Announcing the first annual Gaudium et Spes 22 fellowship on the farm event of "roundtable discussions"

I am excited to announce that I will be hosting the first annual Gaudium et Spes 22 “roundtable discussions” here on the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker farm.  The event will be held on the weekend of September 12-14, 2025. I want to emphasize that this is not an academic conference and no “papers” will be presented. Instead, it is what the co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Peter Maurin, called “roundtable discussions” where like-minded people come together to discuss the Catholic faith and how it is to be lived in the modern world.

The format will be very informal and will involve conversations, meals, prayer, and hopefully some good cigars and a beverage or two.  I view it as an opportunity to meet some of you in person and to have more in-depth fellowship and conversation.  The general theme will be a discussion of the role of the laity in today’s Church especially in light of the universal call to holiness.  But priests and religious are also welcome as I am sure our conversations will range over many topics.  

The conversations, fellowship, many meals, and prayer will take place on the farm.  However, we do not have the ability to house people for overnight visits so we will need to book hotel rooms nearby.  Everything associated with the weekend will be covered by the farm ministry and there is no charge of any kind for attending.  But attendees will be responsible for their own travel and lodging expenses.  

If you are so inclined, you can also choose to pitch a tent on our property of to park your camper van.  The goal is to have people arrive on Friday the 12th at some point during the day.  If you are driving you can drive straight to the farm or to wherever the hotel will be.  I can also try and pick up people at the airport if you are flying. The closest airport is in Scranton PA (Avoca) and the next closest is in the Lehigh Valley (LVI).  

The first conversations can then take place on the deck of our farm on Friday evening, concluding with Compline.  Drinks, including some fine Spirits, will be provided, as well as a nice collection of finger foods.  Saturday morning we will be hosting a large country breakfast here on the farm followed by morning conversations over coffee and tea.  Lunch will most likely be catered in from a local pizza and sandwich shop. Throughout the day we will pause for the Liturgy of the Hours, tour the small homestead here, and just generally enjoy the outdoor weather.  Afternoon conversations will end with dinner here on the farm and more evening fellowship after.  

Sunday morning I would like us all, if possible, to attend Mass at St. Thomas More Anglican Ordinariate parish in Scranton PA. This is my parish and the high solemn Mass (10:00 AM) is gorgeous.  But if some would rather not join us there, you can attend Mass at our local territorial parish which is only about three miles away on the lake (Our Lady of Victory).

Because this is a new event, and because of the relatively short notice, I want to limit the attendance to a manageable number.  I do not know how much interest this event will generate, so right now I am just trying to gauge what the level of interest might be. Therefore, I would greatly appreciate it if you would email me at the following address to let me know if you would be interested in attending:  Larrychapp@icloud.com

Once I have a sense of how many people might be interested, I can then move on to arranging for rooms to be reserved at nearby hotels.  My preference would be the Hampton Inn in Tunkhannock, PA which is a short 20 minute drive from the farm in a quaint little town on the banks of the Susquehanna river.  

I am sure I am forgetting to say something but I wanted to finally get this out.  Many thanks to my loyal subscriber and friend, Bernard (Bernie) Franceschi, for inspiring me to finally do this.  Cheers

Larry

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Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, pray for us

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