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spirituality topic of conversation at bdccw conference in carlyle

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Recognizing what drives us, our passion, is our sense of our own spirituality, Sue Huett, director of the diocesan Office of Worship told the 150 diocesan women gathered for the annual Belleville Diocesan Council of Catholic Women conference Oct. 8 in Carlyle.

Huett was one of the guest speakers at the all-day conference. Father Joe Rascher, pastor of St. Stephen Parish in Caseyville spoke on the Year of St. Paul and gave the women background on the importance of this saint in our church and information about what a year dedicated to this saint means.

“We want to have the same experience Paul had,” Father Rascher said. “We want to transform our lives.”

Father Rascher told his audience Paul’s letters were written not only for the people of his day but for all of us.
During her presentation, Huett spoke of recognizing “the fire that burns within us” as the driving force behind everything a person does. That would be his or her spirituality, the force that calls us to ethical lives of integrity, and it also calls us to ministry in the church.

Suggestions about how to cultivate a personal spirituality: pray — and sometimes “allow yourself just to ‘be’ and just listen; practice openness and forgiveness so that you can be the best person you can be; and read literature about the 12 steps” practiced in many settings but best known through Alcoholics Anonymous, Huett said.
“A healthy spirituality is a non-negotiable part of our lives,” Huett said.