Posts in June, 2008

Spiritual Motherhood

June 23rd, 2008

At our meeting on Saturday, June 21, we discussed the practice of “spiritual motherhood” discussed by the Congregation for Clergy, and shared personal stories and practical benefits of providing priests with this form of support.

Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, explained the practice of spiritual motherhood:

“Regardless of age and marital status, all women can become spiritual mothers for a priest,” he explained. He said the commitment implies praying “for a specific priest and thus accompanying him for life,” usually anonymously.

Cardinal Hummes added, “This, as history tells us, produces great spiritual fruits for priests” who “spend their whole life, even with their limits, for God and for their neighbor […] preaching and cultivating the good, helping people.”

More of Cardinal Hummes’ remarks are available at Zenit.org: Priests need prayers.

In a document published in 2007, the Congregation for Clergy wrote of spiritual motherhood, giving some historical examples:

Independent of age or social status, any woman can become a mother for priests. This type of motherhood is not only for mothers of families, but is just as possible for an unmarried girl, a widow, or for someone who is ill. It is especially pertinent for missionaries and religious sisters who have given their lives entirely to God for the sanctification of others. John Paul II even thanked a child for her motherly help: “I also express my gratitude to Bl. Jacinta for the sacrifices and prayers offered for the Holy Father, whom she saw suffering greatly.”(13 May 2000)

Every priest has a birth mother, and often she is a spiritual mother for her children as well. For example, Giuseppe Sarto, the future Pope Pius X, visited his 70-year-old mother after being ordained a bishop. She kissed her son’s ring and, suddenly pensive, pointed out her own simple silver wedding band saying, “Yes, Giuseppe, you would not be wearing that ring if I had not first worn mine.” Pope St. Pius X rightfully confirms his experience that, “Every vocation to the priesthood comes from the heart of God, but it goes through the heart of a mother!”

One sees this particulary well in the life of St. Monica. Augustine, who lost his faith at the age of 19 while studying in Carthage, later wrote in his famous “Confessions” regarding his mother:“For love of me, she cried more tears than a mother would over the bodily death of her son. Nine years passed in which I wallowed in the slime of that deep pit and the darkness of falsehood. Yet that pious widow desisted not all the hours of her supplications, to bewail my case unto Thee where her prayers entered into Thy presence.”

The full document is available for download at the Congregation for Clergy web site, or at the link below:

Congregation for Clergy: Spiritual Motherhood for Priests (PDF)

At our last meeting of Serra Boston, Fr. Dan noted that there was a groundswell of support for vocations in the archdiocese of Boston. For example, the St. John Vianney Society, a women’s prayer group which meets every 3rd Saturday for Eucharistic Adoration and prayer for vocations at St. Mary’s in Waltham. The society was started spontaneously as a way to gather women to pray for vocations to the priesthood – about a month BEFORE Our Sunday Visitor published an article on spiritual motherhood in their May 25 issue!

Attendees at the meeting shared stories about supporting priests, praying for priestly ministry, and the practical nature of spiritual motherhood. No human being is meant to be alone, and all too often the “human” side of priests is overlooked as people view them as something other than men. It greatly helps when priests can interact with their community and socialize with others.

Here are links to several publications we talked about during the meeting:

Our next meeting will be Saturday, July 19 at 8:30am at St. Mary’s Parish (133 School St, Waltham, MA). We hope to see you there!

Posted in Meetings, Recap

Our Sunday Visitor and other events

June 19th, 2008

Serra Boston was featured In the June 8th edition of Our Sunday Visitor. Page 3 had a sidebar article telling of our “Pray for Our Priests” car magnets, with an accompanying photo. Fr. Mike Harrington, Assistant Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Boston, was quoted in the article. To date we have received requests for the magnet from Missouri, Indiana, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Maryland and Massachusetts. Clearly, the word is spreading fast!

Serra USA is looking into the possibility of getting involved with the distribution of the magnets on a national level. Two of our club members, Loretta Gallagher and Michelle Dickson, will be attending the national Serra conference in South Bend, Indiana from June 19-22, meeting Serrans from all over the country and attending various Serra workshops. We have been asked to present a short report on Serra Boston to the Vocations Committee; they are impressed with all we have done in so short a time.

Serra Boston was also in the news recently in the Vocations issue of the Pilot issued the weekend of the ordinations (May 23). We took out an ad congratulating the new ordinandi, and there was an accompanying article about Serra Boston. We have received several thank you notes from the seven newly ordained priests, thanking Serra Boston for the gift of a clerical shirt and collar. We are only too happy to have provided them, thanks to the donation of a generous benefactor!

Next meeting

At our next meeting on June 21, Fr. Dan Hennessey will give a talk on the recent Vatican document describing deep prayer and Eucharistic Adoration for an increase in vocations and the sanctification of the priesthood. There will be a day of Eucharistic Adoration in St. Mary’s chapel following the Serra meeting until 7:00 PM, sponsored by the St. John Vianney society. Why not invite some friends to join and spend some time in prayer in front of the Blessed Eucharist?

That’s all for now. Thanks for all your wonderful support and encouragement — we ARE making a difference in helping to create the culture of vocations that we all desire so deeply for our beloved archdiocese.

See you Saturday, God-willing!

Posted in Meetings, Recap


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