Inferno Men’s Conference will feature Acts XXIX founder

By Veronica Ambuul

COLORADO SPRINGS. The annual Inferno Men’s Conference will take place Nov. 4 from 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Antler’s Hotel. Bishop James Golka will celebrate Mass at 8:15 a.m. and will give one of the conference talks. Registration and a complete schedule for the conference can be found at https://www.infernomen.com/event-details/inferno-mens-conference-3.

The keynote speaker for the event will be Father John Riccardo of the Archdiocese of Detroit. In 2019, Father Riccardo and a team of lay people founded Acts XXIX (www.actsxxix.org), a Catholic apostolate that is made up of four components: The Rescue Project, reviving and equipping clergy, leadership immersives, and media and events.

Father Riccardo said that he intends to “get back to basics” with his presentation and hopes it will help give men a clearer picture of “who Christ was, what he did and what it means to follow him.”

“I have found that many men have slightly skewed ideas about Jesus,” Father Riccardo said. “They think of him as being kind, gentle, compassionate and merciful. He is all of those things, but it can leave a man feeling that Jesus is not like him. . . . As (Catholic author and apologist) Peter Kreeft has observed, ‘Christians have managed to undo the miracle of Cana and have turned Jesus into someone who’s boring.’”

“Jesus is Lord, who has triumphed over the power of death, sin and Satan,” Father Riccardo said.

“He has no rival. We need to ask the Lord to help us to see him again.”

“Most people today are wracked with anxiety, depression, and fear. If we can recover who Jesus is — the one who has defeated death — there is no reason to be anxious and afraid. The world isn’t spiraling out of control; we can live in hope and participate in the re-creation of this world; that gets men excited. It all flows from properly understanding his mission and then our mission.

Other speakers at this year’s conference will include Chris Stefanick and Father Nathan Cromly of the Community of St. John.

“I’m a huge fan of the Inferno Men’s Conference,” Stefanick said. “It’s honestly one of the best men’s conferences I’ve seen — not because of staging, lights, sound or speakers — but because that conference arises from and leads participants back to epic communities of real men of God who care about each other and support each other in faith.”

”At the Inferno Men’s conferences, the Church comes alive in a powerful way,” Father Cromly said. “Everything is conducive to building up our relationship with God and hearing his call to dedicate ourselves to his mission. Why wouldn’t we do everything we can to leverage opportunities like this to deepen our own faith and light a fire in the hearts of our children?”

 The conference will also include afternoon breakout sessions for various age groups, eucharistic adoration, confessions, lectio divina and lunch. Teenage sons can attend for free with a paid adult registration.