• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Harbaugh discusses faith in adversity at sold-out Catholic Men’s Conference

March 7, 2016
By Erik Zygmont
Filed Under: Local News, News

By Erik Zygmont
ezygmont@CatholicReview.org
Twitter: @ReviewErik
LINTHICUM HEIGHTS – Speaking to about 1,100 Catholic men at St. Philip Neri Parish, Ravens’ coach John Harbaugh made mention of his team’s hard-fought wins and miraculous plays leading up to a Super Bowl victory that capped the 2012 season, but he focused just as much on a 5-11 season in 2015.
As the season began, he distributed T-shirts to his players, emblazoned with a slogan: “Get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
“If I had known how uncomfortable God was going to make the season, maybe I wouldn’t have made the shirt,” he quipped at the sold-out 2016 Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Maryland Annual Conference March 5.
The Ravens’ record notwithstanding, Harbaugh commended his team because “week after week, day after day, they worked, they competed, and they never cracked.”
“That’s what faith is,” he said. “We choose hope or hopeless. We work together or alone. We turn our face humbly to our God, or we turn our back. We are all in or we are all out.”

John Harbaugh signs autographs at the 2016 Catholic Men’s Fellowship Conference. (Kevin J. Parks/Special to the Review)

Charlie Hawkins, president of the Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Maryland, noted that participation was up this year across the board. While previous conferences had not exceeded approximately 800, the 1,100 available slots were sold out this year by Feb. 29.
Harbaugh’s presence likely had something to do with that.

Hawkins also attributed the spike in attendance to a social media push and increased outreach to the Hispanic and African-American communities. Two speakers offered break-out presentations in Spanish, and there were 100 headsets available for simultaneous translation of the main speakers.

The final speaker, Deacon Larry Oney, author of “Amazing Grace Overcoming Race,” grew up the son of a sharecropper in rural Louisiana.

“I didn’t like white people, like many of you are here today,” he said as the crowd roared with laughter. “I feel better about white people today – God does amazing things.”

Deacon Oney spoke about the importance of men acting as strong spiritual fathers for their families.

“Brothers, did you know we are in a battle right now?” he said, noting the breakdown of the family and rise of moral relativism. “We call evil good and good evil. We live in a time when there’s shaking upon the earth. God is calling every man to stand up and do something. The first thing to do is to praise God.”

Deacon Larry Oney speaks at the 2016 Catholic Men’s Fellowship Conference. (Kevin J. Parks/Special to the Review)

Like Deacon Oney, Father Larry Richards, a priest of the Diocese of Erie, Pa., and a sought-after speaker and author, exhorted men to protect their wives and children.

“You need to be this man of prayer that makes the world, the flesh and the devil tremble,” he said. “You look at the devil, and you say, ‘You’ve got to get through me to get to my wife and kids.’ “

Both Father Richards and Deacon Oney spoke of mercy.

“Mercy, gentleman, is giving something good to someone who doesn’t deserve it,” Father Richards said. “Who’s that? Every single person here.”

In his homily during the closing Mass, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori noted that the idea of mercy may not seem masculine to some men. They may see it as a plea to “please stop” to a person stronger than them, holding them in a half-nelson.

“I hope that’s not your idea of asking for God’s mercy, and I hope it’s not mine,” the archbishop said.

He noted that Pope Francis had called God’s capacity to forgive the “biggest proof” of his power.

“When we’re asking for mercy, we’re tapping into the greatest power of all,” Archbishop Lori said.

Archbishop William E. Lori celebrates Mass at the 2016 Catholic Men’s Fellowship Conferenc. (Kevin J. Parks/Special to the Review)

Jim Hamilton noted that his parish, St. Joseph in Fullerton, which sent about 30 men to the annual conference, follows Harbaugh’s lead and takes a team-oriented approach to faith. Six years ago, he and a couple other men decided to form a men’s group after meeting at daily Mass.

“A few of us got to talking afterward,” remembered Hamilton, a 48-year-old self-employed accountant. “If we had three men sitting outside talking afterward, then that was probably about half the men at daily Mass.”

One of those men, Doug Brown, a 54-year-old career-coach, remembered that an older man threw him a CD from the Lighthouse Catholic Media kiosk in the church foyer, and then nodded toward Hamilton and said, “You guys are around the same age; you should talk.”
They did, and the idea of starting a men’s group evolved.
“I’d always felt we should have more of a presence at St. Joseph’s,” Brown said.

Reilly Gates prays at the 2016 Catholic Men’s Fellowship Conference. (Kevin J. Parks/Special to the Review)

Hamilton went to his pastor, Monsignor Kevin T. Schenning, to run the idea by him, but the priest beat him to it, saying, “We need to start a men’s group.”
“The Holy Spirit was working through these guys,” Hamilton said. “I couldn’t ignore that.”
Hamilton and Brown formed a small group and connected it to the Men of St. Joseph, an international Catholic association that encourages men to meet for weekly prayer, with the goal of serving as effective spiritual leaders of their families.
“The network was there,” Brown said. “They gave us a lot of coaching and information to get started.”

John Wallace, a member of the Westminster Council of the Knights of Columbus, rests a hand over his heart in a room dedicated to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at the 2016 Catholic Men’s Fellowship Conference. (Kevin J. Parks/Special to the Review)

The group – which includes parishioners from St. Joseph, St. Ursula in Parkville and St. Isaac Jogues in Carney, meets Tuesdays at 6 a.m. and takes a Saturday 2 a.m. shift for perpetual Eucharistic adoration at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Towson.
Taking the call to evangelize seriously, the Men of St. Joseph spoke after Masses as Lent began, offering free tickets to the annual conference, a highlight for members.
“I discovered it four years ago, and I’ve been to every one since,” said Pat Reid, another member of the Men of St. Joseph. “Last year my wife was trying to organize a trip to go to Arkansas to see our daughter, and I said, ‘No no – not that weekend.’”

A cross bearer leads the recessional at the end of a March 5 Mass at the Catholic Men’s Fellowship Conference at St. Philip Neri in Linthicum Heights. (Kevin J. Parks/Special to the Review)

To view more photos and purchase prints, visit our Smugmug page here.

Also see:

St. Andrew by the Bay spearheads call for men to evangelize without going it alone

At men’s conference, Cardinal Wuerl says ‘the voice of our faith conviction has to be heard’

Ravens rookie talks football and faith

Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh finds winning combination

 

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Erik Zygmont

A journalist since 2005, Erik wrote for small-town publications in New Hampshire before he left for Germany, where he taught English for two years, starting in 2009. He moved to Baltimore and served as editor of the Baltimore Guide from 2012 to 2015. He then served as a staff writer for Catholic Review until August 2017 when his family made plans to relocate from Maryland. He currently serves as a freelance contributor.

Erik is grateful for the richness of the Catholic faith he has experienced since, owing both to his access as a journalist and the Baltimore Archdiocese being the Premier See.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Three more pro-life activists convicted on federal charges for blockade at abortion clinic
  • St. Maria Goretti High School faces uncertain future after difficult decision by archdiocese
  • Archbishop Lori announces appointments, including three associate pastors
  • Cardinal Dolan: Are Sunday Masses just too long?
  • Compensating all claims of abuse: Archdiocese considers Chapter 11 reorganization

| Latest Local News |

St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore awarded $2 million VA grant

‘The Following of Christ’: The ‘hidden’ book that helped make Mother Seton a saint

St. Maria Goretti High School faces uncertain future after difficult decision by archdiocese

| Latest World News |

U.S. Catholic archbishop receives award from Ukraine’s Zelenskyy

People have a duty to save migrants in danger of drowning, pope says

Arriving in Marseille, pope prepares to speak up for protecting migrants

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • U.S. Catholic archbishop receives award from Ukraine’s Zelenskyy
  • People have a duty to save migrants in danger of drowning, pope says
  • St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore awarded $2 million VA grant
  • Arriving in Marseille, pope prepares to speak up for protecting migrants
  • Florida, Michigan bishops decry ‘grave,’ ‘appalling’ abortion efforts underway in their states
  • Justice Barrett discusses originalism, praises ‘academic freedom’ at CUA law event
  • Indiscriminate destruction in Ukraine is a ‘crime,’ pope says
  • ‘The Following of Christ’: The ‘hidden’ book that helped make Mother Seton a saint
  • Catholic groups underscore urgency of United Nations ‘Climate Ambition Summit’

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED