The 29th annual Catholic Men’s Conference, “Take Courage,” challenged over 2,300 men from approximately 80 parishes from the Columbus diocese and beyond to know who they are in Christ and boldly bring their relationship with God into the world.
Presented by Columbus Catholic Men’s Ministry, the 2026 conference took place on Saturday, Feb. 28, in Kasich Hall at the Ohio Expo Center. Brad Pierron, Director of Mission Awareness at Damascus, returned as the conference’s emcee. Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare served as the host parish.
The three featured speakers included Justin Fatica, founder and executive director of You’re Amazing Fitness and Hard as Nails; Matt Birk, Harvard Economics graduate and a 15-year NFL All-Pro veteran; and Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., PhD, president of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith.
Adoration and veneration of relics, including those of the True Cross, St. John Vianney and the 12 Apostles, were available throughout the event. Mark Voris & Friends provided worship at the beginning of the conference and in breaks between speakers.
RELATED: 2026 women’s conference encourages authenticity, forgiveness
The formal program of the day kicked off with a welcome address by Bishop Fernandes. He greeted the over 2,300 men by encouraging them to dive into the theme of the day, “Take Courage.”
Bishop Fernandes implored the attendees to consider taking courage by practicing the virtue of meekness. He contrasted the modern notion of meekness, being associated with weakness, with the Catholic understanding of meekness as strength under control.
“Meekness, sometimes thought of as gentleness, is a sub-virtue of temperance: staying in control; moderating our anger; controlling impulses of resentment toward our neighbor.”
He offered pastoral wisdom by teaching the men that meekness is an antidote to the vice of wrath.
“Meekness is the one virtue above all that allows us to remain ourselves in the midst of adversity.”
Bishop Fernandes offered a prayer that his parents would pray to help the men understand and practice meekness, “Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart unto thine.”
At the end of his remarks, Bishop Fernandes led the attendees in consecrating themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Pierron noted the beauty of the men consecrating themselves on this day, as the theme “courage” comes from the Latin root “cor,” which means “heart.”
Fatica began the conference’s speaker series by passionately challenging the men to be leaders in encouraging others.
He emphasized, “It is not about what we do. It’s about who we are. Every person on the planet needs to know that who they are matters.”
Fatica outlined his challenge by telling the story of his youth, where he was a thorn in many a teacher’s side until a certain surly priest who he was at odds with wrote him a note that said, “I don’t like you and you don’t like me, but I pray for you every day, by name, that you’ll know your potential when you meet Jesus Christ.”
Fatica revealed that the priest who wrote him the note was Fr. Larry Richards, a popular Catholic speaker and the first secured speaker for next year’s 30th annual Columbus Catholic Men’s Conference.
Fatica stirred up the men to define their family mission, make their tests in life their testimony, and consider who the Lord is asking them to believe in daily. He implored, “Our job is to encourage like Him, to care for others like Him, to love like Him.”
Birk continued the day with a practical talk on knowing the fundamentals. He related his pro-football success and being a part of a 2013 Super Bowl-winning Baltimore Ravens team to doing the same drills every day for 15 years.
He related his repetition of the same drills to the practice of the fundamentals of the Catholic faith when he mentioned, “The thing I love about the Catholic Church is we have all these fundamentals at our disposal. Right? Obviously, we have the Mass. We have confession. We have the rosary. We have the stations [of the cross]. We have all these prayers. We’ve got the saints. We have the Hall of Fame of Catholics that we can look at and draw inspiration from.”
MORE SPORTS: DeSales graduate helps kicker set Super Bowl record
Birk infused his talk with his faith journey of growing up a cradle Catholic, falling away from his faith during his time at Harvard University and rediscovering it later in life when he met his future wife.
He motivated the men to show up every day for their faith.
“Your level of commitment is indicative of your level of courage. You can do it.”
Following Birks’ talk, Fr. Kevin Girardi, Parochial Vicar at Westerville St. Paul the Apostle, prepared attendees for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the lunch break.
The conference had a total of 58 exhibitors, comprised of 51 faith-based organizations and 7 vendors.
Fr. Spitzer rounded out the speakers with an academically enriched talk on true happiness.
He laid out the four meanings of happiness based on the works of St. Augustine: immediate gratification; ego comparative, the inferiority/superiority game; contributive, good beyond self; and ultimate good, finding your transcendent nature.
He warned the men that although the second level of ego comparative happiness has its merits in the pursuit of excellence and good competition, it has major downfalls as an end in itself.
He noted, “If we live for it, God help us, because we will be fundamentally unhappy.”
Fr. Spitzer emboldened the men to aim for the third and fourth levels of happiness in their daily lives, asking them to consider daily what they are looking for in themselves, others and are going to live for God each day and trust in Him.
“We’ve got to go through those three things, the gifts that Jesus gave us through the Church: His moral teaching, the Sacraments and the prayer life that we can have, and then do the add-ons. You’ll never have a more noble life.”
Talks from the conference and past Columbus Catholic Men’s and Women’s Conferences can be found at https://stgabrielradio.com/category/local-programs-archive/conferences/.
The conference concluded with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Bishop Fernandes was the homilist and concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Anthony F. Borwah of the Diocese of Gbarnga, Liberia, and Fr. James Black, Pastor of conference host parish St. Brigid of Kildare. Dcn. Frank Iannarino of St. Brigid of Kildare assisted.
Music during Mass was presented by the Choir from Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral. Dr. Richard Fitzgerald, diocesan Director of Music, led the choir with Mr. Steven Smith as the organist.
During his homily, Bishop Fernandes offered one last encouragement to the attendees in their relationship with Christ, saying, “He calls those whom He chooses to be His own to greatness, to boldness, which manifests itself by being forgiving and loving, and showing forth the tenderness of the heart of Jesus.”
