All Are Welcome to Ministry Days 2024: You Are the Salt of the Earth: Baptized for Mission

By SUSAN WINDLEY-DAOUST

Ministry Days is back after a brief hiatus last year for the Diocesan Eucharistic Congress! It will be held June 18-19 at Saint Mary’s University in Winona, and all are welcome.

Really? All? If you are involved in your parish and interested in the life of the local Church, yes, you are welcome. For many decades, Ministry Days has been promoted to priests and parish staff. And certainly there is a lot of renewal for them there! But look at the title this year–”You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). This event is open to all the baptized. We want and need all hands on deck as we continue to become evangelizing parishes together.

The conference will invite back Deacon Keith Strohm, the founder of M3 Ministries (facebook.com/parishrenewal/) and former Director of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Chicago. Deacon Keith, as some may remember from our “COVID Ministry Day” in 2021, is a phenomenal speaker who understands Christian mission inside and out. He will be speaking to all of us on the mission year of the National Eucharistic Revival, and how we can lean into that gift. We are planning a clergy track session Tuesday afternoon with Deacon Keith, while the lay and consecrated attendees get to work with Todd Graff and Susan Windley-Daoust.

On Wednesday, we will have breakout sessions on all kinds of ministries and apostolates in the Church and our diocese, to give people a chance to learn from each other and get updates from directors and other diocesan leaders about what is coming next.

Both Tuesday and Wednesday will be marked by Masses, with Bishop Robert Barron presiding. There will be Liturgy of the Hours and a holy hour of adoration as well. There will also be apostolates and ecclesial movements active in the diocese sharing their gifts at tables between talks and at breakfast in the Toner Student Center Lounge. Shared meals give us a chance to relax, make new friends, and reconnect with old ones. And finally, the beauty of the Saint Mary’s campus and walking trails give the event a retreat-like atmosphere that everyone enjoys.

We look forward to offering this rejuvenating and educational event again! Registration is open now, and we encourage people to register in May. Any questions about this event can go to Susan Windley-Daoust (swindley@dowr.org) or Zach Rawson (zrawson@dowr.org ). See you there!

Susan Windley-Daoust is the Director of Missionary Discipleship