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Embracing the Holy Duet: Mary and the Holy Spirit Women of Grace Retreat Lafayette, LA

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Women of Grace Retreat 
June 21-23, 2019
Embracing the Holy Duet: Mary and the Holy Spirit 
Speakers include:
Johnnette B. Williams
Father Chris Decker
Jack Williams
Thomas K Sullivan
Kathleen Beckman

RETREAT PARKING is across Johnston Street. Cross with crossing guard.

Tentative Lafayette Retreat Schedule:

FRIDAY, JUNE 21

3:00 PM              Registration

5:00 PM              Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Homily One
Celebrant, Most Reverend J. Douglas Deshotel, D.D. Bishop of Lafayette
Con-Celebrants, Rev. Father Michael J. Russo and Rev. Father Chris Decker 

6:00 PM              Dinner - Welcome – Introduction

7:00 PM              Praise and Worship

7:15 PM              Talk One: The Holy Duet: Mary and the Holy Spirit and the Glorious Age to Come

Johnnette B. Williams

SATURDAY, JUNE 22

8:30 AM              Praise and Worship

9:00 AM              Talk Two: Mary and the Holy Spirit: Smiting the Head of the Serpent

Kathleen Beckman

10:15 AM            Talk Three: Embracing the Holy Duet on the Battlefield of Life

Thomas K. Sullivan

(Note: Confessions will be available beginning at 10:30 AM – Locations TBD)

11:15 AM             Confession - Prayer - Reflection - Fellowship

12:00 PM             LUNCH

1:00 PM               Time for Personal Reflection and Fellowship

2:00 PM               Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Homily Two

Father Chris Decker

3:30 PM               Chaplet of Divine Mercy

4:00 PM               Talk Four: Mary and the Holy Spirit: The Holy Duet and Conversion

Jack Williams

5:00 PM               Facilitator Training – Prayer – Reflection - Fellowship

6:00 PM               DINNER

7:15 PM               Talk Five: Mary and the Holy Spirit: The Holy Duet and Healing

Father Chris Decker

8:30 PM                Healing Service: Embraced by the Holy Duet: Receiving the Gift of New Life

Johnnette B. Williams

SUNDAY, JUNE 23

8:30 AM               Praise and Worship

9:00 AM               Talk Six: The Holy Duet and You: Changing Lives, Healing Hearts, and Saving Souls

Johnnette B. Williams
10:15 AM     Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Homily Three
Father Chris Decker

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Event Speakers

• Kathleen Beckman

  For twenty-five years, and in thirteen countries, Kathleen Beckman has served in the Church’s ministry of evangelization through Catholic radio and television, writing and speaking. Sophia Institute Press has published her last four books including the bestseller, “A Family Guide to Spiritual Warfare: Strategies for Deliverance and Healing”. At the invitation of clergy, Kathleen has served in the Church’s ministry of exorcism and deliverance for sixteen years. She was on faculty for the Pope Leo XIII Institute for six years, completed the Association of International Exorcists Course at the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in 2017, serves as the diocesan administrator of exorcism and deliverance ministry. A member of the exorcist’s team, she accompanies persons seeking liberation from evil spirits. In 2013, with encouragement of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy, she co-founded the Foundation of Prayer for Priests, an apostolate of intercession and sacrifice for the holiness and protection of priests. All are invited to spiritually adopt priests at www.foundationforpriests.org. 

  
   

• Johnnette Benkovic Williams

  Johnnette Benkovic Williams is Founder and President of Women of Grace®, a Catholic apostolate for women featuring a number of outreaches including conferences, media, study groups and more.
  
  After years of being a non-practicing Catholic, Johnnette experienced a deep conversion back to her Catholic faith in 1981. Her conversion sparked a new vocation: sharing the Gospel message through the utilization of media. She has been an inspiring and consistent presence on EWTN Catholic radio and EWTN Catholic television for over 30 years.

• Father Chris Decker

  Fr. Chris Decker is not just a technology evangelist he is one of the new evangelization pioneers. He is 37 years old has been a priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge for twelve years. He began this mission of evangelization though new media well before the Church was popularizing it. In 1999, as a young seminarian, he cut his teeth at the diocesan owned Catholic Life Television as a creative consultant developing graphic art, motion graphics, designing websites, and even producing and hosting programming. One of his early successes was a show for youth called “FishNet” that ran on CatholicLife Television for several years. As a seminarian he and two of his fellow classmates, Joshua LeBlanc and Fr. Ryan Humphries, developed an online community for seminarians called CyberCatholics.com around the year 2000 before blogging was “a thing”. On this proto-blog, Fr. Decker wrote and drew a comic strip about a seminarian who visited famous bible passages and had adventures within the Scriptures. Some German Catholic readers found his work, began to translate it for their audience, and nicknamed his blog "part of the Catholic underground". Fr. Decker registered that name which later became the trademark of one of his most identi?able new media creations, the Catholic Underground podcast. It launched in 2006 during his diaconate internship and is still in production today at catholicunderground.com, on the radio, and nationwide on af?liates of CatholicTV and The Catholic Faith Network. In 2011, he and his podcasting co-hosts took all of this a step further by developing and hosting and a Catholic new media conference in Houston, TX called CatholiCon. He is also the Director of Mission for Catholic Community Radio, in Baton Rouge & New Orleans, LA. Fr. Decker sits on the board of directors for this apostolate that he also helped launch.  Here he develops new programming and helps to reach beyond the radio waves into new forms of evangelization on the digital continent. Ordained a priest in 2007, he is presently the pastor of St Joseph Church in Grosse Tête, Louisiana; Immaculate Heart Church in Maringouin; and St Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Livonia.  In the summer of 2018, he walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain and prayed at many pilgrimage sites throughout Europe while on a four month spiritual sabbatical. He can be found online frequently sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram at the handle @digitalcatholic. He loves what he does, loves to teach others, and loves being a priest.

• Thomas K Sullivan

  At the young age of 17, Thomas K Sullivan began a career serving in the United States Military (US Navy and Coast Guard). During his 12 years of service, Tom spent 5 of those years as a Company Commander in the US Navy, training young men and women in the ways of military life, and was awarded the designation as a "Master Training Specialist". Little did he know God was preparing him for a training field much bigger than he could imagine.
  
  At the age of 30, Tom returned to the Catholic Faith and found his true mission in life. Using the same determination, skills and abilities that made him a successful and highly decorated military leader, Tom has spent the past 26 years in Catholic education, apologetics and evangelization.
  
  In 1992 following a disabling injury which brought his military career to an end, Tom began working with St, Joseph Communications in California. During this time, he developed evangelization and educational materials for both national an international audiences. Tom also conceived and developed the Scott and Kimberly Hahn Adult Education on Video program now in thousands of homes and parishes. Tom is a founding member of the National Catholic Family Conference held each year in California and was the 1996 recipient of the annual Fulton J. Sheen award for his work in evangelization.
  
  In 1998, Tom formed a youth outreach organization featuring the Catholic Rock Music group, Sons of Thunder Outreach. The group went on to record a highly requested CD "Fatherland", a Catholic rock music CD with lyrics telling the story of salvation history, conversion, the sacraments and more.
  
  In 2001, Tom joined the staff of Living His Life Abundantly International. He serves as the Director of Operations, Director of Information Technology and Network Administrator as well as Senior radio engineer.
  
  Tom is also the producer of the daily Television program "Women of Grace" on the EWTN Global Catholic Television Network.
  
  In addition, Tom has extensive experience teaching parish adult education and youth confirmation preparation. He speaks at conferences and events, nationally and internationally, on the many topics concerning the Catholic Faith.
  
  Tom is the author of the book "Called to Knighthood: The Sacrament of Confirmation in the Kingdom Family of God" published by Simon Peter Press and co-author with Johnnette Benkovic of the book "The Rosary: Your Weapon for Spiritual Warfare" published by Servant Press.
  
  He has been a radio guest on The Abundant Life, Women of Grace LIVE, Faith and Family Radio programs, as well as Seize the Day with Gus Lloyd on Sirius Satellite radio.
  
  He has also been a television guest on EWTN's Life on the Rock, Bookmark with Doug Keck, The Abundant Life, and over a dozen Women of Grace television programs.
  
  ?Tom is the creator and designer of the one-of-a-kind Warrior's Rosary that has been distributed all over the world since 2014.
  
  He is currently working on an expanded book on the Sacrament of Confirmation titled “Warriors for the Kingdom.” He continues to spend much of his free time speaking about the Kingdom of God, the Rosary, and the importance of the sacraments and their relationship to Spiritual Warfare here on the battlefield of life!
  
  Tom is a devoted husband to his wife Carol and father of six children; Jeffrey, Tommy, Maria, Michael, Joshua and Gabriel. He is also the proud Grandfather of his 15 grandchildren (currently).

• Jack Williams

  Jack Williams is the General Manager of EWTN Radio.  After a radical conversion in 1981 Jack traveled college campuses in the United States and Australia as part of a charismatic, evangelical campus outreach.   He later spent a decade providing sports talk radio programming and live high school sports coverage in the Des Moines, IA market.  After entering the Catholic Church in 2002, Jack began doing an hour long Catholic program every weekday on a local evangelical radio station.  He was later a member of the team that transformed that very station into a Catholic Radio Station.  After spending time at the local EWTN radio affiliate in Birmingham, AL, Jack joined EWTN in 2014.  EWTN Radio programming can be heard on over 350 affiliated stations in the United States, online at ewtn.com, on the ewtn app, on Sirius/XM channel 130 and on a myriad of streaming and social media platforms.  In addition to his responsibilities as General Manager, Jack can be heard Monday through Friday at 3pm ET on EWTN Open Line.