The conference kicked off with a reflection by Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, followed by Eucharistic Adoration at St. Patrick’s Basilica.

Prendergast said that in preparing for the talk, he Googled the theme’s scripture verse and came up with 37 million responses. “What does it mean to be still? “ he asked. “Can we be still today?”

As someone who blogs and uses social media such as Facebook and depends on his iPhone, which even has the breviary in various languages so he doesn’t have to haul several books around when he’s travelling, Prendergast said he is constantly reminded that everything can be used for God’s glory and bring us closer to Him but everything can take us away, too.

He spoke of a principle of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, that says insofar as something helps draw one closer to God, embrace it, and insofar as it draws one away from God, discard it.

The archbishop said he tries to unplug from the Internet on Mondays, his day off.

He used the story of St. Patrick’s conversion in Ireland to bring home the importance of solitude and contemplation in meeting God. The confessions of St. Patrick echo those of St. Augustine, when St. Patrick said God was always after him and he didn’t know it, Prendergast said.

St. Patrick grew up in Northern Britain, the son of a deacon and grandson of a priest, but as a young adult he was not at all religious, he said. “His family had embraced Holy Orders for social advantage.”

“He did not know Jesus Christ,” the archbishop said. “That shows that the transmission of the faith is not only today’s issue, but a perennial challenge.”

Captured by Irish raiders, St. Patrick was pressed into slave labour. Though while in Ireland he encountered a handful of Christians, it was during quiet moments spent in a meadow that the knowledge and love of God began to dawn on him. “He was still and began to learn of God,” Prendergast said.

The distraction of technology can be the thing that takes us away from our deepest selves and giving ourselves to God so He can speak to our deepest nature, he said.

He urged those present to unplug and take out the ear plugs and enjoy silence, especially before the Blessed Sacrament. “It may initially feel like an eternity,” he said.

Patrick escaped to Britain, but he was profoundly changed and could not go home again in the same way because home was not the same anymore, he said. He did not forget the Irish, and eventually returned there to lead them to Christ and launch the beginnings of Christian civilization there.

Jesus wants us to be in His presence and to sense it everywhere, whether it is in the tabernacle, in the monstrance, in the poor, in the person who came to talk with you, the archbishop said.

The weekend conference included a keynote address on the New Evangelization by Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).

Smith stressed leading young people to a personal encounter with Christ through the same message of the Gospel, except with new ardor, new expression and new means. That encounter changes everything, he said, and imbues young people with “a hope that nothing else” can give.

Workshops included a range of subjects from Pope Benedict XVI’s social justice encyclical Caritas in Veritate to tips on spreading the Gospel to the love of Christ.