Mountaintop Moments at Malvern!

The recently held 8th Annual Women of Grace Retreat at Malvern Retreat House and Benedicta Leadership Institute were an overwhelming success!

groupshotThere was a maximum capacity crowd of spirit-filled women who were excited and open to receive the grace that was poured out upon them by Our Lord.

Speakers included Johnnette Benkovic, Fr. Philip Scott, F.J., Patti Gallagher Mansfield, Susan Brinkmann, O.C.D.S. and Carol Marquardt who each gave wonderful messages of hope and inspiration, the fruits of which are still unfolding.  Our guests of highest honor were the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit who were present with us in palpable and life-changing ways throughout the weekend. Read the rest…

Women of Grace Takes Lafayette by Storm!

We are always thrilled to hear the many wonderful things happening with Women of Grace® across the country.

Recently, the region of Lafayette has come in like a hurricane.  Regional Coordinator, Brenda Dooley, invited us to give a Facilitator Training day during Johnnette’s recent participation in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of New Orleans, Holy Spirit Women’s Retreat. Read the rest…

Women of Grace Celebrate Sisterhood and Our Lady of Guadalupe

Regional Coordinator, Treva Dillick, gives an account of Women of Grace celebrating their sacred sisterhood on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

“Three years ago the first Women of Grace Foundational Study was presented at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Doylestown Ohio. That group of 12 women decided that after each Foundational Study concludes an invitation would be sent out to every woman who has attended the study previously. The celebrations includes a cover dish dinner and the greeting of the new sacred sisters who just finished the study and are receiving their WOG certificate of completion. Read the rest…

“Your Cross”

Friends, we had a beautiful discussion on today’s Women of Grace radio program about embracing our crosses.  One of our caller’s shared this prayer by St. Francis De Sales, which I promised to post for you.  There is much in it to pray over and I am certain it will deepen our understanding of the mystery of the cross. Read the rest…

Exciting News! The Women of Grace 2013 Benedicta Leadership Institute for Women

Dear Friends,

peggyhartshornI have very exciting news! Peggy Hartshorn, President of Heartbeat International, an affiliation of over 1400 crisis pregnancy centers internationally, will be presenting our Benedicta Leadership Institute this year, July 11th – 12th. She will train all attendees in her highly successful method for communication and leadership called called the L.O.V.E. Approach. The theme of the Institute is “The L.O.V.E. Approach…For Such A Time As This (Esther 4:14).”

Called to transform the world one woman at a time, Women of Grace exercise the charism of authentic femininity through the gift of spiritual motherhood. With the Blessed Virgin Mary as their exemplar, Women of Grace seek to do for the beleaguered Body of Christ in our day what Our Lady did for the infant Church in hers. Empathy, self-donation, compassion, and the faithful witness to truth characterize this apostolate of love, and build a strong dynamic for a profoundly Catholic women’s leadership. The Women of Grace® 2013 Benedicta Leadership Institute for Women® will train women in a proven approach that develops these four virtues, and is applicable to all professions, vocations, states in life, and life situations. Women of Grace® Regional Coordinators and Facilitators will find this approach particularly valuable in their interaction with each other and in the work God has entrusted to them with their study group participants.

The L.O.V.E. APPROACH™ Is:

• Completely consistent with Sacred Scripture and Catholic Teaching

• A catalyst for achieving a “civilization of love” according to the vision of Blessed John Paul II

• A jump start for the “New Evangelization”

• Proven efficacious and effective with women via 1400 international crisis pregnancy centers

Attendees will come away with skill development in:

• Listening with empathy and understanding

• Opening options with loving concern and compassion

• Imparting a new vision of life and relationships with values and virtues faithful to God’s desire for us

• Extending hope others by helping them constructing a new plan for their life through goal-setting and strategy development

Margaret “Peggy” Hartshorn, Ph.D., is the developer of The L.O.V.E. Approach which has been used with great success in over 1400 crisis pregnancy centers internationally. Since 1993, Dr. Hartshorn has been president of Heartbeat International, the most expansive network of Christ-centered, life-affirming, pregnancy help ministries in the world, with over 1,400 affiliated pregnancy help centers, medical clinics, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and abortion recovery programs, located in forty-eight countries. She has been a guest on the Women of Grace® Television Program, seen on EWTN and hosted by Johnnette Benkovic, and is one of the guest contributors via video to the new Women of Grace® Study, Feminine Genius…”For Such A Time as This (Esther 4:14)”: Blessed John Paul II and Authentic Femininity.

For information or to register for the Benedicta Leadership Institute or the Women of Grace Retreat, both located in Malvern, PA, please visit our website here or call the Malvern Retreat Center at 1-610-644-0400. 

Yours in Christ,
Johnnette

 

March for Life 2013 Journal by Vicki Crispo

Women of Grace Peggy Pritchard, Anne Rohrbaugh, Joanne Hudak, Paula Smeigh, Robin Enochs, Marci McKinnon, Bernadette Bernardy, Judy Auchey, Vicki Crispo & Ellyn Shelly

The idea took life after the 39th annual March for Life in 2012 when, during a Women of Grace Facilitator Network Conference call, my sister regional coordinator, Peggy Pritchard passionately presented her reflections from the March For Life and challenged us to make plans for 2013. Regional Coordinators Martha Nicolli and Jennie Stanbro joined in the discussion and with Johnnette’s enthusiastic encouragement, we made plans to officially represent Women of Grace at the March For Life in our nation’s capital on the 40th memorial of Roe vs. Wade. Read the rest…