FAITH ON FIRE 2023 - August 11-13, 2023
St. Mary’s Catholic Church - Anacortes, WA
Faith on Fire is the signature Catholic event of the Pacific Northwest, a spiritually transformative celebration of Catholic fellowship, family, prayer, and vocations celebrating the joy and beauty of our Catholic Christian faith and facilitating authentic encounter with Jesus Christ for mission in the 21st century. Our event typically draws approximately 250-400 attendees of all ages, from young children through senior citizens, from the Northwest and British Columbia.
Featuring Keynote Speaker, Sarah Swafford:
Her talks on Saturday August 12th will be:
Talk One Title: Emotional Virtue for a Drama Free Life (for men and women – all ages)
Description: Sarah Swafford will help guide you through friendships, relationships, and the challenges of being a man or woman today. Whether from wounds of the past, social media, or the environment around them, men and women face intense pressure, draining their confidence, interior identity, and overall pursuit of meaning in their lives. Sarah targets this battle within by setting forth a vision of virtue in the twenty-first century, one that focuses on beginning with the end in mind and building what will last.
Talk Two Title: Gift and Grit: How Heroic Virtue Can Change Your Life
Description: Have you ever felt like you were lost and aimless in life, experiencing a lack of meaning and purpose? So often in our attempts to find meaning in life, we look to things like pleasure, success, prestige, or relationships to be our ultimate source of fulfillment and happiness. True meaning, however, is received as gift—as a gift from the Lord who created us for a purpose. And authentic happiness is found only in making a gift of our lives in return. But to really live this out takes grit! In this talk, Sarah will give practical insight on how to live with meaning, purpose, and grit which can transform everything about our lives.
Friday night, August 11th - KICK OFF SPEAKERS Finkbonner Family! This evening is open to all (no registration required).
The Finkbonners are a local family in our Archdiocese with strong ties to their Native American Community - the Lummi Nation. Jake's story starts out as just a small boy who fell and hit his lip on a portable basketball hoop base to him fighting for his life in the hospital with a sudden and aggressive flesh-eating diease. The family will share their faith journey as their family, friends, and religious were tirelessy praying for the intercession of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk woman of the 17th century who converted to Catholicism. It was known both Jake and Blessed Kateri are Native American and as a youth, Kateri acquired smallpox that disfigured her face. She needed one more miracle to become a saint, and the similarities were so close, their pastor insisted that everyone pray. Jake miraculously survived and it was this miracle that led to Kateri Tekakwitha’s canonization October 21, 2012, our first Native American Saint for all.
https://nwcatholic.org/news/jean-parietti/celebrating-a-native-saint-and-a-northwest-miracle