Michael Voris is Coming

From the Pastor:    Michael Voris is Coming

    Michael Voris is coming to Epiphany on March 25, from 9:30 am ‘til 4:00 pm, for a one day conference. Here is the (slightly edited) “official” announcement as seen on the ticket form (which can be found at www.EpiphanyTampa.com):

    A group of lay Catholics from the Diocese of St. Petersburg is offering a seminar at Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church called "Restoring Our Catholic Identity“ with Special Guest Michael Voris. The event’s purpose is to connect faithful Catholics with one another so they can deepen their knowledge of the Faith and unite together for addressing problems regarding the loss of Catholic identity within our local diocese.
    Our special guest speaker is Michael Voris of ChurchMilitant, a Catholic lay apostolate whose mission it is to promote the One True Faith given to humanity by Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Mr. Voris has received his Sacred Theology Baccalaureate and graduated Magna cum Laude.  He will speak on the topics of The State of the Church and the Need for Lay Involvement; Increasing Reverence for The Holy Eucharist; The Four Last Things; and Lay Action to Save The Church.
    Additionally, Dr. David McKalip, M.D. of St. Petersburg will speak on FAST, HOPE and What the Catechism says about Social Justice. Catholic layman Travis Ferguson of Clearwater will speak on Steps for Action for the Laity.  
    The program will also include the praying of a rosary with an intention to promote the Catholic Faith. A Boxed lunch is included in the $25.00 ticket price (sorry, no discounts for bringing your own lunch). The parish also has a regularly scheduled Traditional Latin Mass at 8:00 am and a Novus Ordo Vigil Mass at 5:00 pm for those who wish to attend Mass either before or after the conference.
    A special Reception and Dinner ($125.00) for 25 guests will be offered Saturday night for interested parties to spend more time with Mr. Voris. This gives you a chance to have a more intimate meeting with Michael Voris and discuss the best means to restore the Catholic Church and Catholic identity in the Diocese of St. Petersburg. The event will feature a full dinner with dessert in a wonderful restaurant - Brio Tuscan Grill in the International Plaza, Tampa. 6-7 pm Reception (cash bar), 7-9 Dinner and program.

    Ever since the announcement, people have been asking, “How did you get him to come here?” Yes, he is a very credible “news anchor” known well by online Catholics! (If you don’t know him, check out www.ChurchMilitant.com to see who he is and what his apostolate offers. He has Catholic news stories, in-depth investigations of various Catholic topics, exposés of known yet unimpeded scandals, apologetics works, Latin courses and much, much more.) The reality is, though, that I had absolutely nothing to do with him coming to our area. Those kudos go to a small, newly formed group of laity who simply let him know that they wanted to fight for the Faith locally, a sort of “Resistance” movement, which Michael has been encouraging in recent months. He generously volunteered to come if a local parish would open the doors for him. The only part I had in this whole thing is that I said, quite enthusiastically, that I would love to have him come here. And so he is coming. I love when things like that fall into my lap!
    The others who are giving talks are going to be showing you just a small sample of talented speakers we already have in our diocese, always eager and ready to enlighten Catholics on areas of the Faith in which they have expertise. Once you hear these presentations I hope you will be ready to support this group of laity in their future endeavors, too.
    Unbelievably, there are still tickets available as of this writing. It took a while to get this conference planned and to have all of the conference presenters “cleared” by the diocese and the time is very short for advertising it. So please, after you have gotten your tickets, share this message with as many people as you can, via phone, email, facebook, twitter, messenger or even the good old fashioned way, by speaking face to face with someone who might want to know about it and come participate!

With prayers for your holiness,
Fr. Edwin Palka

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