Women of Faith at St. Clement boost women’s faith

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

The world shut down during COVID-19. Yet, Dr. Angela Parise, an OB/GYN at Ochsner Medical Center, kept delivering babies and addressing the concerns of her female patients.

“My moms were having fears,” Dr. Parise said. “I felt the Lord was talking to me, that I needed to be a light in the darkness. I had this overwhelming feeling we needed to be prayer warriors and sisters walking together.”


Dr. Parise shared her thoughts with Father Luis Rodriguez, pastor of St. Clement, and parish center coordinator Nicole Jaundot about the need for a women’s group, while, at the same time, lamented with other female doctors and St. Clement friends involved in Catholic ministries. 
“I was praying to God for connection,” she said. “All of these parishes were starting men’s groups, and people were looking for programs for women.”

Out of that yearning came the “Women of Faith” at St. Clement, a group that meets once or twice monthly on a Thursday at 7 p.m. Women of any age can come as they are, who they are and at any stage of religious life.

“We wanted to walk by faith and meet women where they are as faithful women who wanted to grow in faith with the Lord,” Dr. Parise said. “It’s gotten to this level of women thirsting for the Lord, who want to walk together and support each other by doing community service, Bible studies and helping parishes be a stronger network for each other.”


The varied meetings have included a screening of “I Lived on Parker Avenue,” a pro-life adoption movie, and presentations from various speakers. Dr. Parise usually reads the prayer she wrote for the group, highlighting a female saint, such as Mother Teresa, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton or St. Gianna Molla, “to lead us closer to our own walk with Jesus.” Meetings end with an upcoming Gospel reading and reflection.

“It’s an abbreviated way to collect, pray and call on the Holy Spirit and get what the Gospel is asking (of) us,” Dr. Parise said.

Needed more
Since the group’s first meeting in June 2021 of more than 100 women, Women of Faith has branched out into Bible study and pro-life groups and more, said Dr. Parise, a cradle Catholic who is a women’s physician collaborator for crisis pregnancies through the Woman’s New Life Center.

While there is a core group of about 35 women, many more came out Nov. 17 to hear Sarah Denny, an ethics professor at Loyola University New Orleans who has a Ph.D. in bioethics, explain how she answered her own question about what a woman is. Denny has a website and business – whatwomenare.com.

Denny’s journey to the answer began 15 years ago in a women’s study class in college “that changed the entire trajectory of my life.” While she disagreed with what was being taught in class and wanted to rewrite the curriculum, even toying with changing her women’s studies major, she instead learned everything she could about being a Catholic woman.

Pope John Paul II’s writings on “Theology of the Body” and emphasis on preaching the Gospel helped her better see God in her life and image him to the world.   But, first, she had to learn how to listen to what others were saying even if she disagreed.

“I felt like when I read JPII, I could breathe,” she said. “It was a step in the right direction.”

The Gospels, starting with Genesis, revealed to her God’s creativeness, goodness and faithfulness and began making a difference in what she was studying.

“Jesus’ word does not fade away,” Denny said, adding that God always accomplishes his purpose. “As women of faith, we have to understand who we are before God the Father. It’s the only way we can be present to the people in our life. … As a woman, you know how to suffer for love. Everyone in this room has suffered for love.”

JPII said women are essential to salvation history. God created Eve from Adam. Women are gifts that make each other complete but fall from grace when they let their trust in their Father die in their hearts. But God is a God of infinite mercy and grace. Woman is the master of her own mystery and has an interior world where she chooses for or against God and love.

“Am I going to trust the Father today or am I going to do it myself?” Denny asked. “At every single moment, you have the opportunity to say, ‘Lord, I cannot do this by myself.’ We need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He put us into salvation history for an essential reason. … After Adam and Eve fell … Jesus wanted to restore grace to us and he did it by coming through the womb of a woman.”

Denny asked everyone to reflect on the places in their lives where the devil was coming at them – marriage, family, job, children. She urged them to call on God for help, because grace is accessible through prayer.

 “A woman’s vocation is not to convert, convince, change or fix … it is to love (and bring life). … It’s simple … but it is also possible,” she said.

Moms shouldn’t be so hard on themselves when mistakes are made; and they should not look back on the what ifs or be driven by emotions or feelings. Live for now, be women of the Word and learn to forgive, even when it’s hard. Stop thinking that you are not enough.

“As mothers, the most powerful gift you can give your children is to pray for them,” Denny said. “Give your children back to Jesus, because they are not yours anyway; they are his.”

She implored attendees not to stop praying for miracles.

“Nothing is too far gone in his plan,” she said, mentioning how her mom almost died in the hospital from COVID. As she prayed for her healing, Jesus asked Denny if she loved her mom enough to let her go home to God? Once she accepted this, her mother got better.

“His will is love and mercy itself,” she said.

Dora Sison, who attended the Nov. 17 meeting, said Father Rodriguez suggested she join Women of Faith after realizing her hunger to bolster her Catholic faith. She is a parish CYO leader, Mass choir member and teaches Zumba with her husband Phil.

“Just witnessing the fruit of this organization has brought me to my knees,” Sison said.

Maria Knuth has heard several guest speakers at Women of Faith meetings and found them relevant and inspiring. She exited the talk with much Scripture to ponder.

“I appreciated Sarah Denny’s recommendation to always start with listening, especially when approaching someone who has other views, particularly with the whole area of gender ideology.“

Currently, Women of Faith is collecting Angel Tree Christmas gifts and gift cards for 27 children in need and food items for the St. Anthony food kitchen. 

“It’s exploding above everybody’s head,” Parise said about the group.

Visit https://scrparish.org/news/women-of-faith or the Facebook page or bit.ly/3GCZvI5.
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