When Donna Harring learned that she had been chosen as the Catholic Herald’s 2025 Herald Angel, her reply revealed just why she was nominated. “Can I call you back?” she asked. “I was just on my way to the nursing home to visit the seniors.”
Harring has been a parishioner of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church in Fredericksburg for nine years. But in just under a decade, she went on a service spree, serving with parish ministries, the local Legion of Mary curia, the parish capital campaign and parish council, and more recently, the Diocesan Week of Service.
She said her love of service takes root in the Legion of Mary, of which she is treasurer for the Rappahannock Curia, or group of local parish legions. “It gives a good foundation into what it means to be part of the laity and what our responsibilities are as Catholics,” she said.
As a member of St. Mary’s legion, or praesidium, Harring visits nursing homes in the region weekly. She visits with the seniors, prays the rosary with them, and, this time of year sings Christmas carols with them. “We are basically the eyes and ears for the priests,” she said of her service to the elderly.
She is an active member of the Seven Sisters Apostolate, which “goes hand in hand with the Legion of Mary.” Through the apostolate, a core group of women takes turns praying a holy hour each day of the week for a specific priest.
“My day is Sunday, so I find an hour and I visit a church.” Harring said. “It’s such a wonderful blessing that they’re giving us their lives … We need to pray for them.”
Harring’s professional talent for program management quickly caught the eye of Father John P. Mosimann, pastor, who noticed her detailed spreadsheets on nursing home safety protocols for Legion of Mary volunteers during the pandemic. So, when the parish began its capital campaign in 2022, Father Mosimann knew just who to select as co-chair of the campaign committee.
“Humble, tireless and amazingly talented,” were the three qualities he ascribed to Harring. “If the Lord asks us to do something, he always gives us the grace to accomplish every task. And in order to accomplish the capital campaign at St. Mary’s, Donna Harring was the bearer of the perfect skillset to accomplish what the Lord had asked us to do,” he said. “She really had the skills to facilitate that vision.”
While serving as co-chair, Harring had the opportunity to help facilitate the purchase of the statues and stained glass that would grace the renovated Holy Cross Academy, the parish school, and the new Divine Mercy Adoration Chapel. She said among her favorite pieces of art is a stained-glass window of St. Joseph the Worker with the Child Jesus.
“We were able to raise $7.3 million,” she said of the campaign. “We realized that this is the work of the Holy Spirit. We’re just the arms and legs, but the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of everyone.”
As if she wasn’t busy enough on the parish level, Harring gave her time and talent on a diocesan scale, serving on the committee for the Nov. 9-16 Diocesan Week of Service. Harring helped organize the many service projects conducted by parishes and schools throughout the week. “We created this template, and everybody selected one of those spiritual acts of mercy or corporal acts of mercy,” she said, adding that her focus was pro-life projects. Each committee member assigned to a specific work of mercy was responsible for coordinating parish projects for that category.
“Donna’s love for the church and generous sharing of her gifts made her a shining star on the planning committee,” said Msgr. Robert C. Cilinski, episcopal vicar of charitable works and pastor of Nativity Catholic Church in Burke. “She spent hours and hours, weeks and weeks, establishing the database that promoted, recorded and received all the parish and school projects results. Donna was the key person that encouraged everyone’s input and participation.”
She also worked with parishes following the week of service to collect data to pass along to the diocesan communications department. “It was an honor to do it,” she said.
Harring gives of herself not only to her parish but also to her family. She has been married 31 years to her husband, David, and is a proud mother to two sons and three grandsons, who attend Holy Cross Academy.
“It’s wonderful to have daughters-in-law,” she said.
Reflecting on why she continues to serve, Harring said it always goes back to the mission of the Legion of Mary, “to bring souls closer to Christ.”
“There’s so much joy in giving of ourselves and knowing it is for God.”
