Joe and I spent last night and all day today at a conference at the Fairgrounds, which was put on by our local Catholic radio station. First time I had ever been to something like this and it was awesome. Our keynote speaker was Father Corapi, who I'd heard on the radio as well as from my board -- everyone there seems to love him. So I signed up for the conference figuring if my board loves him, he must be pretty good. And I wasn't disappointed -- he is an amazing speaker! He has such a commanding presence, it was just a joy hearing and seeing him talk. He had four talks and hit what seemed like every subject at least once. I thought the whole conference would be about the Eucharist, but we also talked about Mary, about the rosary, a little about current events and his own story and what we as Catholics ought to be doing to better the world. He was a very serious man but also had a funny sense of humor (I still like his line about how James and John "called down an air strike" on the Samaritan village). :) Overall just cool to listen to.
Raymond Arroyo was there too, I knew even less about him than Father Corapi but found out that he's the host of The World Over on EWTN and just wrote a biography of Mother Angelica (the nun who started EWTN, which is the Catholic cable network and also does most of the radio programming). As it turns out, Raymond also happens to be from New Orleans, and he and his family just lost their house... but he still came up here for the talk. He shared some of Mother Angelica's story and of course was signing his new book. I really enjoyed listening to him too, especially his impression of Mother Angelica. I never knew much about her before today (I don't have cable and only recently discovered our Catholic radio station) but she sure sounds like a fascinating woman. I didn't buy the book today, but I think I'd like to read it sometime. I also wish I could watch EWTN. :) Oh well, I don't think that will happen until the cable company lets me choose which specific channels I pick up and only charges me for those. :P
My favorite part of the whole thing was just being together with so many other faithful Catholics all at once. There's just a feeling in the air that I can't describe, but it was awesome. We had Holy Hour and Benediction yesterday, rosary and Mass this morning, Adoration going on the whole time, and Confessions were heard during lunchtime (and there were so many people for Confession that they asked if any priests would be willing to volunteer!). I've never even seen so many Sisters in one place (not that there were really a lot of them unfortunately, and most of them are elderly, but still more than I'm used to -- I haven't been Catholic very long obviously!). One of our favorite moments was when we spotted a group of Sisters who all must have been in their seventies at least, and were licking ice cream cones in unison. :D I wanted to take a picture but it would have been rude. A funny sight though!
After all that, we went to the Vigil Mass at our own parish this evening, and I managed to just barely squeeze in Confession beforehand with our new priest, and even that was amazing... one of the best Confessions I think I've had. I think it was a combination of me being on such a high from the day, plus Father Sean is just so nice, AND he remembered me. It's funny, when I first became Catholic I thought it would be horrible going to a priest I knew for Confession, but now I can't imagine going to one I didn't know, and the better I get to know them the more I want to go to them! I still miss Fr Jim, but we are blessed to have Fr Sean, and I already like him a lot. :) But anyway... Confession was excellent, and Mass right after Confession is a beautiful thing, because you've just been absolved of all your sins and even though you're still not worthy, you're the closest a human being can get to being worthy to receive. It's really neat when you think about it that way.
So to conclude... this has been an amazing weekend so far. The conference was awesome, I just loved every minute of it, and I'm so glad I went and so thankful that I have a boyfriend who would come with me and enjoy it just as much. :)
If I had one wish right now, it would be that I had someone to tell who would understand.