Catholic men at annual E6 conference implored to let the light of the Gospel shine through them

Father Jonathan Meyer leads some 1,500 men in praying the rosary on Feb. 21 in the auditorium of East Central High School in St. Leon during the 11th annual E6 Catholic Men’s Conference organized by All Saints Parish in Dearborn County. (Photos by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

ST. LEON—All Saints Parish in Dearborn County has been hosting its annual E6 Catholic Men’s Conference for 10 years.

The event regularly fills the 1,500-seat auditorium of East Central High School in St. Leon with men from across Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and beyond.

So, after a decade of such success, perhaps the organizers of the conference couldn’t be blamed if they rested on their laurels a bit.

But right at the start of the 11th E6 conference held on Feb. 21, Father Jonathan Meyer, who serves All Saints and the other three parishes of Dearborn County, put that idea to rest.

“We’re here for one reason, and that is to encounter the Lord Jesus and to have our lives radically changed,” he said on the stage to the men who filled the auditorium. “That is the only reason that we are here. … If you came here today thinking that this was just going to be a nice day, just pack up and leave right now.

“I hope that today is uncomfortable. I hope that today challenges you in ways you’ve never been challenged before. In this 11th E6 Catholic Men’s Conference, that is my prayer.”

The “E6” in the conference title refers to the sixth chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians in which the Apostle calls believers to take up “the armor of God” in the spiritual fight against the devil (Eph 6:11).

As in past conferences, this year’s event included presentations given by speakers from across the country, the celebration of the Mass, eucharistic adoration, the praying of the rosary and fellowship shared between sessions and at lunch.

Throughout the day, participants also had the opportunity to take part in the sacrament of reconciliation. From the start of the conference, there was a steady line of men snaking up an aisle to the top of the auditorium, all of them waiting to go to confession with one of the several priests on hand for the sacrament.

Off to the side of the auditorium, standing over the entrance to the rooms where men were going for the sacrament was a tote board showing the number of confessions heard during the day—with the final number standing at 426.

At the start of the conference, Father Meyer told the participants that many of them would be changed “by you humbling yourself and getting in this line and encountering Jesus’ divine mercy” in the sacrament.

‘Four pillars for Godly men’

The four presentations given during the daylong conference focused on what were called the “four pillars for Godly men”: faith, integrity, witness and sacrifice.

In the morning were talks by Catholic author and speaker Tim Francis and Catholic businessman Ryan Olohan.

Francis, speaking about faith, shared how as a young adult he abandoned his Catholic faith and dove into a party lifestyle that led him into drug addiction. Then he shared how it was the faith and prayers of his mother that ultimately led him back to the Church.

Olohan, a husband and father of seven, reflected on integrity, telling the story of how he climbed the corporate ladder at Google but was eventually fired for refusing to promote perspectives on sexuality and gender ideology that the company had embraced.

Olohan offered practical pieces of advice so that his listeners can be men firm in integrity, such as getting up right when their alarm goes off in the morning.

“Don’t hit snooze,” he said. “Win the first battle of the day.” Then, at the end of the day, Olohan suggested to his listeners “to look at yourself in the mirror and honestly ask yourself, ‘Did I do my best today?’ If you can say, ‘Today, I did my best. Tomorrow, I’ll do better,’ imagine where you’ll be in a year, or in two years.”

In the afternoon, Devin Schadt, a Catholic author, speaker and co-host of the Catholic Gentleman podcast, encouraged his listeners to give witness to their faith in their daily lives by following the example of St. Joseph in practicing the virtues of silence, obedience and sacrifice.

“Plan your day around God,” he told them, by making sure that they have three times each day when they spend silent time in prayer.

In being a leader in their marriage and family, Schadt called on the conference attendees to “set the pace in self-giving love,” saying that this is “the path to glory in which we can carve the path for our family to their eternal homeland.”

The conference’s last speaker was Catholic author Kevin Wells, who honed in on sacrifice even more. He called on the men to “do hard things for God,” to “break patterns of comfort” in their lives and to offer all this to Christ fothose in their lives who are far away from the Lord.

Wells said that Catholic masculinity isn’t a group of men talking about the saints, it’s “about becoming like them.”

Saying that it could be “the greatest sacrifice” that they make, Wells challenged his listeners to give up “the thing that you cling to the most.”

“Pick your poison,” Wells said. “I don’t care what it is. You know what it is. You’ve got a conscience. We’ve got to detach ourselves from the things that are not of God because we’ll always be sort of half-in, half-out Catholic men if we don’t work from detaching from … what we cling to.”

‘People to lean on and depend on’

During breaks in the conference, attendees flowed back and forth in the hallway outside the auditorium, chatting with friends, making new ones and visiting booths of the vendors at the event.

Watching it all during one break was All Saints parishioner Mike DiMeglio. He had been at East Central for hours at that point, arriving before 6 a.m. to manage parking at the conference.

“It’s fantastic,” said DiMeglio of the large crowds it now attracts year after year. “We’d rather do the work than have the people not show up. I love seeing this many men, all the helpers, everybody coming together.”

Dan Schwering of St. Mary Parish in Greensburg and his oldest son Henry were two of the people who walked by DiMeglio during a break. Dan has attended several E6 conferences. But with Henry now being 15, he was able to bring one of his children to the event for the first time.

“I really hope that this reaches him in ways that sometimes I can’t with what I talk about at home,” Dan said. “I’m really proud of him already and am hoping to be proud of him for the rest of my life.”

Henry, a student at Greensburg High School in Greensburg, said he appreciated spending time among “a lot of people who have the same views as you,” adding that he was confident that the event would help him “spread what I’ve seen here with other people.”

During lunch, Andrew Murrey, a member of St. Thomas More Parish in Mooresville, spoke about how he was glad to bring his 11-year-old son Eric to E6. He brought an older son to an earlier conference.

“It’s pretty awesome to feed them with something more than just what I’m trying to teach them,” said Murrey. “It reinforces what we’re teaching them at home and what they’re hearing in faith formation classes, as well as how to be a good man.”

Eric was enjoying the conference.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I get to be with God while still hanging out with my dad.”

Murrey said that the 1,500 Catholic men at E6 “helps keep us all strong. We have people to lean on and depend on.”

Justin Weberding, 22, newly married and a member of Holy Family Parish in Oldenburg, was taking in the conference for the first time. He was invited to it by members of a Catholic men’s group that he belongs to.

“It’s been really cool seeing all these men here, all searching for the same thing, which is Christ,” Weberding said. “It encourages me to become a better husband for my wife and to want to pursue a family more.”

At the end of the conference, Jim Schneider, 68 and a member of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Parish in Bright, spoke about how he was glad to see so many young fathers with their sons sitting around him.

“It makes me happy and excited to see young people here,” he said. “There’s still hope. It’s not all lost.”

‘Our world needs you’

Mass with eucharistic adoration followed by Benediction stood at the center of the day’s events at E6.

The Gospel reading for the day (Lk 5:27-32) told the story of the conversion of the tax collector Levi and a banquet he had immediately after his conversion in which he invited tax collectors and other sinners to spend time with Jesus.

Father Meyer saw in the story a challenge for him and all at the conference.

“He encountered the Lord,” Father Meyer said of Levi. “The Lord called him. And then he went out and he threw parties just trying to get sinners to come to Jesus. Are you willing to do that?”

Too many Catholics, Father Meyer said, live a kind of “kindergarten Christianity” in which they believe that all they need to do to get to heaven is avoid sin and, if they do sin, to just go to confession.

But taking such a path ignores Christ’s call to all his followers to proclaim the Gospel, Father Meyer said, even when “it’s hard and it’s awkward.”

“Do you think it was awkward for Levi to invite all of his sinner friends,” Father Meyer asked. “The Gospel and the mandate that has been given to you and to me is that we are not to take our light and put it under a bushel basket. We are called to let our light shine.”

And it needs to shine, he said, in a “world that is dark.”

“Our world is dismal,” Father Meyer said. “Our world is broken. Our world is addicted. And I’m just going to tell you, brothers, our world needs you.”

As the 11th annual E6 conference came to an end later that day, Father Meyer invited the 1,500 men in the auditorium to offer their hearts to Christ and ask him to form and mold it.

“Gentlemen, in the depths of your heart, I want you to place the seed of truth that you heard today, the seed of conviction, the seed of hope … and I want you to plant it into the soil of your heart,” he said. “Come Holy Spirit, water that seed that it may blossom, grow and bear fruit.”
 

(For more information on the E6 Catholic Men’s Conference, visit e6catholicmensconference.com.) †