Men pray during the last Men's Conference, held in April 2010 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. After a 15-year hiatus, the conference will return on March 22 and will be held at the Boston Marriott Quincy. Pilot file photo/ Gregory L. Tracy
BRAINTREE -- "We just happened to be a bunch of guys that wanted to help and did something about it."
That's how Scot Landry describes the founding of the Boston Catholic Men's Conference. Landry was part of a group of Catholic men who met at St. Paul Parish in Cambridge in the early 2000s. They were looking for a way to strengthen the faith of their fellow men, especially as the clergy sexual abuse scandal and its aftermath plagued the Archdiocese of Boston. Several of the men in Landry's group mentioned how much they loved the Worcester Catholic Men's Conference. They decided to establish something like it in Boston and presented their idea to Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley, who loved it. The first Boston Catholic Men's Conference took place in 2005. The guest of honor was "Passion of the Christ" star Jim Caviezel.
"We wanted to try to do something to help the church," Landry told The Pilot on March 6.
The Boston Catholic Men's Conferences were held from 2004 to 2010. By then, the men who had gotten to know each other at St. Paul Parish now had growing families and no longer had time to volunteer.
"From a leadership standpoint, it was just too much work for the people that were available," Landry said.
Enter the Men of Divine Mercy, a men's group based out of Divine Mercy Parish in Quincy that formed thanks to the Boston Catholic Men's Conference. After a 15-year hiatus, the conference will make its return on March 22 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Boston Marriott Quincy.
"We're really excited, and what we hope is that we know from the past conferences that it led to reinvigorated Catholic men," Man of Divine Mercy Mark Carey told The Pilot on March 6.
The conference will feature Mass celebrated by Archbishop Richard Henning and a lineup of speakers, including Deacon Larry Oney, a deacon in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and president of Hope and Purpose Ministries; Dan Donaldson, vice president of the Catholic Men's Leadership Alliance; Jim Wahlberg, film producer and brother of Mark and Donnie Wahlberg; Chris Stefanick, founder and president of Real Life Catholic; Father Larry Richards, founder of the Reason for Our Hope Foundation; and Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart. This year's theme is "A man after God's own heart," a description of King David from 1 S 13:14.
To Landry, the revival of the conference is an answered prayer.
"It's a great time for a men's conference, and I'm super thrilled that these guys are doing it," he said.
He added that since the conference is happening during Lent, it's a great chance for men to grow in their faith.
"It becomes a high point of their Lenten experience," he said.
Carey said that it is important for the men's conference to exist at a time when few Catholic men are attending Mass or actively participating in their faith.
"Men are isolated," he said. "They lack community. That's why we're trying to bring it back."
He said it's uncommon for men to go up to other men they don't know and ask, "Can you pray with me?" The point of the Boston Catholic Men's Conference is to inspire men to do that, and for parishes to become a "source of brotherhood" for them. At the Worcester Catholic Men's Conference last year, Carey estimated that 100 men asked him how they could form their own men's groups. Such conferences have also inspired vocations to the priesthood and the diaconate.
"You just got to reach out to a guy," Carey said. "It's uncomfortable; guys just isolate."
The Men of Divine Mercy have created an advertising blitz for the conference, using billboards, social media, and parish bulletins to get the word out.
"You have to cut through so much," Carey said. "It's just different from what it used to be like."
Organizing the conference has been a big responsibility, and he has had to "leave the ego at the door." It hasn't been easy, he said, but he feels like it's the right thing to do.
"If you ever take on a challenge like this, there's always been a tax along the way, which tells me that we're doing the right thing," he said.
He hopes the conference will have 800 attendees. He said there might be even more because men "wait until the last minute" to buy tickets. As of March 6, the conference has been selling 15 to 20 tickets per day on average.
"It's ramping up as we get closer," Carey said.
Tickets are $70 per person, with a discounted price of $25 for college students and young adults between the ages of 18 and 30. All tickets include coffee and pastries for breakfast and a boxed lunch. Tickets are available at https://www.bostoncatholicmen.com/checkout/select-buy.