Woman Of The Week Listing

Meet Kathryn Freeman Rogers, our Woman of the Week! She was nominated for her work as a nurse, her ministry as a priest's wife, and her life as an adoptive mother. We asked her to tell you about herself:

With the pandemic and social distancing so much on our minds these days, we thought we’d take a week to visit with some people who isolated themselves in an extreme way: our Desert Mothers. Their focus on outward isolation and inner stillness can help us in such anxious times.
The Desert Mothers were ascetics who lived either as hermits or in isolated monastic communities in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries in Egypt, Israel, and Syria. They influenced our acetic and monastic traditions. You can learn more about them in  The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG) and Palladius’ Lausiac History.

With so many aspects of our lives closing down, delaying, or shrinking back as those of us who can retreat into our homes for the love of our neighbors, we are thinking of those who are working out there to keep our communities running and working to limit the impact of the virus. God be with us all!

In the middle of all this, we'd like to introduce our Woman of the Week, who is no stranger to finding God in unlikely times and places. Nominated for her work as a coach, counselor, and chaplain, she is Ioana Popa. We asked her to tell you about herself.