By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Participants listen to Father Julio DeJesus, pastor of St. John XXIII Parish, during the ManUp Men's Conference, held March 7 and 8, 2025, at St. John XXIII Parish in Miramar.
Matt Birk, co-founder of Unity Catholic High School in Burnsville, Minnesota, one of the keynote speakers at the 2025 ManUP Men's Conference (second from left), poses with participants at the conference, March 8, 2025, at St. John XXIII Parish in Miramar.
Photography: COURTESY
MIRAMAR | More than 400 men, fathers and sons from the Archdiocese of Miami and other dioceses throughout the state of Florida attended the 13th Annual ManUP Men’s Conference March 7 and 8, 2025 at St. John XXIII Parish in Miramar.
Fathers and sons from dioceses as far away as Austin, TX and Boston, MA traveled to Miami to attend the conference.
The conference Mass was celebrated March 8 by Father Julio De Jesus, pastor of St. John XXIII Parish, and Deacon Jorge Reyes preached the homily.
The ManUp ministry began with men from St. Edward Parish in Pembroke Pines, which hosted the first conference in 2013.
The conference always takes place on the weekend after Ash Wednesday as a “kickoff to Lent.” The conference is designed for fathers and sons, ages 16 and up – or grandsons, sons-in-law and nephews, as the ManUp website states.
ManUp describes itself as “a ministry for men at a time when the need for men to grow as ‘priest, prophet and king’ as anointed through baptism has never been greater.”
During the conference, men are invited to “encounter the Lord while allowing a most powerful personal experience.”
The 2025 conference Keynote speakers were Father Larry Richards, pastor of St. Luke Catholic Church in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Matt Birk, co-founder of Unity Catholic High School in Burnsville, Minnesota in an effort to provide a vigorously Catholic education to families in the south metro area.
FIND OUT MORE
- To learn more about the ManUp Men’s Conference, visit their website at www.ready2manup.com.
- Or contact Ed Kolo 954-310-5720 / [email protected].
