Atlanta
ACCR Conference attendees to reflect upon Fatima anniversary
Published September 21, 2017
ATLANTA—The Atlanta Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference, to be held Oct. 13-14, will mark the 100th anniversary of the “Miracle of the Sun” of Fatima.
The conference will be at the Atlanta Airport Renaissance Concourse Hotel, 1 Hartsfield Center Parkway in Atlanta.
Hundreds of Catholics from the archdiocese as well as the Southeast will gather for retreat and celebration exploring the relationship between Mary and the Holy Spirit with the focus on Fatima.
Registration begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Events including praise and worship, confessions, Mass, a rosary procession and adoration begin at 7 p.m.
Saturday programs will begin at 8 a.m. with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. The day will offer reflective presentations such as the “Roots of Marian Devotion in the Church,” “Mary, the First Charismatic,” “The Message and Secrets of Fatima” and “Mary’s Message for the Church Today.” Afternoon workshops include tracks in Vietnamese, programs on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and consecration of the family to Mary. Saturday concludes with a healing service, holy Mass and adoration at 8:30 p.m.
Beginning in the spring of 1917, three young Portuguese children, Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, reported visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Mary shared three secrets with the children, two of which Lucia revealed in 1930, and the third in 1960. “So that all may believe,” the Blessed Mother left a sign for the world on Oct. 13, 1917. That day, thousands witnessed the “miracle of the sun” in which the sun seemed to plunge toward the earth and zigzag back in place despite a downpour of rain.
Bishop Jose da Silva declared the miracle worthy of belief Oct. 13, 1930. In 1946, Pope Pius XII granted canonical coronation to the venerated image of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fatima.
Two retreat masters will lead the weekend. Father Trevor Nathasingh was raised in a Hindu-Muslim family. His inspiring conversion to Catholicism led him to be ordained to the priesthood in 1989.
Father Nathasingh’s charisms of teaching and evangelization take him around the world speaking at missions, retreats and seminars “proclaiming without compromise the action of the Holy Spirit at work in the Church today.” He is founder of a lay community, the Franciscan House of Prayer.
Father Peter Mary Minh Bui was ordained in June 2001. While a seminarian, he had a profound encounter with the Holy Spirit, which inspired him to surrender totally to God. Father Minh has organized and led retreats, conferences, seminars and healing Masses throughout the world. He has visited Fatima often and speaks about its messages.
Father Tim Hepburn and Deacon Keith Kolodziej, of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, will also be speakers at the conference.
Father Hepburn is director of vocations for the archdiocese. He is a gifted speaker, musician, retreat director and parish mission presenter.
Deacon Kolodziej, of St. Peter Chanel Church in Roswell, also serves as director of liturgy at St. Ann Church in Marietta. He speaks to parish prayer groups and catechists about the role of the Holy Spirit in the home and parish, and of conversion to Christ though living one’s life in the Holy Spirit.
Rooms are available at the hotel at a rate of $99 per night for Friday and Saturday evenings. Registration for the weekend is $45 per person, which includes lunch Saturday.
To register for the Atlanta Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference, go to www.atlccr.org or contact event coordinator Marlene Lee-Seaton at atlccr@aol.com or 678-464-9008.