Women challenged to ‘Be the One’ at KDCCW Convention

St. Thomas the Apostle in Lenoir City hosts the annual three-day event attended by more than 130

Women of the Diocese of Knoxville were challenged to confidently embrace their God-given purpose and actively live it out at the Knoxville Diocesan Council of Catholic Women Convention held at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City April 20-22.

The theme of the convention was “Be the One.” More than 130 people attended the three-day convention, which featured keynote speaker Melissa Foley.

Donna Curry, president of the convention host Cumberland Mountain Deanery CCW, explained that the theme arose from a prayer card handed out to St. Thomas the Apostle parishioners that said, “Be the one to say, ‘Here I am, Lord.’”

“It resonated with the planning committee,” Ms. Curry said.

Patti Macken, the convention committee chair, elaborated, “That was really what we wanted our ladies to think about. Think about being the one to step up, take the lead, make others feel included and welcome, and just say to the Lord, ‘Here I am, use me.’

“Ever since COVID, some of the affiliate CCWs are struggling to stay strong, and we were struggling to keep our numbers up. We thought this theme may call to our women to ‘Be the One’ and become involved.”

The convention opened April 20 with the Mass of Remembrance for members of the KDCCW who died in the past year.

Bishop Richard F. Stika celebrated the Mass. Fathers Ray Powell, Dan Whitman, Peter Iorio, Joseph Kuzhupil, MSFS, Mark Schuster, and Michael Woods concelebrated.

In his homily, Bishop Stika thanked the women of the KDCCW for their work and their faith.

“At my first assignment [as a priest], my pastor, a wonderful man, he’d always have different kinds of expressions for unique words it seems. So, he would never use the word beautiful. If he would see a beautiful woman or a beautiful sunset or a beautiful this or beautiful that, he would say, ‘Oh, it’s always pleasing to the eye.’ It took me about two months after I got there to figure out what he was talking about.

“Well, as I said in the beginning of Mass, seeing all of you here in faith is pleasing to my eye, not just your outward beauty, but also because of your faith you live and share. That is a beautiful thing. And there’s a phrase—I think it’s in the Gospel— that talks about the eye of God. God sees. He sees our witness to our faith.”

The bishop noted the importance of women in the Church.

“You know, the Church would be in trouble without women. First of all, we wouldn’t have any kids running around. But also, so often in the Church, and I know this is true at the Chancery, you women do so many things.”

He encouraged the women attending the convention to enjoy their time together and return home renewed in their witness.

“What we do together today is very pleasing to the eye of God. In these next days, to listen and to share and to grow in faith: I think it’s wonderful that you gather together. And to start off with Mass, the great sacrifice.”

Bishop Stika also encouraged the women to invite others to join the organization and activities of the KDCCW.

“I would encourage you to continue to witness. Because the strongest invitation you can give to another person to join this group, this wonderful group, is your witness. And that’s the invitation. How it makes a difference in your life? And how much it makes a difference in the life of the Church? I hope these days are a beautiful thing for you.”

Finding your purpose

Following Mass was a dinner with keynote speaker Melissa Foley. Mrs. Foley is a retreat director, trained inner-healing minister, and founder of the healing ministry Loved Already, which operates out of Georgia.

“I love the title of this convention: Be the One,” she said. “Because we are all searching for something in this life. Whether you call it significance or purpose or meaning or mission. There’s an innate desire in all of us that our lives matter, that we matter, that we have significance and purpose. Each of us longs to be something, to be someone. But all too often we look at things like age, career status, wealth, relationships, accolades. We look to those things to give us purpose. We look to temporary solutions rather than a permanent solution. And as followers of Christ, you know the truth: that nothing on this earth can satisfy your longing for significance and worth apart from God.”

Mrs. Foley talked about how through working with people she sees how many struggle to know their purpose. They feel lost or confused. The burdens of the world weigh on them. There is a longing for purpose and change, but the voice of the devil convinces

By Emily Booker

them that changing the world is impossible.

“There’s nothing you can do. It’s too much for you. What are you going to do to save the world, right? Even though he is the father of lies, he’s partially right. You can’t do anything to change the world. But with God’s grace and obedience, and you doing what He asks you to do—bam—you and Jesus together can do all kinds of good in this world. It’s the secret sauce. No, you can’t do it alone. But you and Jesus, you better believe it. Not only are you called to do something with God, but you were made for it,” she said.

Mrs. Foley mentioned the creation in Genesis, how God created mankind in His image and declared all of His creation, including His faithful, good. This, she said, is the root of who we are and of our purpose.

“God spent six days creating everything in the world, right? And He said it was good. And his final act when He creates human beings—actually, sorry fathers and men in here—but his final act was woman. The crescendo of the symphony of creation was us. Here we