I have a bit of an inspirational story to tell about a Mother’s Group I started about 17 years ago.
I asked moms in my circle of friends, moms I met at hockey arenas, church, and moms that were a part of that group that was disbanding.
I started to collect email addresses of potential moms and kept sending them a variety of Catholic email’s and invitations to the monthly meeting at my house. The group always meets at 8pm, we do attract many working moms. After each Mother’s Group meeting, I was always left so elated, so full of grace, so edified, that I started writing letters to “my” mothers.
My email distribution list grew.
One day, after visiting my sister’s parish, St. Clement Catholic Church for Sunday mass, when my husband was away on business, I providentially bumped into Father Rosica who is the CEO of Salt + Light TV our Canadian national Catholic TV station and was celebrating mass that day, as a visiting priest. As women sometimes like to do, I started complaining. I complained to him that their was nothing on the station for Catholic mothers, that all the programming (at the time), seemed to be focused on youth. He listened patiently and intently to my complaining and suggested I submit a proposal for a TV show.
After much self doubt, and a good dose of encouragement from a friend who is a Catholic mom, I did some research, submitted it and guess what? After much negotiation on format and topics, I worked with the producer Gillian Kantor, the mothers in my Mother’s Group and thee TV station in creating a Catholic television program for mothers! It was produced and aired under the title, Mothering, Full of Grace. Many Mother’s Groups use the now DVD series to start groups here in Canada. Several mom’s from our Mother’s Group are in the series!
Another thing happened. “My mom’s” encouraged me in my writing, nurturing me and kept telling me I needed to submit my writing to a Catholic newspaper.
Guess what? I am now a guest columnist with the Catholic Register.
Guess what? The collection of letters I wrote to my mothers group got published into a book under the title Motherhood Matters.
Last but not least, after 12 years of hosting my Mother’s Group, we decided we should have some type of an event, to celebrate our twelve years and at the same time, it would give us an opportunity to invite moms who did not have the time to come out monthly. We decided to host a conference during Lent for Catholic women, broadening our group.
Guess what?
We are in our 6th year of hosting the Dynamic Women of Faith conference.
This new website is a result of many mothers prayers.
As of today, Friday December 3, 2014, we have reached women in 27 different countries!
Why am I writing this? Not to boast or brag, because it is all God’s work. I could have never imagined such things! Following the promptings of the Holy Spirit is an incredible spiritual adventure!
I wrote this because…
I hope to remind everyone that mothers praying together are a powerful and mighty force.
Many mothers who have attended the group have experienced a variety of conversions, many have learned to pray the rosary for the first time, many have broadened their knowledge of Catholic Church teachings and traditions. We have been blessed in so many different ways!
If you do not have a Mother’s Group in your neighborhood or parish, START ONE.
Mothers are waiting for someone like you to take the lead. The fruits will be phenomenal if you start each session with the rosary!
Here is the link to the first episode of Mothering, Full of Grace , watch it and let me know what you think!
Remember,
Get Inspired.
Discover Your Mission.
Do Something for God.
PS. Those of you who are grammatically sensitive may be wondering why I capitalized Mother’s Group; I did it because I have great reverence for Mother’s Groups. They are a mighty and powerful force. We would love to hear your experiences and learn about the resources you have used in your particular Mother’s Group.
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Dorothy Pilarski is the founder of Dynamic Women of Faith, author, Catholic radio host, motivational speaker, blogger, guest columnist with the Catholic Register and a facilitator on Salt + Light TV. www.dorothypilarski.com