ABOVE: Fr. Jason Hage, pastor of Mary, Mother of Our Savior Parish in Utica, has a conversation with some of the women during breakfast at the women’s retreat.
Annual event is held in Syracuse, Broome County and for the first time in Utica
By Fran Perritano, contributing writer
Judy Henty, right, and her daughter Lisa, attended the women’s conference in Utica. Judy Henty is a parishioner at St. Bernard’s in Waterville while Lisa traveled from Cortland to attend.
Judy Henty is a big believer in women’s religious retreats — she’s attended four. Getting her to go to her first retreat, however, required a little coaxing.
“A very persistent member of my church who had attended Syracuse Catholic Women’s Conferences in the past graciously organized a carpool for a group of us,” said Henty, a parishioner at St. Bernard’s in Waterville in Oneida County. “Her enthusiasm and love of her faith encouraged me to attend my first conference. I remember having some of my first quality discussions of my faith with women in my parish during that car ride to the conference.”
Henty was among the more than 110 women who attended the Lenten Retreat for Catholic Women on Feb. 17 at Mary, Mother of Our Savior Parish in Utica. Retreats also took place in Johnson City and Syracuse. This is the first time the conference has been offered in the eastern region of the Syracuse Diocese.
“I think it’s great that the retreat is in Utica, not only because it is a shorter distance for me to travel, but because it provides an opportunity for Catholic women to get to know each other in our own neighborhoods,” she said.
Jill Smith, chairwoman of the Syracuse Catholic Women’s Commission that organizes the conferences, said the retreats have taken place in the diocese for 10 years. She said each retreat offers breakfast, Mass, speaker reflection, confession, adoration, rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, brown scapular enrollments and sharing faith and fellowship with other Catholic women.
The Rev. Jason Hage, pastor of Mary, Mother of Our Savior Parish in Utica, speaks at the “Lenten Retreat for Catholic Women.” His talk focused on God’s mercy.
“We are holding the retreat at the beginning of Lent to renew our focus on fasting, almsgiving and prayer, and foster spiritual growth,” Smith said. “Lent presents us with an especially meaningful time to connect with the Lord.”
Ellen Benton, evangelization coordinator at St. Joseph – St. Patrick Parish in Utica, organized the Utica event. She said women always have had a vital role in the church.
“Women have served many roles in the Church before and after Pentecost,” she said. “Women are the backbone of the Church. We look to Our Lady, the Queen of Heaven and Earth, as our model and other women saints throughout the ages for our inspiration.”
Father Jason Hage, pastor of Mary, Mother of Our Savior Parish and director of the diocesan Office of Vocation Promotion, spoke to the women about “The Name of God Is Mercy.”
“You might be sitting there and asking yourselves, well, what is mercy really for,” he said. “Mercy derives from the Latin word ‘misericordias,’ which means opening one’s heart — opening one’s heart to wretchedness, opening one’s heart to someone else’s misery. Isn’t it an interesting way to define mercy?”
Father Hage said God can never stop choosing us in love.
“The most important revelation here is that you will continue to be chosen,” he said. “You will continue to be the chosen people and all your sins will be forgiven. All you have to do is turn back to the Lord. That’s all it requires. Even though we might turn away from the Lord, the Lord can never turn away from us.”
