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Military sisters in Christ

Ashleigh Buyers | Catholic Herald

A vendor at the MCCW conference sells images of the Divine Mercy along with copies of St. Faustina Kowalaska’s diary April 22.

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A group of military women and their babies enjoy breakfast before the MCCW conference keynote address at the Hilton Crystal City Hotel in Arlington April 22.

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Kim Miller, MCCW Stewardship leader, holders her baby girl, Adele Miller, during the Military Council of Catholic Women conference April 22.

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Edward Sri gives the keynote address to a group of over 250 military women at the MCCW conference April 22.

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More than 250 military women both active duty and retired attended the MCCW conference at the Hilton Crystal City hotel April 22.

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Keeping a family growing in the faith can feel like an uphill
battle for many. Even more so among military mothers and
wives who have to deal with frequent moves and dangerous
deployments. In these situations, faith is a vital ally, but
it is not always an easy one to keep.

For the past 60 years, the Military Council of Catholic Women
Worldwide has worked to provide both active duty military and
retirees with a unique sisterhood. The group, which started
in Germany, includes women with the mission to keep the light
of Christ burning in the hearts of the military. They do this
by supporting seminarians for the Archdiocese of Military
Services and also through their biennial conferences.

“The military is always telling us to be ready and
resilient,” said Elizabeth Tomlin, president of MCCW. “But if
you are not spiritually ready and resilient you are going to
fail.”

The idea behind the conference is that attendees will use it
as an evangelization catalyst. The goal is for women to
experience spiritual growth and take what they learn back to
their military chapels and installations.

More than 250 women attended this year’s conference at the
Hilton Crystal City in Arlington. The four-day conference
offered many dynamic speakers, including Dr. Edward Sri, who
gave the keynote address April 22. Sri is a theologian and
author from Littleton, Colo., and a founding leader of the
Fellowship of Catholic University Students.

During his address, Sri emphasized that simply “watering” the
family’s spiritual garden is not enough in today’s culture.
He frequently hears from parents who raised their kids in the
faith only to discover that their children have abandoned it
by the time they left college.

“In our day and age it is not enough to just give water,”
said Sri. “We have to be attentive to the weeds in the
ground.” These weeds, according to Sri, are society’s
understanding of love, morality, God and the church.

During Friday’s breakout sessions, attendees were able to
choose from topics ranging from marriage challenges, dealing
with fallen-away young adults and responding to affronts by
“Bible-Christians.”

One of the sessions was titled, “The bizarre dialect of your
husbands and sons,” by Joshua Danis, a graduate of Franciscan
University of Steubenville who leads marriage prep and
enrichment classes in the Cincinnati Archdiocese. During the
talk he spoke about the unique ways many men tend to think
about the faith and what women can do to inspire them.

“All the men in our lives are in different places, but God
has the same goal for all of them,” said Danis. One of the
common differences between men and women that Danis
highlighted was how men approach Scripture. Many men take a
more mechanical approach. They want to figure out how it
works and specifically how Scripture fits into God’s ultimate
plan for them.

In addition to the talks and networking opportunities,
attendees were encouraged to take time out for their own
spiritual growth. One of Tomlin’s favorite things about the
conference is seeing women go to confession, some of them for
the first time in years. “They are different women after
that,” she said.

Rebecca Pastore from Marine Corps Base Quantico attended the
conference, baby in tow.

“I’m very pleased. I feel like I am being fed,” said Pastore.
“I am constantly giving of myself, so I am here to be engaged
so I can impart that on to my children.”

Like many other military women, Pastore will be moving soon,
and as of now there is no chapel group where she is going.
She is looking forward to using what she has learned at the
conference to start a group and spread the Good News when she
gets there.

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