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The 2005 Annual Retreat Conference (RC), Youth Track (YT), and 3 Day Extension (3DX) events were so poorly attended that each segment lost money on costs versus donations for events.
The remnant few, RC ~250, YT ~50, 3DX ~75, who attended gained much spiritually from these events and have asked that we research a venue at which we could hold future events without such an immense loss of the Lord's precious resources. We plan to do that and have even discussed ways to remain at the Hilton Hotel with less upfront expense commitment. Many do not realize that organizations such as the PFMC have to guess at the attendance at events and if the guess is incorrect there are huge liabilities. The meeting space at the Hilton Hotel, which can accommodate 1600 people in the Grand Ballroom would have cost us nearly $50,000 if we had cancelled. We thought we would have more that 500 people and 496 room-nights booked in the hotel. This is the off-set of the costs for the meeting space. Even with us booking more than 150 room-nights to try and meet the minimum we fell short by more than 150 room-nights. With all the adjustments the hotel could give us they needed to charge us for 68 room-nights with a penalty of nearly $6,500. With the lower attendance our registration donations did not keep up with expenses. We asked for help recouping the nearly $15,000 in expenses that were incurred over income.
Our benefactors who attended the above events have come through in wondrous fashion and cut this debt nearly in half already.
Many attendees pledged monthly donations which are sorely needed to keep the operations of the PFMC going. Please consider using the monthly donation slip to not only contribute when you can but also to pledge monthly donations. It costs us about $300 per day to operate the PFMC or nearly $9000 per month. If each family or address receiving the pilgrim would donate $5 per month we would easily meet our monthly expenses.
If you need any of the materials that were provided they will remain available from the links posted below. There is a great quantity of printed material that is available for pick-up from the PFMC.
Tapes of the talks are available from the PFMC as we unfortunately learned that Bob Pladek will have to seek regular employment after layoff from Lucent Technologies where his income allowed him to operate Catholic Focus for so many years. He is shutting down Catholic Focus and will no longer respond to calls for tapes unless the Lord finds him a way to operate with no income.
The Annual PFMC RETREAT CONFERENCE (RC) with its concurrent Youth Track (YT) for 2005 will be held on the first weekend in February, Friday (4) through Sunday (6) February 2005 at the Hilton Hotel in Cherry Hill, NJ.
The theme for 2005 is "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) [NAB]
Schedules are being worked with all the speakers and will be updated until they go to print in the RC booklet. What is available will be posted for your reference at RC Schedule and RC-YT Master Schedule.
A YT Release and Rules Form is available for all YT Attendees to sign with parents or guardians signatures. Every YT Attendee must have an adult in the Hilton Hotel and at the RC / YT to be responsible for them. Groups of YT Attendees may be signed for by a single adult.
The topic for the 3 Day Extension (3DX) will be "Healing the Wounded Heart" featuring Linda Shubert from Miracles of the Heart Ministries and author of Miracle Hour, Kathleen and Keith Werner as well as Father John (Giovanni) Tino with talks, seminars, and workshops from about 9 AM Monday (7) through early afternoon on Ash Wednesday (9) February 2005.
Stephen and Sandy Garchar will provide music ministry.
Schedules will be worked with all the speakers and may be updated before they go to print in the 3DX booklet. What is available will be posted for your reference at: 3DX Schedule
A four (4) page information packet with registration forms is available on-line. You may choose between the weekend RC, the 3DX, the YT, or any portion of the six (6) days, one day at a time.
There are delicious hot lunches available on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for a pre-registration fee of only $20 per meal. The registration forms have places to check-off for each desired meal.
The requested individual donation has been discounted for married couples to encourage married couples to come together as well as for families to bring family members.
There are special rates for students and attendees of the YT. Those attending the YT must have an adult registered for the RC who will take responsibility for the YT attendance.
A YT Release and Rules Form is available for all YT Attendees to sign with parents or guardians signatures. Every YT Attendee must have an adult in the Hilton Hotel and at the RC / YT to be responsible for them. Groups of YT Attendees may be signed for by a single adult.
The YT is not a baby sitting service so please take charge of your young people if you bring them to the RC. There is room in the Promenade for families to care for small children and still hear the talks. It is highly recommended that families with young children who are too young for the YT find someone to care for their children either at home or in the Hilton Hotel.
The YT schedules are being coordinated with the RC schedule and are available at RC-YT Master Schedule. This RC-YT Master Schedule will be made available to all YT attendees and their parents or adult chaperones.
Ordained priests and deacons, those studying in seminar or in a recognized deaconate program, religious brothers and sisters may register without a registration donation. Please register early. We need priests to share with a portion of their time, particularly on Friday night and Saturday, for the Sacrament of Confession / Penance / Reconciliation. Call (856) 768-9228 with time availability for the Sacrament of Confession / Penance / Reconciliation and to reserve your seat at the RC and/or 3DX.
Please make a copy of a specific RC and 3DX, 3DX only, or YT registration form portion of the information packet or the registration forms page, fill out the RC and 3DX, the 3DX only, or the YT registration form as appropriate and return your registration to the PFMC by "snail" mail to PFMC 61 Cooper Road, Voorhees, NJ 08043-4963 as soon as possible.
Within two weeks of the above dates it is advisable to send the specific RC and 3DX, 3DX only, or YT registration form portion of the information packet or the registration forms page by FAX to (856) 768-9428 with the Credit Card information completely filled out.
If you wish to pay by check within the last two weeks of the dates above, please consider the use of Priority or Express Mail to expedite our receipt of your registration form(s) and check.
We have experienced long lines of walk-ins at the hotel in past years and would like to have as many as possible receive pre-registration packets at the door. You may call (856) 768-9228 with a credit card to reserve your seat up until NOON on Thursday, 2/3/2005. After that time, the PFMC Volunteers will be in the Hilton Hotel setting up for these events. Registration will open at the Hilton Hotel around 4 PM on Friday, 4 February 2005.
See below for Hilton Hotel information. Advance room reservations are scheduled in our contract with the HILTON HOTEL to close on Friday, 1/7/2005.
The principal speaker duties for 2005 will be shared between Linda Schubert, and Father Bill Halbing.
Father Bill Halbing, Pastor of Saint Antoninus in Newark, NJ, and an internationally known biblical, charismatic, and dynamic speaker, will speak on both Friday and Saturday in 2005.
Saturday night will feature Linda Shubert from Miracles of the Heart Ministries and author of Miracle Hour as well as another fantastic concert by Father Michael Semana.
Again this year the Father Michael Semana Concert will share the concert time with a Gospel Music Concert by the People of Praise Prayer Community Gospel Choir from Brooklyn, NY.
We plan to have a special Gospel Music Concert by the People of Praise Prayer Community Gospel Choir from Brooklyn, NY during the opening ceremonies around 6:30 PM on Friday night.
Father Glenn Hartman will again bless all the attendees and the facility on Friday night during the opening ceremonies prior to taking his place as one of the priests in the Confessional Rooms near the Adoration Room. Father Hartman was recently inducted into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, giving him the honor of placing their initials, KGCHS, after his name and wearing their special clothing and insignia when not wearing Holy Mass vestments.
Father John McFadden, Associate Pastor at Presentation, Blessed Virgin Mary in Cheltenham, PA will speak to us on Sunday afternoon. Active in the Pro- Life Movement and the Director of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Prayer Group, a Eucharistic / Charismatic / Marian community meeting at Saint Rose of Lima, Eddystone, PA, he is a blessed speaker with great gifts of discernment, inner and inter-generational healing, and deliverance.
Vinny Flynn, Founder of Spirit Song Ministries and Still Waters both in Stockbridge, MA presided at the Divine Mercy services on Saturday and Sunday. He and his family have made numerous tape and compact disc (CD) recordings. He is the male voice on the Divine Mercy Chaplet tape shown on Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). He witnessed on the Immaculate Conception and the Year of the Eucharist on Sunday.
Bob Pladek of Catholic Focus, Productions, Inc. taped all of the talks and homilies for both the RC and the 3DX. He offered copies of the tapes on-site but can no longer offer them by mail order using his order form with payment by cash, check, or credit card.
The PFMC will respond as best they can to orders from the order form. Consider ordering a whole set of tapes for someone close to you who could not physically be present. If you need to contact the PFMC about a tape for these events or any of the past PFMC events, call 1-800-788-6279 or 1-(856) 768-9228.
The music for the weekend RC will be provided by REFUGE, and Father Michael Semana.
REFUGE now has 3 Compact Disc recordings which help support their ministry.
Consider ordering some music from REFUGE, or Father Michael Semana.
The links above go directly to the music or order form pages for each ministry.
Again this year the Father Michael Semana Concert will share the concert time with a Gospel Music Concert by the People of Praise Prayer Community Gospel Choir from Brooklyn, NY.
We plan to have a special Gospel Music Concert by the People of Praise Prayer Community Gospel Choir from Brooklyn, NY during the opening ceremonies around 6:30 PM on Friday night.
Come to the Hilton Hotel and visit their tables in the Grand Ballroom Foyer or Promenade areas.
Stephen and Sandy Garchar will provide music ministry for the 3DX.
The PFMC will have its inventory of religious articles, statues, books, pamphlets, etc. on display in the Crystal Ballroom across the Foyer from the Grand Ballroom. All the adult presentations will be made in the Grand Ballroom. Please stop in a peruse the PFMC inventory. If you don't find what you want please ask Vince and / or Livia Nocella and they will find it for you or offer to order it for you.
In the Foyer and in the Promenade area behind the Grand Ballroom seating area there will be ministry / vendor tables and displays of material from other ministries as well as selected Christian and Roman Catholic oriented vendors. The latter category includes Jesus Mosaics with Frank and Mary Bear who are providing fund raising for Father Michael Semana and his World of Hope Foundation.
A Ministry / Vendor Application form with floor plans of the Foyer and in the Promenade area behind the Grand Ballroom seating area has been posted to assist ministry and vendor personnel in applying for space at these events. The Ministry / Vendor Application form should be printed, filled out, sent by FAX, if available, and mailed to arrive before 31 January 2005.
Advance room reservations are scheduled in our contract with the HILTON HOTEL to close on Friday, 1/7/2005.
The HILTON HOTEL is handling the room reservations including your desires for a smoking or non-smoking room. Smoking rooms are segregated from non-smoking room by floors. The hotel has many floors with four high-speed elevators, three of them recently refurbished. The 252 square foot Standard Rooms have either one king bed or two double beds. You can have up to four people registered in a room with their own keys. The hotel has rental cots or roll-away beds available for use in the king bed rooms. You may also rent refrigerators. It is best to document all your needs as early as possible so they can make you comfortable. Last minute requests may not always be met due to lack of rental inventory. If you ask in advance they will go get additional inventory. Call 1 800 HILTONS (445-8667) or (856) 665-6666 for your HILTON HOTEL room reservations in the block of rooms set aside for the PFMC 2005 RC and 3DX.
The HILTON HOTEL is rated highly by several independent rating systems.
Its location at 2349 Marlton Pike W Cherry Hill, NJ 08002-3315 is easily found on local maps and across the skyline as it is a 16 story building that rises above all other buildings along the Cooper River.
HILTON HOTEL may be reached using New Jersey Transit (NJT) 406 bus which runs along Old Marlton Pike (NJ 70) or the NJT train from Philadelphia to Atlantic City or vice versa which stops at the Cherry Hill Train Station.
Rapid Rover, a van based limousine service obtained by calling (856) 428-1500 or (800) 322-8062, will bring you from the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to the HILTON HOTEL. There are also limousine services available from Newark International Airport (EWR) as well as Atlantic City International Airport (ACY).
The NJT train to / from Atlantic City runs from / to the Amtrak 30th Street Train Station and stops at the Cherry Hill Train Station. This station is behind The Pavillions Shopping Center, with a Home Depot, Shop Rite, Friendly's, Staples, and Old Country Buffet, on the former grounds of the Cherry Hill Race Track. Taxis run from the Cherry Hill Train Station to the Hilton Hotel.
The NJT #406 bus runs from the downtown Philadelphia bus station across the Ben Franklin Bridge and east on NJ 70 or Old Marlton Pike and stops at the Hilton Hotel. This route has regular service to Marlton, NJ with extensions to Berlin, NJ, Medford, NJ, and Mount Laurel, NJ.
Call the NJT Schedules and Fares Information Center at the numbers listed below:
| 6:00 AM to Midnight, daily: | ||
|---|---|---|
| From Northern New Jersey and Mercer County | (800) 772-2222 | |
| From Out-of-State | (973) 762-5100 | |
| Text Telephone TT | (800) 772-2287 | 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM, daily: |
| From Southern New Jersey | (800) 582-5946 | |
| From Philadelphia Area | (215) 569-3752 |
Call the PFMC at (856) 768-9228 for a copy of the NJT #406 bus map and schedule, if bus transportation fits your needs and you can't get the schedule to print legibly on your printer. We have made 11" 17" copies which are fairly readable.
Rapid Rover, a van based limousine service obtained by calling (856) 428-1500 or (800) 322-8062, will bring you from the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to the HILTON HOTEL. There are also limousine services available from Newark International Airport (EWR) as well as Atlantic City International Airport (ACY).
Directions and commercial transportation information pages are available.
The Conference Booklet, the RC Schedule and the 3DX ScheduleBooklet handed out to registered attendees are here made available on-line.
The schedule for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the form of sign-up sheet is also posted.
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