A strange thing happens every time SQPN has one of its Catholic New Media Conferences:  When I return home, I have symptoms of withdrawal from seeing so many people that have become like family to me.

I go to 8-10 conferences/conventions every year and frankly, I can hardly wait to get home from most of them.  Although I think I’m somewhere in the middle on the introvert-extrovert scale, most conferences still leave me drained from the amount of energy it takes to “put yourself out there.”

Not the CNMC, though.

SQPN (Star Quest Production Network) just celebrated its 10th anniversary with its 7th Catholic New Media Conference, held in Atlanta last weekend.

As conferences go, I’m not sure everyone who attended found what they were looking for.  It’s difficult to program for something as broad as “Catholic media” but I hope they could sense and share in the community that I find there.

I’ve met some of my very dearest friends through my association with SQPN and by attending all the CNMCs over the last decade.  They are more than just people who share my interest in Catholic media, more than people who share the same Catholic faith.  They are brothers and sisters who walk the same missionary path that I’ve been a part of.

I don’t know what else to say here other than this.

Just spending time with them, over a short few days, rejuvenated me, encouraged me, and inspired me.  Gathering these people together was a family reunion – the new folks I just met, and those who I’ve walked hand-in-hand with for most of the past 10 years.

There’s no guarantee that there will ever be another CNMC.  This has been a fact after each of the previous seven CNMCs.  I really hope there will be more, but if not, I am so grateful for each and every one of them.