I'm sitting at the airport in Atlanta, waiting for my flights (via Salt Lake City) home to Fresno and am filled with a rush of emotions. This first is a sense of intense happiness - I'm truly blessed in my life. This weekend was an incredible experience! The culmination came yesterday around noon, when seven podcasting priests concelebrated a Mass for all of us present at the Catholic New Media Celebration. Watching my friends and fellow attendees process forward to receive the Eucharist brought tears of joy to my eyes. What a gift to be a part of this faith filled movement that is using technology and new media to share our excitement about our Catholic faith.
I can't say enough about how much I appreciate all of the hard work that went into making this weekend event possible. I wish I had enough money to send Greg and Jennifer Willits on a Caribbean Cruise for a week - their tireless preparations for the CNMC resulted in a flawless event that will be long remembered. If you missed it this year, start planning now to be there next year!
A few more highlights from the day:
- Arriving early to assist with setup and finding a tribe of hardworking souls already at work to make the day great. Most of these were the same crazy group with whom I gathered the night before to shut down the Marriott Lobby Bar - who needs sleep?
- Walking into the Georgia International Convention Center and realizing how far SQPN has come in the past year - what a thrill to be a part of this tremendous organization!
- Seeing the new and TOTALLY cute Catholic Mom t shirts designed by the fabulous Capt. Jeff - you simply MUST get one!
- Enjoying Fr. Leo's keynote speech, which was unforgettable and a real call to arms to "Be Not Afraid" to use our skills and to use our lives as "bait" to draw others into a faith-filled life and a relationship with Christ
- Listening to the panels moderated by Lino Rulli - he's an amazingly hilarious guy!
- Moderating the blogging panel starring Amy Welborn, Mark Shea and Jeff Miller - although I wasn't worthy of the honor of being on the stage with these blogging stars, I appreciate Greg Willits' confidence in me and will always treasure the opportunity!
- Watching the debut of the newest episode of That Catholic Show! and learning of Greg and Jennifer's wonderful news that they are expecting a new member of their family - Greg did promise us their would be surprises!
- Playing chauffeur for Mark Shea - totally cool!
- Hanging with the On the U boys - I love those guys!
- Pizza and beer with a gang of the most incredible, talented, and absolutely fun people in Catholic "new media"
3 comments:
Lisa,
Didn't get to meet you while at CNMC, but wanted to thank you for moderating the blogger panel. There would be enough material to discuss among the four of you for a day long event in itself, but you did a good job of drawing out insights from everyone!
Mass was the highlight of the event for me. The Eucharist is clearly the center of this movement of the new evangelization -- as it should be -- and to celebrate Mass with Fr Roderick, all of the other techie priests, and so many faithful members of SQPN and St Blog's parish was truly a remarkable experience.
I thought you did an excellent job moderating.
Ditto on what the Curt Jester said. You were a great moderator and I know you did a lot of work backstage to make the CNMC happen - thank you.
God bless!
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