’s suffering with her son, offering him and suffering with him on Calvary for our redemption.”

Speakers who will discuss the Church’s teachings on Mary are Scott Hahn, noted Marian expert Mark Miravalle, Redemptorist Father Pablo Staub, Franciscan Father Peter Damian Fehlner and Raymond de Souza.

Catholic singer and songwriter Dana Scallon will emcee the event.

The conference will take place on the 90th anniversary of the “Miracle of the Sun” at Fatima, Portugal. The tens of thousands present that day reportedly saw the sun spinning in the sky and giving off multicolored light. Later, the sun seemed to careen toward the Earth in a zigzag pattern.

According to the three young children in Fatima who in the months prior to the event had experienced apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was Mary herself who had predicted that the miracle would happen on that day.

Conference participants can begin arriving at the parish at 8 a.m. The first presentation will start at 9 a.m.

Mass will begin at 11:15 a.m. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond L. Burke will be the primary celebrant and homilist at the liturgy.

The rosary will also be prayed at various times during the day.

The conference will conclude around 9 p.m.

“We’ve packed as much as we could into one day,” Father Elias said.

Lunch and supper will be offered at the parish for conference ­participants. They can also choose to eat at nearby restaurants.

Registration prior to the day of the conference is $10. Walk-in registration will be $25.

For those unable to attend the conference, it can be viewed live via the Internet at www.airmaria.com.

Ultimately, Father Elias said, learning more about Mary and how she ­participates in her son’s role as redeemer will bring people closer to Christ.

“Our Lady doesn’t take us away from Christ,” Father Elias said. “The more that we understand the mystery of our Lady, the more that we’ll understand Christ himself.”

(For more information about the conference or to register for it, call 812-825-4742, send an e-mail to friars@figuadalupe.com or log on to www.airmaria.com and click on the conference icon.) †