“Renewed and Transformed” by God’s Word and sacraments

Scott Hahn delivers a talk to an audience of 900 Catholics at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Keller on February 6, 2026. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)

KELLER — Nick Culter of Holy Redeemer Parish in Aledo had never met them before, but he spent his weekend with some old friends.

Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. Jeff Morrow, and Dr. John Bergsma of the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology presented a “Renewed and Transformed” conference at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Keller. 

Culter said books, podcasts, and videos of the three Catholic theologians were an authoritative and helpful source of knowledge as he and his wife explored Catholicism and ultimately entered the Church at the Easter Vigil last year. 

“Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. John Bergsma, Dr. Jeffrey Morrow — those are the guys that really helped clear a lot of things up and helped me and my wife enter into the Catholic Church. So it was just great seeing them in person,” he said.

On Feb. 6-7, Culter and more than 900 others attended six talks by the men, who themselves are converts. Their presentations explored the sacraments of Holy Eucharist and reconciliation in light of both the Old and New Testaments.

The conference, Dr. Scott Hahn told the North Texas Catholic, is “designed to have that Emmaus experience where hearts are burning within us [as the Scriptures are explained], and then the eyes of faith are opened in the breaking of the bread, the Eucharist. … I really think that discovering the center and the source of Scripture in our Eucharistic worship is life changing.”

That message was received by Culter. After the conference, he said, “It made me realize that I can never stop learning about the Eucharist. I can never appreciate the Eucharist enough — just the graces, the actual graces that come from receiving the Eucharist.”

Linda Corso, a St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner, had a similar response to the presentations.

“Dr. Hahn talked about how amazing it is that we are unamazed with the Mass and the Eucharist. People go up so nonchalantly — it becomes routine, and it should never become routine,” emphasized Corso.

Corso entered the Catholic Church in 2000, and she said the conference’s Bible teachings helped generate “that enthusiasm that stirs in your soul like when you first become Catholic when you’re a convert and you’re just so on fire. Okay, I’m on fire again,” she said.

The themes of renewal and transformation resonated, especially with Lent approaching, she added. After attending the conference, she plans to “put more time into reading the Bible, and not just to read it, but let it transform me.”

In the 25 years since Dr. Hahn founded the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology, he has seen fruit from their efforts to help lay Catholics become biblically literate and clergy become biblically fluent, ultimately leading to transformation by the Word of God. He said, “40 years ago, even 25 years ago, I wouldn't have had enough faith to ask for all of the signs of hope that I'm seeing now.”

He said Catholics, and the Catholic curious, have access to formation and a vast supply of materials available via the internet, books, and movies. Catholic conferences are full. OCIA classes are doubling in size each year — “signs that people are just waking up and coming to life spiritually. … It really seems to be a grassroots phenomenon where nobody’s going to get the credit because it is so decentralized, except the Holy Spirit,” he said. 

The success of the “Renewed and Transformed” conference at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton can be measured by the large audience of attentive listeners. 

Another measure of success would be what happens afterward. In the case of Culter and Corso, they each left the conference and went immediately to confession, allowing the Holy Spirit to renew and transform them through God’s grace in the sacraments.