By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
PLANO — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church welcomed nearly 300 women into its Parish Hall Feb. 22 for the 25th Annual Women’s Retreat. Tickets to the event sold out more than a week in advance of the retreat date, demonstrating a hunger for fellowship among women of faith, retreat co-coordinator Susan McKeefer said.
Hosted at rotating locations each February, the retreat is a collaborative effort between five Diocese of Dallas parishes: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Plano, St. Mark the Evangelist in Plano, Our Lady of Angels in Allen, St. Jude in Allen, and St. Joseph in Richardson. These parishes organize the event each year with the goal of empowering women to journey together in faith.
“The origin of this event was the desire of a small group of women wanting to offer an opportunity to build community, fellowship, and faith enrichment among parishes in their geographic area,” McKeefer shared. “They decided a retreat day would give women an opportunity to meet others sharing their common challenges, concerns, hopes, and joys.”
During this year’s event, women in attendance had the opportunity to share meals, shop Catholic merchandise, engage in table discussions, and listen to talks by keynote speaker Kelly Wahlquist on the theme “Walk in Her Sandals: Experiencing Christ’s Passion through the Eyes of Women,” which is inspired by Wahlquist’s book of the same name.
Wahlquist is a Catholic speaker and author whose ministry, WINE: Women In the New Evangelization, focuses on inspiring women in the Church to connect in friendship and walk together as intentional disciples of Christ.
“As women, it’s easier to do God’s will when you’re surrounded by your sisters in Christ who are supporting you and nurturing you,” Wahlquist said.
Sisters in Christ
The hundreds of women in attendance at the Annual Women’s Retreat represented a diverse sample of the local Church in Dallas, Pam Deffibaugh, a parishioner of St. Mary Catholic Parish in Sherman, suggested.
“It’s uplifting to see the diversity of the age groups… to see the different people coming from different places,” Deffibaugh said.
“It’s nice to get together with other women and feel the camaraderie and just be spiritually enlightened,” she continued. “We are women, and we need to lift one another up.”
Like Deffibaugh, several other retreat participants also remarked on the camaraderie they felt that day, surrounded by a crowd of likeminded sisters in Christ.
Kelly Sutherland, a St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner who attended the retreat for the first time this year, said that she had “never had this level of community with women in the Church” before and described the experience of gathering together as “really powerful.”
Nahima Hannon, a St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner who recently moved to the area, said that attending the retreat helped her connect more closely with other Catholic women in the diocese. Through the conversations she had with them, she even learned about opportunities for connection at her own parish.
“At my table, people were saying, ‘Join the women’s group,'”” she said, “and so I was like, okay, that’s interesting. There are volunteer opportunities that are currently available that I would love to participate in.”
Hannon also noted the spiritual richness of the retreat. Like many retreatants, she shared that she was touched by Wahlquist’s insights on Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection as explored through the stories of the holy women of the Bible. She found that Wahlquist’s reflections helped her identify with these women of Scripture.
Sutherland shared that the reflections resonated with her too. “I think what is really impactful for me is Mary watching Jesus suffer,” she said. “Being a new mom myself, I can connect with that on a whole new level, and so it was just really powerful hearing about that.”
Tinamarie Martinez, a parishioner of St. Michael the Archangel in Garland, found that these examples of women who relied on God in difficult times touched her heart.
As she heard their stories, she said, “God consoled me right there in my seat, right there in my soul, in my heart.”
Wahlquist “spoke about finding the alone place—not being alone, but alone with God or going to where God is… in the stories of Veronica and Mary and the other women,” she recalled. “This is what I needed to hear: having the courage to take myself to where the Lord is.”
As someone going through a difficult time herself, Martinez said she will take with her the example of these holy women, especially Hannah, who patiently trusted in God.
“I got the word that I needed to hear,” she said, “to carry me for the rest of the day.”
Cutline for featured image: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner Kelly Sutherland engages in conversation over lunch during the 25th Annual Women’s Retreat Feb. 22. (AMY WHITE/The Texas Catholic)
