President’s Pen – March 2023

We are deep into MCCW’s spring retreat season and it is wonderful to gather again in person at retreats for the first time since 2019.  Indeed, God moved in beautiful ways as women from three regions reconnected in Hawaii, Illinois, and Arizona earlier this month.  We now have a month-long break before we host the final two retreats in late April for the Southeastern and Northeastern regions.  

When the USCCB announced the Eucharistic Revival in 2021, Bishop Buckon challenged MCCW to focus our retreat and forum themes around the Eucharist.  We answered with this year’s centralized retreat theme–“Christ in Me.” Attendees are being invited at each retreat to encounter the Eucharist in new ways and to contemplate the Eucharist as part and parcel of our daily lives.  Women are taking home a renewed sense of how the Eucharist is the catalyst that inspires us to live out the three pillars of MCCW’s core values: Discernment, Development, and Discipleship (3D).  

While these three concepts have always been woven into how we connect, unite, and inspire women across branches of service and in varied geographic locations, they have only recently been defined and expanded as part of our signature programming and content.  Kitty Eisenbiel, Director of Formation, delivered the first component centered on discernment at Forum 2022.  Muffy Patterson, Director of Regional Coordinators; Joan LaPore, Director of Finance; Anni Harry, Director of Communications; and Josie Trejo, Director of Stewardship all presented along with me at the first round of retreats as we tied 3D to homilies, presentations, and messaging shared by Bp Spencer, several religious sisters, other guest speakers, and priests. 

We are excited for this early rollout of a new program and are working hard to develop a full training curriculum that supports collaboration with the AMS and creates opportunities for MCCW to provide critical chapel level training that helps revive local ministry for military affiliated women around the world.  Our team is currently seeking grant funding for this initiative and will be refining the components through Forum 2024.

As you read through this edition of The Well, look for articles about experiencing the Triduum, facing upcoming family transitions after graduation, how to register for the two remaining retreats and more.  There is also a special piece that outlines our basic definitions for MCCWs 3D core values and offers an example of how each one is rooted in the real presence.

I hope that by reflecting on this special time in the liturgical year that you will be inspired in your faith and feel a renewed unity with your sisters in Christ.  Our unique experiences as military families anchor us in a deep layer of connection that is only enhanced by our shared reliance on the Eucharist as the source of our faith.

Blessings,

Bevin