Southwest Liturgical Conference

Intermountain Catholic

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Timothy Johnston was chairman of the Southwest Liturgical Conference liturgy/music committee and Karin Hurley was the conference chairperson.

Our diocese recently hosted the Southwest Liturgical Conference at the Salt Palace for what turned out to be a most successful gathering. We had more than 1,500 registered participants who enjoyed our diocesan hospitality, marvelous presentations and workshops, beautiful liturgies and fairly decent winter weather. Everyone I talked to was full of compliments for those who organized the conference, as well as for those who made presentations. We were blessed to have Archbishop José Gomez and Bishop Gerald Kicanas as featured speakers. They were joined by many more theologians and liturgists who gave us superb insights into the beauty of the liturgy, with special attention paid to the third edition of the Roman Missal that will take effect this coming Advent. 

I cannot tell you how proud I am of our local leadership for all they did to make this conference one of the very best. While there are too many names to mention, please allow me to at least list some of those whose hard work made the conference such a success. I would like to thank Karin Hurley for serving as the conference chairperson. She did an outstanding job. Her enthusiasm and organization acumen guaranteed the success of the conference. I am deeply indebted to Timothy Johnston for working behind the scenes for about the past two years and for chairing the liturgy/music committee. His vision made the conference possible in our diocese. In addition, I thank the following committee chairs for all their work: Deacon Mike Bulson of the Speakers Committee, Joan Loffredo of the Finance Committee, Ruth Dillon of the Registration Committee, Jakob Rinderknecht of the Environment Committee, Mary Lou Bulson of the Exhibits and Sponsorship Committee, Cece Holt of the Hotel and Audio Visual Arrangements Committee, Juliana Boerio-Goates of the Hospitality and Entertainment Committee, Paulette Hill of the Transportation Committee, Mike Stransky of the Donations Committee, and Erika Manternach of the Publicity Promotions Committee. All these people and those who served on the various committees deserve our unqualified gratitude for a job well done. I am very proud of them all and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.