Keynote Speaker, Carol Razza, M.S., Ed.D., is a faculty member and formation advisor at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Florida. A psychotherapist for more than 25 years, Dr. Razza is also a noted international speaker and has authored two books on the subjects of grace and parenting adolescents.
November 12, 2022 | Christ Our Shepherd Center
2900 Seminary Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601
Registration is now closed. For additional information or questions, please email [email protected] .
Financial Assistance is available through the Francis Fund for Catholic women of the Diocese of Greensburg in good standing.
Conference Schedule
| 7:00 AM | Registration and Continental Breakfast |
| 8:00 AM | Praise and Worship |
| 8:30 AM | Welcome, Announcements |
| 8:35 AM | Keynote Speaker — Dr. Carol Razza |
| 10:00 AM | Mass with Bishop Larry J. Kulick |
| 11:15 AM | Breakout Speakers, Witness Testimonies |
| 12:30 AM | Exposition and Adoration, Rosary, Confession, Prayer Teams, Vendors, Craft, Lunch |
| 2:20 PM | Welcome Back |
| 2:25 PM | Praise and Worship |
| 2:50 PM | Keynote Speaker — Dr. Carol Razza |
| 4:00 PM | Closing Remarks, Closing Song, Dismissal, Pick Up Raffle Prizes |
Breakout Speakers
Session 1
Anne Kertz Kernion – Prayer Practices to Nourish and Strengthen our Spirits, Brains and Bodies
Multimedia presentation, based on her award-winning book, “Spiritual Practices for the Brain: Caring for Mind, Body, and Soul.” Explore several prayer practices to enhance our Spiritual lives, brains, bodies and minds. We will share simple ways to encounter God throughout your day, boosting your faith and well-being.
Witness Testimony
Session 1
Karen Herrmann – Being an Instrument of the Holy Spirit
Karen has been graced with gifts of writing music, singing, and creating music videos. She will share how our mother, Mary, has called us to pray for healing for all women, and for all women to experience the love of the Father and seek healing, if needed.
Session 2
Lisa Martinelli – Moral Suffering and Resilience: An Opportunity for Moral Growth
Although moral distress is widely recognized today as an epidemic among healthcare workers, the inability to do the right thing by acting according to one’s conscience and values is not limited to healthcare professionals. Moral distress affects everyone. How do we understand those occasions where we have failed to do good because we were constrained from following our consciences? This presentation explores this issue and examines strategies and opportunities to establish resilience and recover our moral wholeness.
Session 2
Debbie Wilson – Christ’s Healing Power Among Us
Debbie received a miraculous healing from throat and breast cancer and will share how the Lord was present and walked with her. Then God used these illnesses so Debbie could be a witness to nurses, doctors, and others and bring them to faith.
Session 3
Jo Ann Paradise – United or Divided
How many times in the past two years have you asked, “Why does it have to be this way?” How many of us are afraid for our children seeing the world as it is? This session will explore what unites us and what divides us. We will discover God’s plan written in our physical bodies as we look at current brain research.
Session 3
Deb Sorce and Anne Kovalcik – Grieving with Gratitude
In 2014, Anne’s daughter, Carissa, was killed by her boyfriend. She was nine months pregnant; the baby girl died three weeks later. The story of Anne and Debbie retells how through pain, grieving, and tragedy, God opened a pathway for gratitude.
Session 4
Mary Sampey – Anxious for Nothing: Practical Ways to Trust More and Worry Less
So often we allow our daily concerns to turn into worry when our thoughts become focused on changing the future instead of doing our best to handle our present circumstances. St. Paul, the apostle, helps us in Phil 4:6-9 by directing us toward some practical positive steps we can take in order to decrease and eliminate our impulse to worry: right praying, right thinking, and right action. We will explore ways to eliminate bad habits and replace them with good ones. We’ll learn how to pray in gratitude, thinking clearly and correctly, and dwell on the things of God. We will find peace, even in the midst of great suffering and trials.
Session 4
Debra Iwaniec – Spirit in the Sky
In 2008, 24 year old Kenton Iwaniec was savoring his dream job as a Pennsylvania State Trooper. He was finishing his shift when an impaired driver crossed the center line, destroying Kenton’s car and the promising life within it. Debra will share how surrendering to God and walking with the Holy Spirit has brought light into the darkest time of her life and yielded the precious gift of forgiveness.
Session 5
Patricia Sharbaugh – Irrepressible Light: Exploring Women’s Leadership in the New Testament
We will focus on New Testament stories about women who encountered Jesus. These women are strong, daring, faithful, and brave. Though they are poor, ill, misunderstood, and oppressed, these women find a way to listen to the dimly burning irrepressible light within. This light calls them forth to encounter the healing, saving mystery of God. We’ll focus on what these women teach us about knowing and loving God so that we too might find a way to see and follow the irrepressible light within.
Session 5
Jennifer D’Souza – Sorrow, Strength and the Total Self-Gift of Marriage
Fifteen years into her first marriage, Jennifer suddenly found herself a widow and single mother. Then, unexpected blessings poured upon her made her ask: “How did we go from a place of sorrow into a place of miracles?” The answer was a call to rejoice and a call to action.
Session 6
Bridgette Trunzo – The Eucharist: Self-Giving and Nurturing Love
All Sacraments point to the Eucharist as the source and summit of our Catholic life. As Catholic women, it is most important to be deeply in tune to the limitless grace that comes from the Eucharist-–whether we are wives, mothers, sisters, teachers, or in any role we play as women. Understanding and exemplifying Jesus’ self-giving love in our lives has immeasurable benefit in our vocations, which nurture others, and is essential for our spiritual life and service to those entrusted to our care.
Session 6
Susan Potvin – Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Having almost died as a child, Susan always had a relationship with Jesus. After graduating from college, getting married and adopting four children, she hit a wall of desolation. “Why do I still not believe how much the Lord loves me?” “Why am I still in so much internal pain and feel as though I need to earn God’s love?”
Session 7
Shirley Pawlak – Women, Men, Abortion, Trauma, and Healing
Introduces origins of abortion crisis from a theological viewpoint. It includes ideas from Sacred Scripture and Evangelium Vitae by Pope St. John Paul II. It discusses the development of medication abortion as the life crisis of the moment. It explores the psychological concept of “moral injury,” which an abortion can cause. It discusses the impact of abortion on men, and, finally, how psychology and religion offer healing from the wound of abortion. The conclusion includes concrete ideas as to what we can do as a community and in our parishes to encourage healing in the midst of the current cultural situation.
Session 7
Carol Hevia – Can God Forgive, Let Alone Love Me?
Feelings of relief followed an abortion, but as she started to get more mature in her decisions, deep feelings of regret started to haunt her. Would Carol end up in Heaven or Hell? She could not remove these regrets from her soul. Come hear Carol’s inspiring story of struggle, courage and faith.
Session 8
Jennifer Wilson – Accompanying Young People on their Journey as Disciples
All ages are welcome at this interactive talk about how we acknowledge and receive young people, especially those who have fallen away from the Church, as the gift that they are in our families, communities, and churches. Learn about five strategies that can help us all keep young people from leaving the Church, and how we can start to bring back those who have fallen away.
Session 8
Katt Kersting – Being the “Cool Catholic”
As a young adult, Katt is surrounded by many people that tend to stray away from the usual crowds in the pews every weekend. However, she finds a deeper connection to her faith when her untraditional friends turn to her for advice and guidance. But what exactly makes her viewed as a “cool Catholic?”
