From HOPE! 9.13.26

News: 

1.  Successes at St. Teresa’s:

After speaking at St. Teresa’s Parish in Henniker NH, Tad Boucher and Walter Antal managed to sell 10 tickets, get 3 new subscribers, and raise almost $250. A huge thanks to the generous congregation of St. Teresa’s, and to everyone working so hard to make HOPEFEST incredible. Michaela Hartford will be speaking at the sister church of St. Mary’s this upcoming week.

2.  Free tickets: 

Due to the sheer amount of donations, we are able to give tickets to anyone who may be restricted from going to HOPEFEST because of funds. If this will help you, just reach out to Hopeswitnesses@proton.me to secure your spot. Don’t forget volunteers and their immediate families can attend for free. If you can’t volunteer, be sure to get your 

tickets today before time runs out! We have already 60 attendees and seats are limited! 

3.  On that note – we have only have 60 attendees.  Let’s shoot for 200!  We need “all hands on deck”...every member, please do all you can to spread the word about Hopefest and fill the seats!

4.  YouCat: Love Forever: 

Pope Leo has formed a group that will write and release a version of the popular Catholic work for teens YouCat, that will be specifically designed to bring the ancient and beautiful truth of relationships, love, and marriage into the modern understanding in a format that we can all easily comprehend. Read Pope Leo’s thoughts about the book and about relationships here at EWTN: https://www.ewtnnews.com/vatican/love-is-not-a-feeling-but-a-decision-pope-leo-xiv-tells-couples

5.  Nuns to the rescue: 

The Diocese of Chicago, two orders of nuns, and a small-town Catholic pharmacist, managed to win a major court case that excused them from being forced to provide resources for assisted suicide as mandated by state law. The law itself makes absolutely no exceptions for moral convictions, so if the judge had not created one, then the Catholic health care system of Illinois would be under immense legal pressure to end the lives of their patients. {Life News} https://www.lifenews.com/2026/09/11/judge-orders-illinois-to-not-force-catholic-nuns-to-assist-suicides/

6.  On the calendar: 

HOPEFEST2026 is now listed on both the official Diocesan, and NHRTL websites. It has also been put into an official publication by Gabriel Dionisi who is both a panelist and the New England regional coordinator for SFLA. 

7.  Pope Leo celebrates his birthday on September 14! 

Happy 71st Holy Father! 

Resource of the week: The Catholic Michigander: 

The Catholic Michigander is a monthly newsletter created by teens in Michigan. It contains some very well made articles and is absolutely worth checking out: https://www.thecatholicmichigander.com

Merch Update:  

Note: There are more merch items on our website than are mentioned here.  Our current standard is a 5 dollar profit margin {already added into the price}, but any money donated voluntarily is greatly appreciated. Cost does not include shipping.

1.  Our official shirt: Our very first piece, the original HW t-shirt is sold for $28.49. 

2.  Official Hopefest Shirt: Celebrate the culture of life all year round with this HOPEFEST 2026 official shirt. $28.49

3.  Adult tickets: Admit one adult to HOPEFEST $10 

4.  Youth tickets: Admit one youth {under 25} to HOPEFEST $5

5.  Official mouse pad: At your computer a lot? Keep this sign of hope with you as you work. $15

From the Founder: 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 

I wish that I could show you all the things that I have found. I have discovered such amazing and profound facts contained in our faith, our generation, and in our world. Some of it horrifies me, other things fill me with hope, and all of it takes my breath away on a regular basis. 

As cheesy as it may sound, the premise of the Matrix actually wasn’t that far off from the truth.  By this I don’t mean that there is a robot keeping us in a simulation that is permanently in the 90’s. I mean that there are demons who actively create false narratives in order to trap our souls into their system, in order that we may not find the truth of Christ. If we think about it for a moment, it makes sense. Church tradition and Scripture teach that the spiritual world is remarkably involved in our physical existence, and we can see how vices such as greed and pride cause news, advertising, and other forms of media to become perverted from the truth. 

It is hard to explain in a few short paragraphs how this system works, but the bottom line is it is just as Paul said when he told us we were not fighting against men, but against “principalities and powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Ephesians 6:12). Our faith, and our mission of saving souls, though seemingly uninteresting and safe, is actually themost dangerous and epic adventure that has ever been embarked upon. I think the best way I can explain it is this: That we are weak mortal humans, resisting ancient and deadly powers {demons}, while questing for the ultimate treasure of eternal life, and the penalty if we lose is eternal death. The quest for our souls and for the souls of those around us to attain heaven is unimaginably more important than any quest for money or even love. Those who choose to embark on a mission to save souls have eternal consequences, good or bad, for all their actions. We stand as sinful people, in-between the glorious light of Heaven and the extreme darkness of Hell, in a twilight of pain and joy, sorrow and beauty. Once we can learn to understand this, we learn: that our mission, that is not only suggested but required by our faith, is to literally take the light and truth of Heaven, into the pain and darkness of the Hell that exists in this world. It is dangerous, and the Saints have shown that the more we disrupt the plans of demons, the more that they fear and resist us. Think about it, Spirits who we cannot possibly harm become AFRAID of mortal men and women because of the light of Christ that we carry. When we give a soul that light, when a true conversion takes place, that soul, that eternal treasure, is wrenched from the claws of demons and placed into the tender hands of Christ, proving that “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”  

I cannot possibly describe the calling to this adventure in the way that it deserves, because it is the ultimate paradox of beauty and grace amid the brokenness and pain... It brings purpose to our sufferings even more than to what makes us happy.  I can only encourage you to find this adventure yourself and to take the leap into this quest, but I cannot really tell you what will happen because it is so incredible that it can only be experienced, and God writes our adventures better than we ever could. 

God bless, 

Walter Antal Founder/Director

603-748-2623