BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Talk-show host Alan Keyes, retired Louisiana State University basketball coach Dale Brown and former POW Adm. Jeremiah Denton will join thousands of Tristate men April 25 at Answer the Call IV, a daylong event sponsored by the Catholic Men's Conference.
Answer the Call moves to the Crown this year after last year's conference at Shoemaker Center. Organizers already have sold 8,000 tickets for the event and expect to host about 15,000 men. "The conference goal is to help men become better individuals, husbands, fathers and followers of Christ in their daily lives," said Kevin Lynch, who founded a fellowship of laymen with three others in 1986. "Men will pray together, sing together and share experiences with other men."
The conference sprang from the fellowship and drew 400 to 500 men in 1995. That number jumped to about 2,000 in 1996 and 9,000 last year.
Like the national ministry Promise Keepers, the organization encourages men to form small groups in their congregations and meet regularly for support, prayer and encouragement.
The conference starts at 8:45 a.m. and ends with a 4 p.m. Mass celebrated by the Most Rev. Robert W. Muench, bishop of Covington. Also scheduled to speak are Gerry Faust, former Notre Dame, Akron and Moeller football coach; local priest the Rev. Jim Willig; and the Rev. Tom Forrest, founder of Evangelization 2000.
Tickets are $25, which includes lunch, and funds are available for men who can't pay. For registration or information, call 321-HOPE (4673).
