National Catholic Singles Conference is in Dallas Next Year!

This weekend Anastasia Northrop, founder and director of the National Catholic Singles Conference, announced that next year's conference will be held in Dallas!

This year's conference, which was the tenth anniversary for the National Catholic Singles Conference was held in Atlanta this past weekend.

At the opening night mixer, there was such a palpable energy in the room that I knew it was going to be a good weekend.

Danielle Bean was the opening speaker talking about "He Said, She Said: Communication Between the Sexes." Here are some of my favorite lines from her talk:

Put down the stupid phone and be present.

We're built for the real thing ... the real presence.

Don’t complain about things that you can change – CHANGE!

Men look for solutions. Women talk through problems.

Forget about winning. It’s not a competition, it’s a relationship.

On Saturday morning Sr. Miriam James Heidland started out the day with her talk "The Victory of Authentic Love." We were live tweeting Sr. Miriam’s talk and here are some of the best tweets:

Emotions don't define God’s will. Regular prayer helps us to listen and respond to God’s call.

Priests in confession are the face of the Father’s mercy.

I need Jesus to come heal what is broken in my heart so I can love authentically.

Rather than thinking that everyone else needs to be fixed, sometimes we have to let God heal our own hearts.

Suffering that is not transformed is transmitted.

Then men and women gathered in different halls for the break out sessions from Sr. Miriam and Bart Schuchts. The Saturday afternoon general session by Dr. Bob Schuchts was a moving testimony about healing and God's mercy.

Saturday night it was amazing to see every one dressed to the nines for the dance lesson and dance. Despite the dance floor breaking ... three times, everyone had a blast.

Here is one of my favorite tweets from the night:

Last night felt like I crashed someone’s wedding, so much fun! #NCSC15

Damon Owens closed the weekend with his talk: “All of Me: Embracing the Radical Demands of Love." Here are a few of the best sound bites:

Bring the dry bones of your faith to life with love.

In art, Eros is depicted as a buck-naked baby with an arrow.

God made us male and female and then calls us to be who we are.

Self knowledge, self mastery, self gift.

It was a privilege to have Mass everyday, confessions and adoration time. There were a number of priests available to the conference attendees all weekend. The adoration chapel had a busy flow of adorers and there was always a line for confession.

The homilies were dynamic and solid. Here are some of my favorite lines from the homilies:

That’s note indigestion folks, that is God speaking to you.

The Holy Spirit is like a GPS. When we make a wrong turn, he redirects us.

Now is the time to bear fruit of the Gospel.

During hard times we can receive suffering in faith and allow it to make us strong.

Finally, we had the great blessing to celebrate Mass with Archbishop Wilton Gregory, the Archbishop of Atlanta. He said Sunday Mass which was the closing Mass for the entire weekend. He challenged the 500 Catholic singles in the room to look at their lives and find out if they have a regular blindness that needs to healed? He said, "At this Eucharist, couldn't we all respond to Jesus' request, 'What do you want of me?'"

What does God want of us? Archbishop Gregory told us to live generously and humbly ask the Lord what He has in store for our futures. Too many of us are sightless because of a fear of the future. Archbishop Gregory said, "Let us call out: 'Lord I want to see'! Seek a brighter future and a tomorrow filled with hope."

I enjoyed talking with so many of you over this weekend. Tracy, Trish, Robin, Miles, Ross, John, Peter, and so many more. By coming to this conference and saying yes, you opened yourself up to the possibilities of meeting someone that you wouldn't normally meet and opportunities that you wouldn't normally have. What a powerful awesome weekend.