Stephanie Patel missed soccer sign-ups and a birthday party.

        Danessa Ison was scheduled to go house-hunting.

        Donna Allen typically uses Saturday afternoon to prepare her Sunday school lesson.

Thelma Wells of Dallas speaks Saturday at the national Women of Faith seminar downtown. About 13,000 attended. (Mike Simons photo) | ZOOM |

        But these three busy women and nearly 16,000 others put aside their errands, house and office work to spend the weekend nurturing their spiritual lives at two downtown religion conferences.

        Crowds of women at the locally-based Catholic Women's Event and national Women of Faith conference listened to speakers talkabout issues that affect them. They laughed at diet jokes and nodded knowingly at stories about depression and oversheduling.

        “So many of us share the feeling of having too many kettles on the fire, between children and work and husbands and faith,” said Mrs. Ison, 23, of Anderson Township, who attended the Friday-Saturday Women of Faith event at the Firstar Center.

        “They talk about trying to find that balance so you can have a sensational life.”

        Launched in 1996, Women of Faith conferences have drawn 1.6 million women. Cincinnati is the first of 27 conferences scheduled in 2002, including the first international gathering in Toronto.

        With 13,000 women and a few men at Firstar, camaraderie was strong. Tears fell without embarrassed hands hurrying to wipe them away.

        One woman complimented a stranger about her jacket as they waited patiently in lines up to 30 people long for the bathrooms. Another group teased a friend about snoring during their slumber party Friday at a local hotel.

        “I think as women, we need a time-out. We need to worship together, to be with people who face similar circumstances,” said Mrs. Allen, who came with a dozen friends from the Portsmouth area. She wore a denim shirt with “Women of Faith” embroidered on the upper left corner.

        Phyllis Hightower traveled from Lima with her 17-year-old daughter, Christina Hall.

        “We're so busy with work, we don't have the opportunity to fellowship,” she said. “This gives us a chance to talk about what God has been doing in our lives.”

        And there's power in thousands of women coming together for worship and prayer and to listen to nationally known speakers and entertainers, including Patsy Clairmont, Luci Swindoll and CeCe Winans.

        “Look at all this estrogen,” Christina said when she walked into the conference. “It's wonderful to see women united in God. There's so much power together.”

        At the Aronoff Center for the Arts, about 2,700 worshipped together and celebrated Mass with Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk for the Seventh Annual Catholic Women's Event.

        The response shows there's a need for these types of programs, said Cheryl Foti of New Richmond, who founded the Catholic conference.

        “There are women out there who want something like that,” she said. “They want to grow in their faith and have the opportunity to get together.”
       

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