Join The GIVEN Institute in New York City for a GIVEN Gathering! Open to women of all ages, this gathering will be a taste of GIVEN and an opportunity to hear speakers who inspire you to receive the gift that you are, realize the gifts you’ve been given, and respond with the gift only you can give.

Scholarships are available!

Tentative Schedule

8:00-9:00 am Check in
9:00 am Welcome
9:15 am Talk: Receive the Gift You Are – Sister Mary Casey O’Connor, SV and Casey Gunning
9:45 am Break
10:00 am Talk: Realize the Gifts You’ve Been Given – To Be Announced!
10:30 am Small groups
11:00 am Holy Hour and Confession
12:00 pm Lunch
1:30 pm Mini Talk: Your Personal Action Plan
2:00 pm Talk: Respond With the Gift Only You Can Give – Peggy Noonan and Kathryn Jean Lopez
3:00 pm Small groups
3:30 pm Closing Remarks
6:00 pm Vigil Mass at St. Vincent Ferrer

Speakers

Sister Mary Casey O’Connor, SV and Casey Gunning: Receive the Gift that You Are

Sr. Mary Casey O’Connor, S.V. is a Sister of Life in New York City, and the proud twin sister of Casey Gunning. After graduating from Franciscan University, she enjoyed the great outdoors of the Rocky Mountains in her home state of Colorado. Passionate about evangelization, she committed a decade to parish youth and young adult ministry before entering the Sisters of Life in 2015. Impelled by the love of Christ, the Sisters of Life serve women who are pregnant and in crisis, as well as invite those suffering after abortion to receive the healing mercy of Jesus. She currently resides at the Holy Respite Mission, where the sisters welcome pregnant women to live with them in the convent during their pregnancy.

Casey Gunning lives in Littleton, Colorado, and is the proud twin sister of Sr. Mary Casey O’Connor, a Sister of Life. She loves life, and wants to invite others to love life too! For nearly 15 years, Casey has worked as a teacher’s assistant at a family-owned daycare center. She has a busy social schedule and has loved living independently. Casey has been a lifelong athlete in the Special Olympics, where she has enjoyed competing in downhill skiing, basketball, swimming, and bowling. Living her life with Down Syndrome, she has come to see the many blessings it has brought her, and recognized her particular mission from God: to LOVE! The world needs love, and she is ready to give it! Casey is grateful to God for the chance to proclaim the goodness of life.

Peggy Noonan: Respond With the Gift Only You Can Give

Peggy Noonan is a writer and author. She is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, where her weekly column, Declarations, has run since 2000. In 2017 she won the Pulitzer prize for distinguished commentary. She is also the author of nine books on American politics, history and culture, including the bestsellers “What I Saw at the Revolution,” “When Character Was King.” “John Paul the Great,” and “Simply Speaking.” She is one of ten historians and writers who contributed essays on the American presidency for the book, “Character Above All.” Noonan was a special assistant and speechwriter for president Ronald Reagan. In 2010 she was given the Award for Media Excellence by the living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. She has been a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, and has taught at Yale University. Before entering the Reagan White House, Noonan was a producer and writer at CBS News in New York, and an adjunct professor of Journalism at New York University. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up there, in Massapequa Park, Long Island, and in Rutherford, New Jersey. She is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford. She lives in New York City.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Respond With the Gift Only You Can Give

Kathryn Jean Lopez is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute where she directs the Center for Religion, Culture, and Civil Society. She is also editor-at-large of National Review magazine (where she has been on the editorial staff, including as editor of National Review Online, since 1997). She is published widely in Catholic and secular publications and is also a longtime nationally syndicated columnist with Andrews McMeel Universal. Lopez is author of A Year with the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living.

She is also a columnist for Our Sunday Visitor’s Newsweekly and on the editorial advisory board of Angelus and is co-author of the book How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice. She wrote the afterword to Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan’s COVID-19 book I Am with You: Lessons of Hope and Courage in Times of Crisis. She is a contributor to recent books which include Women Who Pray: Eleven Catholic Women on the Power of Prayer, Mind, Heart, and Soul: Intellectuals, the Path to Rome, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral: The Legacy of America’s Parish Church.

Her “Caught My Eye” feature can be heard daily on The Catholic Channel on Sirius XM, Channel 129.

Lopez writes frequently about religious freedom and persecution and serves on the board of the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, N.Y and Witness to Love, a marriage mentoring program. She is a certified spiritual director and trained abortion-clinic sidewalk counselor, and an adviser to the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture.

Lopez currently serves as chair of Cardinal Dolan’s Pro-Life Commission in New York. She frequently hosts forums and other conversations on virtue, family, and the right to life at all stages – including foster care and adoption.

Lauren Sawyer: Emcee

Lauren Sawyer is a 2024 GIVEN alumna and a native midwesterner, based in New York City. She’s the founder of “Rise & Come Alive,” a Christian women’s community and podcast focused on integrating faith and work. Lauren also leads events for an early-stage tech startup. Connect with her on Instagram: @riseandcomealive

Please contact us with any questions including sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities.