Conference draws more than 600 beloved daughters

“I’ve been thinking about delivering this in an Australian accent,” Sr. Bethany Madonna quipped to the attendees assembled for the Diocese of Wichita’s Inaugural Catholic Women’s Conference, held Saturday, March 8 at Church of the Magdalen in Wichita. Illness prevented Sydney native Sr. Mary Grace from providing the keynote remarks she was scheduled to deliver that afternoon, after the morning keynote delivered by author and spiritual director Claire Dwyer. Nevertheless, Sr. Bethany Madonna flew to Wichita and filled in ably for her fellow Sister of Life.

Sr. Bethany Madonna energized the audience of more than 600, affirmed Becky Knapp, a member of the leadership team that organized the conference.

“I think we were intended to have the speakers we had this year,” said Knapp, who is also program coordinator of Natural Family Planning for the diocese’s Office of Marriage & Family Life. “It met – and exceeded – all our expectations. This was a brainchild of Bishop Kemme, Susie Wilson, and Jessica Tarbell, who really brought it to completion, thanks to all the work of the people who participated on the committees, all the volunteers, and the women who attended.”

Tarbell and Wilson, both members of St. Vincent DePaul Parish in Andover, also served on the leadership team, and Tarbell emceed the event. “You plan for and pray about something for so long that it stays at the forefront of your mind to the point you even dream about it,” she said. “When it ended, I thought it was even better than I could have dreamt. It was extraordinary and I don’t even know if that does it justice.” 

Bishop’s Homily

Sr. Bethany Madonna had never been to Wichita before the conference weekend but was excited to make the trip. “I was very eager to get here and visit Fr. Kapaun,” she said. 

Her impression after having done so?

“Honestly, his presence is very palpable at the Cathedral,” she said.

Also very palpable was the joy Sr. Bethany Madonna detected as she arrived at Magdalen for the conference. “The women were so excited,” she said. “There was such a beautiful spirit. I was welling up with tears just witnessing the unfolding of so much labor and preparation for the sake of those who came and received it with so much joy.”

The conference opened with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Carl Kemme. His homily thanked those who made the conference possible and also expressed appreciation for the attendees. “I thank you for being here today, for sacrificing so much to be in this gathering; it truly is a testament to your faith and your desire to grow more deeply in love with Christ and his Church,” he said. “Where would I be without the many women in my life, starting with my mother and grandmothers, with aunts, my sister, my women teachers, religious sisters with whom I have had the honor of working, my devoted secretaries, without whom I would have most certainly failed, and so many women friends who have shown me a sisterly love. When I look out at you today, I see them. So, thank you, one and all, for this incredible blessing.”

The bishop also discussed St. Pope John Paul II’s 1988 apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem, which translates as “Dignity and the Vocation of Women.” The letter reflects on both the Blessed Mother and Eve, the bishop said, and considers women in the Church in the context of their vocations. It also points to the cultural and religious nonconformity Jesus showed in the gospels when he unfailingly treated women with dignity and honor. Moreover, Bishop Kemme said, Mulieris Dignitatem “reminds us that mostly women were present at the cross, and that the first Easter proclamation was made to a woman, Mary of Magdalen, and that is why we call her ‘Apostle of the Apostles,’ for she was sent to them to tell them that Jesus, who was dead, now lives.”

Called to Union

Dwyer’s keynote address opened by emphasizing God’s unfathomable love for everyone, and then focused on the life and work of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, of whom Dwyer wrote the 2020 book This Present Paradise: A Spiritual Journey with St. Elizabeth of the Trinity.

“I am convinced that we have been brought to the threshold of a new age in the Church,” Dwyer said. “I believe that you are here today because you are being invited to help usher in this new age of the Holy Spirit. Now, compared to some movements in the Holy Spirit, this is a very quiet revolution, because it’s an interior life.”

She described it as restoring original union and divine intimacy through prayer. “It is the call and the raising up of women who understand that their state in life – whether they are overwhelmed young moms, busy executives, tired caretakers, religious women, or single women – none of those things are impediments to that union with God, but are actually the exact means to it. They are the way that God is drawing you near to himself.”

God raises up saints for every age in the Church to serve as prophetic witnesses to accomplish the work appropriate for that age, Dwyer said. Elizabeth of the Trinity stressed that all people, regardless of vocation, are called to union with God. 

After the conference, Sr. Mary Catherine of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary said Dwyer’s presentation was a powerful one. “Claire Dwyer ignited awareness of our uniqueness and the dignity God gave us from all eternity and showed Elizabeth of the Trinity as a trailblazer of holiness, especially in the call to silence amid the daily grind in all states of life,” Sr. Mary Catherine said.

Valuable and Beloved

Sr. Bethany Madonna’s presentation was interwoven with examples drawn from the work of the Sisters of Life, who accompany women in crisis pregnancies while helping those with abortion in their pasts.

“As women, there can be a temptation to ‘compare and despair’ as we call it in the convent,” she told attendees. “Someone else is always better, has more, or has it all together.” 

That can prompt many to chase attention, prestige, and love, Sr. Bethany Madonna continued, but it is important to remember that a woman’s value is not grounded in what she can do. “That’s what the world tells you, and it’s an extremely empty and exhausting pursuit that doesn’t end,” she said. “You are valuable because you are loved; because God chose you to be, because he made you in his image and likeness. And you are a unique and necessary communication of that to the world.”

One of Sr. Bethany Madonna’s stories recounted an instance in which a pair of Sisters of Life had been bicycling through a neighborhood. “One sister rode ahead of the other at an incredible speed,” she said. “The first sister hit a bump, and her bike kind of catapulted her into a neighbor’s yard, directly into a perfectly manicured rosebush.”

As one sister watched the other sink into the rosebush, her first thought was for the safety of the sister, Sr. Bethany Madonna related. “The second thought, which might have been concurrent, was that this homeowner was going to leave the Church over the destruction to this gorgeous yard,” she said

Instead, Sr. Bethany Madonna described, a woman emerged from the house, telling the sisters they were angels from God. As she brought the sisters inside and tended to the one who had wrecked, the homeowner explained her situation. “She was in the middle of a very messy divorce, a very painful experience,” Sr. Bethany Madonna said. “She was feeling so abandoned, so alone and so crushed that she prayed her first sincere prayer in years. She said she prayed ‘God, if you see me, if you know me, I need a sign.’ This was just moments before Sister came hurtling through the air into her rosebush.”

Sr. Bethany Madonna closed her talk by asking the attendees to join her in a prayer: “God, you are my Father, I am your daughter. I am your beloved one. Help me to receive the gift of my life.”

Only the Beginning

In the moments following, attendees Joan Stadler and Rachel Lewis expressed their enthusiasm for the Catholic Women’s Conference to become an annual tradition. 

“The Holy Spirit is really moving in our diocese,” Stadler said. “I look forward to upcoming conferences, because I can only see that the numbers will continue to grow.”

Lewis noted that the conference drew a broad range of women. 

“It’s exciting that there are women of all ages here,” she said. “Some of them may have grown up with a lot of fire and brimstone, so it might be the first time they heard they are beloved daughters.”

Sr. Bethany Madonna pointed to a different sort of fire as she encouraged those who attended. She said they should “Let this spark become a flame in their own hearts and in the hearts of the others. When women bind together and live their love and fidelity, it transforms the culture and the church.”