The Midwest Catholic Family Conference is set to welcome approximately 3,500 people to its 25th anniversary conference in Wichita Aug. 1-3.
Held at the city’s Century 2 Convention Center, the conference will feature talks, vendors, access to the sacraments, and an outdoor Eucharistic procession.
Conference Director Kathleen Timmermeyer says that, over the course of its history, the conference has built a genuine community.
“The conference is more than just speakers who deliver interesting content,” Timmermeyer said, according to the Catholic Diocese of Wichita. “It has become a meeting up of Catholics who have become like family to each other.”
This year’s speakers are Father Paul Sheller, Father Larry Richards, Mike and Alicia Hernon of the Messy Family Project, Rev. Dennis McManus, Jesse Romero, Jennifer Roback Morse, Tim Staples, and Dr. John T. Bruchalski.
In addition to talks for adults, the conference provides events for children of all ages. Elementary-age students gather in separate grade-level groups and are led in activities and catechesis. Middle school students have a similar program, though all three grades are together. The program for high school students includes talks from some of the conference’s speakers.
The conference’s talks will cover a wide range of topics. These include talks on practical matters like “Growing Your Family Culture,” “The Family Board Meeting,” and “Discipleship,” as well as some of a more academic bent, such as “The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies are Destroying Lives and Why the Church was Right All Along,” “The Big Deal: Why the Perpetual Virginity of Mary Matters,” and “‘Mom, I Think I’m Gay, Dad, I Think I’m Trans.’ What Parents Need to Know About Gender Ideology.”
Mass is a part of the conference programming all three days, and Confession will be made available. The Rosary will also be prayed, and the conference will offer a blessing of religious articles. Some of the talks deal directly with spiritual life, such as “Make the Best Confession of Your Life” and “Prayer: The Saints Arsenal and Heaven’s Thunder.”
Timmermeyer has attended all but one Midwest Catholic Family Conference in the past 25 years. She said her favorite part of the conference is the daily Mass, where she can see all the families worshipping God together.
Family is at the center of this conference. “We have watched each other’s children grow up,” she said, according to the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, “and have families of their own who are now coming to the conference and participating as volunteers.”