A salute to the worker bees

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Delegates at the Vision 20/20 Convocation commented about the hospitality they experienced, the high-quality speakers they listened to and the well-coordinated schedule of keynote presentations, break-outs, liturgies and meals. The Holy Spirit was at work, an organizer said after the three-day convocation concluded June 8 at St. Ambrose University in Davenport.

Anne Marie Amacher
Virginia Trujillo looks over registration information with Carol Robinson of Richland at the Vision 20/20 Convocation check-in desk in the Rogalski Center at St. Ambrose University. Barb Butterworth, front, checks over housing information.

The Holy Spirit inspired Vision 20/20: from Pentecost to Pentecost, an ongoing initiative that included the convocation. The “worker bees,” led by the Vision 20/20 Steering Committee, made it happen. More than 60 worker bees (diocesan staff and volunteers) handled liturgy preparation, audio and video recording, computer setup and assistance, serving as greeters, hosts, van drivers, cart drivers or translators, working on set-up and tear down, communications, the cookie reception and more. Week after week, in the months leading up to the June 6-8 convocation, the Vision 20/20 logistics committee met at the Chancery to plan the convocation. The work could be tedious and exasperating at times, but dealing in details makes the work of evangelization possible.

“You all went way above and beyond preparing for and rolling out the Vision 20/20 Convocation,” Bishop Thomas Zinkula said in an email to the worker bees. (He’s in Baltimore meeting with fellow bishops this week.) “Zillions of delegates expressed their appreciation to me. One of the young people said the convocation was ‘lit’! In Pentecost terms, these fruits of the Holy Spirit come to mind when I think of your presence at the convocation: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness and faithfulness…. Let’s keep on this — allow the Holy Spirit to keep moving within and among us.”

Deacon David Montgomery, the diocesan Chief of Staff, also expressed thanks to the worker bees. “To all those who helped in front of the scenes and behind the scenes last week and for the many months before: Thank you. You have taken to heart the vision and expressed it in a variety of ways, going above and beyond in service to others…. setting up hours, days and weeks before the event. You were present to people and attentive to their needs even before they knew of them. You demonstrated what it means to bring the joy of the Gospel to people. You have done the diocese proud. This is not the end but a tremendous beginning.”

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Delegates left the Vision 20/20 Convocation well aware of the importance of this initiative to revitalize the Catholic Church in southeast Iowa. “Because the diocese is invested in high-level speakers, I realize how serious the mission is,” said delegate Sandie Campie of Church of the Visitation in Camanche. The convocation, she said, “has been so well-developed and so much effort has been put into it. It shows me how important it is to the diocese that we embrace these ideas. I’m totally inspired by that.”

Now, as Bishop Zinkula said throughout the convocation, “Let’s get to work” in our parishes, schools, religious communities, campus ministries and other groups to spread the light of faith in a society that so desperately needs it. We’re all worker bees.

Barb Arland-Fye, Editor
(arland-fye@davenportdiocese.org.)


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