The Napa Institute conference on the west coast of the US is the annual pilgrimage gathering of business and spiritual leaders of the American Catholic Church, along with a small caravan of media, education leaders, entrepreneurs, attorneys, religious and bible groups, priests, philanthropists, nonprofit executives and Catholic influentials. Last month, I went for the first time; attendees this year included Republican presidential candidate Mike Pence.
Divine providence intervened at JFK airport in New York when I ran into a quartet of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal heading the same way. They were amused to learn that, over half a century ago, I had been a house prefect to their former Superior, Fr Bernard Murphy (then known as John) at Portsmouth Abbey School in Rhode Island. We had a catch-up on him, now ministering in England, and their order’s continuing growth, which set the tone for a cheerful conference under the theme “What We Need Now”.
The event takes place at Napa Institute founder Tim Busch’s Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa; I stayed 20 minutes down the road at the Westin and ferried copies of the Herald to the conference every morning. Busch’s co-director, Fr Robert Spitzer SJ, is a brilliant scientist, theologian and former university president. Now completely blind from a degenerative disease, he still writes several books a year. He held his Napa audience in thrall with his polymath ebullience.
Obviously the high point was the appearance of Mike Pence, who recounted his Catholic boyhood and the difficult decision to break with Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. As the LA Times noted, “religious conservatives such as the attendees of the Napa Institute conference are a key part of the GOP electorate, and Pence, a devout evangelical Christian, needs their support if he is to have any hope of becoming the next president”.
Pence was raised as a Catholic: “What the world needs today is men and women of deep conviction and faith who will boldly live out their faith in the public square,” he said.
Towards the end of the conference, Tim Busch welcomed the Herald to sit with him at the Bistro in his Meritage Resort. After bidding goodbye to delegate friends from the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC, things began to wind down a little with some delegates heading off to enjoy downtown Napa.
Busch was modest about the rapid growth of the Institute, started in 2011, attributing it all to “grace”. His own faith journey is interesting, as it highlights how he was inspired by another successful Catholic business leader to take an entrepreneurial approach to his faith.
“I went to a parochial school, and one day one of the nuns suggested it would be a good idea if we went to Mass,” Busch said. “So I did, and in time became a daily communicant. Later, in college, I never lost my faith but did fall away somewhat from practising. Then I went into business, and in my 30s joined Legatus [the organisation for Catholic CEOs founded by Domino’s Pizza owner Tom Monaghan], and that proved decisive. I returned to daily Mass and never looked back. Today it remains a tremendous anchor in my life. I recommend it highly to anyone searching for God and spiritual fulfilment.”
A founder of the JSerra Catholic high school in Orange County, California, and the donor of the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America, Busch has led a charmed life in business but gives all credit to God – and to his wife, Steph. But he also works hard at being one of America’s most successful Catholic networkers. He was one of the first names to be shortlisted for inclusion in the Herald’s inaugural survey of the top US Catholic leaders, published last October.
He has recently written columns for National Review calling for religious courage, and for the Wall Street Journal, urging the Vatican to make its ever-murky finances more transparent. He has also launched a series of pilgrimages to the Holy Land, England, Paris and Rome for 2023-5, and next month will host the Principled Entrepreneurship Conference in New York, which includes a Eucharistic procession across Midtown Manhattan from St Patrick’s Cathedral with Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
Since we were in Napa, it was not surprising that food and good Californian wine featured as much as spiritual nourishment. Dinners at Napa feed up to 800 people on the Village Lawn (in reality, an AstroTurf-like synthetic rug). The service is buffet-style, and attendees are free to sit where they like. However, if a table has empty chairs, one is always warmly welcomed to join. Each evening’s menu has a theme – “the fruits of Napa”, “food from the Holy Land” and my favourite, “In honour of Pope Benedict”. Alas, I forgot to pack my lederhosen, but at least we were spared a pizza with Coca-Cola (no wine) for the Pence dinner in homage to the diet of Trump.
Jamie MacGuire is US Special Projects Editor of the Catholic Herald.
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