Catholic Men Follow In The Father's Footsteps at Annual Men's Conference

OKLAHOMA CITY — Jesse Romero told the more than 500 men who gathered in the Father John A. Petuskey Auditorium at McGuinness High School "the only sin God can't forgive is the one you don't repent of."

Romero was one of several speakers at the Ninth Annual In the Father's Footsteps Catholic Men's Conference held on March 5. The day- long event concluded with Archbishop Eusebius Beltran celebrating Mass. Prior to Mass,      Rev. Dr. Jerry Kirk, a retired Presbyterian minister, addressed the conference priests heard confessions.                       on  the importance of battling pornography in the United States.
Deacon Bill Bawden, one of the principal organizers of the Men's Conference, encouraged participants to avail themselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He said at previous conferences men who hadn't been to confession "in more than 40 years" found themselves going into the confessional.

Deacon John Morris of Edmond said he has attended five of the men's conferences. He said their willingness to give up an entire Saturday shows many men are committed to bringing Christ more into their lives.

"It's great they do this every year because each year there are many new faces," Deacon Morris said. "It's spreading."

A 17-year veteran of the Los Angeles sheriff's department, Romero delivered a high-energy and emotional challenge to the men telling them they must turn to God and ask forgiveness of their sins.

A three-time World Police Olympic Boxing champion, Romero told the audience true "power does not come from Gold's Gym" or some nutritional supplement. "The power you have inside you is given to you by God" Jesse Romero, a three-time World Police Olympic Boxing champion, kicked         and he challenged the conference
off the conference with a stirring presentation.                                          goers to  "unleash that power to the                                                                                                  praise and glory of God."

Romero spoke of the "sins of the flesh" and used the biblical story of King David as an example of how man allows lust to get the better of him, even men who love God.

"You were not made for Oklahoma," Romero said. "You were not made for New York or Los Angeles. You were made for heaven. David shows us none of us are impervious to sin. Repent and confess."

He called for men to turn away from the "political correctness" that has devoured society, even "filtering in" to the Church.

"There's good in this world and there is evil in this world," Romero said. He said it's morally wrong to sit idle while the world around us "dumbs down the Word of God.

Romero said our culture is willing to bow down to the "altars of psychology and sociology" and yet we won't take the time to teach our children to pray.

"God doesn't answer email, He answers knee mail," Romero said. He said Christ is the great healer of marriages and only through the love of God can the cycle of "generational sin" be broken.

"I saw it day-after-day on the streets of L.A.," Romero said. He described arresting entire families for the same kinds of crimes, mostly related to drugs and abuse.

"Bad behavior breeds bad behavior. Good behavior begets good behavior."

Rev. Dr. Jerry Kirk, a retired Presbyterian minister and the founder of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, spoke about the need to take a strong stand against pornography and especially against large corporations that are involved in the business.

He said the coalition fighting pornography included every Catholic cardinal and bishop, as well as the leaders of every Protestant church in the nation. Kirk said the coalition has taken on business giants such as General Motors and AT&T over their involvement in porn through their various business interests.

Kirk said America is being hit again and again by a "sexual tsunami.

"The people who oppose me say I'm against sex," he said with a sly laugh. Kirk is the father of five and the grandfather of 26. "I'm against throw away sex. The kind that says women only have worth from the neck down."

He said porn leads to deviant and violent behavior with one out of every three girls and one of every seven boys reportedly being molested before their 18th birthday.

"Our teens are the most sexualized group in the entire world," Kirk said. "It's in their face 24 hours a day. We had temptation when I was growing up in the 1940s and 50s, but it wasn't in your face every minute of the day."

Eric Zanotelli, Brian Zanotelli, Zach Carter and David Zanotelli join in song at the opening of the Catholic Men's Conference. The four drove from Stillwater to attend the ninth annual conference known as "In the Father's Footsteps."