Catholic Festival of Faith draws thousands to Chicago's Navy Pier

Published: 2003-11-07

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Organizers of the Catholic Festival of Faith on Chicago's Navy Pier wanted to put the Catholic Church's diverse face on display during the Oct. 30-Nov. 2 event -- both for Catholics who often may only see others who look like themselves or who work on the same issues, and for the whole Chicago metropolitan area. The face on display was multiracial and multicultural. Liturgies and prayers were conducted in a multitude of languages, and presenters offered more than 200 sessions on everything from encouraging teens to practice chastity to coping with mental illness and finding Christ in the movies. And the face on display was happy, said Vincentian Father Joseph C. Geders, director of the Chicago Archdiocese's department of evangelization, catechesis and worship. "I remember seeing happy people," said Father Geders, the event's main coordinator, in a Nov. 3 interview with The Catholic New World, Chicago archdiocesan newspaper. "People were happy to be there."

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