Nativity of Our Lord Broomfield: A one-day free public event open to friends, families and neighbors featuring food, exhibits, conversations and fellowship from 10:30am-8pm in Cabrini Hall, 900 W Midway Blvd, Broomfield, CO.

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As we begin 2026, many of us are left asking what has just happened to our world? Tragedy no longer feels distant. Mass shootings, assassinations, the loneliness epidemic, and the constant presence of evil press into daily life, even into places once considered safe, including our churches. Fear has risen, not as panic, but as something we quietly learn to live with.

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At the same time, the promises that once sustained us feel thinner. The “American Dream,” long associated with freedom, prosperity, and initiative, now collides with exhaustion, isolation, economic insecurity, and a loss of genuine human connection. Instead of turning toward one another, we often retreat into artificial forms of life like technology, which slowly makes our desire for true belonging feel impossible. 

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So we ask: Is anyone still able to stand in the face of evil? Is anybody still searching for a belonging that is real? Are we alone in our fear, or is there somebody out there who can bring us home to ourselves, and to one another? Is anybody out there? Join us for a beautiful day of panel discussions, art, music, food and conversation as we confront fear, belonging, and the possibility that hope has not disappeared, even now.

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DISCUSSIONS:

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• 10:30 am
  Being Human (and Christian) in a Post-Shooting World

• SPEAKERS: Fr. Joel Barstad, Fr. Anthony of the Transfiguration, Fr. Julius Lule

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• We live in a time when tragedy and violence feel like daily routine. School shootings, assassinations, public outrage, collective fear and numbness. 

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• But what happens inside us when fear becomes normal? How does faith survive when the world feels unsafe, fragile, and increasingly unpredictable? Are we left with cliches, politics, and despair… or can we discover again what it means to be human, and Christian, even when fear feels more convincing than hope?

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• 12:30 pm
  Triumph of the Heart: Companionship in the Darkest Places

• SPEAKERS: Anthony D’Ambrosio, movie director, Casey Schaffer, and Haydée Hernández

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• Experience teaches us that suffering does not automatically ennoble us, but can just as easily hollow us out. One filmmaker, however, chose to confront his own suffering by turning toward one of the darkest places of the 20th century. Through the art of film, Anthony leads us into the depths of Auschwitz, not to soften its horror but to seek how such life, love, and courage could still be present even there through the companionship of Maximilian Kolbe. Is art a needed form of witness today, capable of carrying what history and argument alone cannot? Is art the language necessary to tell such stories without reducing them? And what if the endurance of the human heart is not naïve, but essential?
   

• A conversation on Maximillian Kolbe, who fostered hope and brotherhood among those condemned to die in an Auschwitz starvation bunker. The discussion will also explore how faith can be expressed through Catholic art and creativity.

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• 2:30 pm
  “… and the pursuit of happiness.” What Happened to the American Dream?

• SPEAKERS: Professor Harry Siegel, Dr. Wayne Ambler and Joseph Ten Eyck

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• We were promised freedom, fulfillment, and happiness, but delivered anxiety, burnout, and loneliness. 

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• Is the “American Dream” broken? Or have we misunderstood what we were actually longing for all along? Have ambition, success, and self-creation slowly become substitutes for meaning and true fulfillment? And why do so many Americans feel disoriented even when they “win”?

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• 6:00 pm
  “The Inklings”: How the Friendship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien Changed Their Lives During War?
  SPEAKER: Joseph Pearce,  bestselling author

• → 2026 Press Release 

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• In a time when friendship is thin, transactional, or virtual, how did the unexpected friendship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien amid world war and cultural collapse give birth to Narnia and The Lord of the Rings? Is imagination just an escape from reality, or its illumination? What can their friendship teach us about one of the last places we can still find identity and hope against “the machine”? 

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• 7:30 pm

• The Power of Music

• ARTIST: Cameron Franks

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• We will end the day together with live folk-music as a shared moment of presence and connection. In a world that often feels noisy and fragmented, music is a deep expression of remembering what it means to be human. Featuring musician Cameron Franks, a second-year missionary with Christ in the City.

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We will have 5 Exhibits throughout the day to spark curiosity and conversation, and food provided by Santiago's Mexican Restaurant!

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If you wish to support this event, DONATE HERE.

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All events are in person and free of charge.  No registration is necessary.  Credentialed Media are welcome

Contact BroomfieldEncounter2026@gmail.com for questions or to schedule an interview.

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Featured Image: Vincent van Gogh, Path Through a Field With Willows, 1888, oil on canvas, US-Public Domain.