“We named her Samantha. We chose that because it means "God has heard," and most of all, day after day, I begged for her life and for a miracle, for her to be healthy and have a full life,” said Kathryn Skillet of Omaha, Nebraska. She was one of four speakers at the second annual Encounter Tampa Bay Event held at St. Petersburg Catholic High School on March 28, 2025. 

Skillet is a wife and mother who has experienced personal tragedy and is still living with the effects of trauma in her life, which included a crisis of faith. While trying to heal her deep wounds, she found a book, Cry of the Heart, that helped her to understand that suffering is a mystery to be lived, rather than a problem to be solved. She discovered that suffering is part of the human condition, and it can bring meaning to our lives. 

“Like a drowning person searching for a lifeline, I proposed Cry of the Heart to my friends because I wanted to learn to suffer. I thought my faith crisis meant I was suffering wrong,” added Skillet, who read and discussed the book with friends.

Cry of the Heart was written by the late Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete, a Puerto Rican theologian, priest, scientist, and author. The speakers at Encounter Tampa Bay had read and studied his book in preparation for the event.

Monsignor Albacete writes that attempting to soothe someone who is suffering is the wrong approach because it denies their reality and their humanity. 

“We long to rework a person's circumstances so that they see their suffering from just the right angle, and we want to reframe their ordeal to fit our own narrative,” said Skillet.

According to Monsignor Albacete, a better approach is to be a co-sufferer, to accompany, to grieve with the person who is suffering, and to be fully present in his or her life.

Enrico Grugnetti, a Hospice nurse from St. Petersburg, knows well the role of a co-sufferer. He is close to people as they face their own mortality and struggle with losing their health, status, security, and even their very lives.

“I was given this grace of being part of people's lives to witness the possibility of a communion, of a friendship that can only be born out of the presence of the mystery of suffering in our lives,” said Grugnetti.

Leo Schofield of Riverview encountered suffering after his wife was murdered, and he was wrongly convicted of the crime and served 36 years in prison. He remarkably found hope in these circumstances.

“I believe that we experience suffering so that others can know what our hope is, so that they can latch on to that. As believers, hope is attached to Jesus Christ. That was the hope that got me through,” said Schofield.

Bishop Gregory Parkes opened the event with prayer and a short reflection on his own personal challenges.

“I've experienced my own health struggles over the years, and loss in my life, and I'm grateful that I've been able to overcome these things. The certainty of the presence of a God who suffers with me in the midst of these challenges helped me to find hope,” said Bishop Parkes.

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the pope’s ambassador to the U.S., was in St. Petersburg to speak at Encounter Tampa Bay.

“As a Catholic Christian, I see the problem of suffering as inseparable from the Cross of Jesus,” said Cardinal Pierre.

He points to Jesus Christ who emptied Himself to become one of us, to suffer with us.

“We may associate suffering with losing our life, but what we discover is that the suffering of Jesus, which is one of the extreme sufferings we can imagine, has the power to redeem us, to save us. It puts us on the way to salvation. Jesus does not come to resolve all our problems, but just to be with us. He creates through his actions, through his presence, the mystery of co-suffering, giving to the co-sufferers, meaning to their life,” said Cardinal Pierre.

Quyen Vu left the practice of her Catholic faith for about six years after her husband died of cancer, and she was left alone to raise her young son. At the time, she blamed God for not hearing her prayer. She attended Encounter Tampa Bay and felt a connection to the speakers since she eventually realized that Jesus Christ was suffering with her. She was not truly alone.

"God never abandoned me all those years that I abandoned him," said Vu, who attends Holy Family Parish, in St. Petersburg.