By Maria V. GallagherWhen summer rolls around, I am reminded of a weekend a number of years ago, when I had difficulty reaching my then seven-year-old daughter on the phone at her father’s apartment. It seemed they had both disappeared.
Catholic women have a lot on their plate. Besides the home, kids, spouse, job, and finances – all of which must be juggled in an increasingly godless world – where do we go for the friendship and support we need? Maybe a Morning of Grace is what you’re looking for!
Women of Grace®, the nation’s leading Catholic women’s apostolate, is hosting its first one-day Young Women of Grace® retreat for teen girls ages 13+. This fun-filled day is designed to help girls discover their feminine genius and learn how to use it to not just survive in this toxic culture, but to thrive in spite of it!
Women of Grace® is inviting you to participate in a very special event that will be taking place this Sunday, May 6, in the home diocese of our apostolate – the Diocese of St. Petersburg - when Bishop Gregory Parkes will consecrate the diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
USF Women of Grace: (Front L/R) Emma Lopez-Ponnada, Emily Donaire, Meredith Hines. (Back L/R) Angie Phewklieng, Janet Carina, Melissa Jones, Sandrine Urias. Maria Gonzalez is on computer via Skype with Isabelle Liberatore, Women of Grace Director of Administration & Development, holding laptop.Women of all ages, and from as far away as Colombia, participated in a Full of Grace study at the University of South Florida (USF) where they embarked on an incredible journey of healing, hope, and new horizons.
Back row (l/r) Michelle Espinosa, Christine Adelizzi. Front row (l/r) Kae, Sarah, and RileyIt was two years ago at a Women of Grace® retreat when Michelle Espinosa and Christine Adelizzi first heard about the Young Women of Grace® program and decided the Holy Spirit was calling them to start a group. They had no idea how to facilitate a class, but they acted in faith, bought a Facilitators Kit and left the rest up to God.
Michelle and Christine are now facilitating a group of seven girls at St. Thomas More parish in Allentown, Pennsylvania who are expected to complete the course in early June.
“It’s been a great first year,” said co-facilitator Michelle. “The girls are really special. I am amazed that they willingly give up their Saturday mornings to come together to strengthen their Catholic faith and to fellowship with one another. I pray that the valuable lessons of this program will carry them through high school and college.”
Judging from the comments the girls made about the class, this hope may be on its way to fulfillment.
“I’ve grown strong in my faith and learned how to respect myself,” said Sarah, 14, one of a set of triplets whose sister, Riley, is also in the class.
“I’ve learned how important it is to be a woman and to listen to God and try to be close to Him and do His will,” said Riley, 14. “I also learned the importance of prayer, and how important it is to come together in this community and listen to what other girls have to say.”
Kae, 16, said the program taught her how important it is to come together in a small group with other girls who share the faith. “The group encourages us in our role as women. In sharing our experiences and building each other up, we can learn to live as Catholic women in the world in spite of what the world is trying to tell us," she said.
For co-facilitator Christine, who is a grandmother of two and has no experience teaching, she wanted to take on this loving labor after seeing the kind of world her granddaughters would be facing in the years ahead.
“I see the ways of the world and they are not good, especially toward women and family life,” Christine said.
Seven years ago, it was a Women of Grace® course that emboldened her with the truth of what it meant to be created female. The course introduced her to the writings of the Church on femininity, and when she read St. John Paul II’s Letter to Women, she felt something stir in her soul.
“Women of Grace changed my life,” she said, and her innate sense of spiritual motherhood naturally makes her want to share this gift with others.
“One year later, I’m enjoying facilitating Young Women of Grace®. I feel as though I am doing something to educate the girls in the truth of the Catholic Church and life. I couldn’t let this generation of girls go into Junior/Senior High and beyond unarmed about the ways of the world and the ‘culture of death’ we live in.”
Her and Michelle are planting the seeds, but letting God do the watering and the “Son-ing” to let the growth take place.
“One of my hopes for the girls is that they are learning discernment skills, by using the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, thought and prayer before acting," Christine said. "I am impressed at how the seed has taken root, and in time who knows what our Lord has in store for these Young Women of Grace!”
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Malvern Retreat House, Malvern, PAThis year’s Women of Grace retreat, scheduled for July 13-15 at the Malvern Retreat House in Malvern, PA, will delve into the mysterious union of Mary and the Holy Spirit and how the fruits of this union can empower today’s woman to meet the complex challenges of our day.
The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council said that the hour has come when women who are impregnated with the spirit of the Gospel will achieve an influence and power in the world that has never been seen before. This is our time! And this is why Catholic women interested in honing their feminine genius into the kind of leadership skills needed to affect real change in the world are flocking to the new Catholic Women’s Leadership Studies Program of the Benedicta Leadership Institute for Women.
Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDSIn a major victory for public decency standards, Walmart has agreed to remove Cosmopolitan magazine, with its covers full of half-naked women and risqué articles, from checkout racks.
It was a tremendous blessing for me to have had the opportunity to meet Dr. Gianna Emmanuela Molla, the daughter of St Gianna Beretta Molla at the 2015 World Meeting of Families. She was there representing the St. Gianna Physician’s Guild, whose mission is to unite and encourage Catholic physicians, and those in the health care profession, to promote and defend Catholic principles in a public way by word and example, and to inspire sanctification in their lives. Her inner beauty and humility radiates through her as she carries on the legacy of her mother, who was herself a Catholic physician.
