Catholic Professionals Conference set for June 22

The second annual Catholic Professionals Conference will take place Saturday, June 22 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville. The theme of this year’s conference will be “The Sacredness of the Human Person.”

The conference is sponsored by the Albany Catholic Lawyers Guild and the Albany Catholic Medical Association. The day includes a morning conference, an afternoon mini-retreat, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Confession and Mass celebrated by Bishop Edward Scharfenberger.
The morning conference will center on child abuse in the Church and society, and what can be learned in identifying children who may be abused, reporting abuse and helping prevent abuse.

Ashley K. Fernandez, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics, will focus on the signs of abuse and the impact on the health of children; Attorney Luis A. Torres, Jr. will explain the law surrounding the reporting and legal remedies for abuse, with the added perspective of his being an abuse survivor himself. Licensed Mental Health Counselor Frederick Jones will offer the perspective of working with victims through the process of healing. Following lunch, survivor Teresa Pitt Green will give a talk on the process of healing from abuse. In the mini-retreat after lunch, Jesuit author and speaker Father Robert McTeigue, S.J., Ph.D. will present two talks on “The Sacredness of the Human Person.” The first will examine the Catholic perspective on the human person; the second will examine how, in light of the Incarnation, the body is itself the sacramental vessel of the human person.

General Admission is $25. The fee for medical and legal professionals is $75 (email [email protected] for financial aid details). Please register and pay online at https://shrineconference.eventbrite.com, or mail a check payable to Albany Catholic Lawyers Guild to Thomas R. Fallati, Esq., Tabner, Ryan & Keniry, LLP, 18 Corporate Woods Blvd., Albany, NY 12211.