What a night!

More than 700 people filled St. Patrick Church for an electric theology of the body talk by Christopher West last night. Even Christopher, who has given hundreds of talks around the world, was impressed by the turnout. Maybe it was in part due to the fact that no football is played on Tuesday nights. I think moreso it was that the theology of the body is striking a chord in many hearts. Some are well-versed in it and wanted to be refreshed. Some may have heard of it and did not want to miss the opportunity to learn more from one of the world's best speakers on this topic.

The talk was titled "The Theology of the Body: Antidote to a Pornographic Culture." Because it's 2 a.m., we'll get more into the actual talk in a future post. But in case there are folks wanting to discuss points that struck them, I wanted to open this post to comments. Please share.

Also, I am happy to report the audio recording came out well, if a tad loud and also missing the last five minutes (I used a professional MP3 recorder with a memory card that had about 2:10 minutes worth of space. Christopher talked just a little longer than that. I am not sure yet what will happen to the audio. I will send it off first to Ascension Press to see if they want to produce a full CD release from it. If they decline, I will likely stream it on the Herald Web site. CDs will not be sold, although I may produce a limited quantity of 2CD sets with Ascension Press' blessing for the cost only of shipping. Sign up to the Herald's e-mail alert list at http://www.coloradocatholicherald.com/ and you'll be the first to get the news on this.

Thank you so much to Father Brad Noonan for opening up his church for us and for Marie and everyone else at St. Patrick who helped us with setup and takedown; to the diocese's homeschooling community (thanks Phelps family) for contributing refreshments; to everyone who took the time to drive up to attend (we had folks from Pueblo to Denver); to Esperanza Griffith for her tireless behind-the-scenes work to make sure the little (and big) things were taken care of; to the Office of Total Catholic Education and Aquinas and More bookstore for their contributions to offset the cost of the event; to Bishop Sheridan for his support; to the priests, nuns, deacons and ministers who attended (more on this part in an upcoming post); and to Christopher for taking a night out of an already busy week of teaching at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver.

This truly was a grace-filled experience that can have a very positive impact on the Colorado Springs Diocese if we build on the momentum created last night.