Pro-Life Women’s Conference
The eighth annual Pro-Life Women’s Conference will take place June 23-25 at the St. Charles Convention Center in St. Charles. The conference is focused on educating, affirming, empowering and activating women to build a culture of life within their own communities and beyond through speakers, breakout sessions and opportunities for networking and fellowship. Topics include abortion pill reversal, sex trafficking, the meaning of sexual freedom, how to change minds in a post-Roe America and a panel of former abortion workers. For more information and registration, visit www.prolifewomen.com.
St. Josemaria
Escriva Mass
A Mass celebrating the feast of St. Josemaria Escriva will be celebrated at 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 26, at Immaculate Conception Church, 7701 Highway N in Dardenne Prairie. Confessions will be heard beginning at 7 p.m. St. Josemaria Escriva was a Spanish priest who founded Opus Dei, an organization of laypeople and priests dedicated to the teaching that everyone is called to holiness by God and that ordinary life can result in sanctity. His feast day is celebrated on June 26.
Participants also are welcome to visit the Holy Family Shrine, 1500 Highway W in Foristell. Dedicated 13 years ago and overlooking a small lake, the space provides a quiet place for families and people of all ages to pray and meditate on the life of the Holy Family. The shrine is open from sunrise to sunset each day. For more information, visit
cedarlakefoundation.org/
shrine-holy-family.
Bridges Retreat
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, adapted for persons from all walks of life over an eight-month period, are offered through the Bridges Foundation based in St. Louis. The retreat includes a commitment to about an hour of prayer each day, following a modern translation of the original text; personalized, one-on-one guidance from an experienced and trained prayer companion and weekly or monthly small community meetings at four locations throughout the St. Louis area. An online option is offered for those outside the area or who need a virtual experience.
The retreat runs from September to May and coincides with the Church’s liturgical calendar. Registration is limited each year to about 40 participants. Free information sessions (in-person and virtual) will be offered beginning in July. For more details about the retreat and information session schedule, visit:
www.bridgesfoundation.org. For questions, contact executive director Steve Givens at
executive.director@
bridgesfoundation.org or (314) 401-2072.
Love & Life Mass
The annual Love & Life Mass marking the anniversary of “Humanae Vitae,” Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on family love and the sanctity of life, will be celebrated Sunday, July 16, at St. Peter Church, 221 1st Capitol Drive in St. Charles. Auxiliary Bishop Mark S. Rivituso will celebrate Mass at 11 a.m. A picnic lunch will follow, and a free-will offering will be taken up for the Archbishop Robert J. Carlson Adoption Fund. To RSVP, see bit.ly/NFP-LL-2023. Natural Family Planning Awareness Week will also be celebrated July 23-29. Follow the archdiocesan Office of Natural Family Planning Facebook and Instagram pages (@stlnfp) for daily posts, information and interviews.