‘Feminine, Faithful, Fearless’

MADISON  Three Catholic women of different walks of life promise to inspire and affirm the faith and lives of women from the Diocese, as featured speakers of the 2018 Women’s Conference on Saturday, April 28, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard here.

The audience will meet a journalist, whose faith helped her overcome an eating disorder; a teacher, who witnesses about how to live the Catholic life; and a fund-raiser, who used humor, during her painful recovery from injuries that she suffered after having been run over by a truck.

The speakers — journalist Kate Wicker, teacher Cindy Costello and fund-raiser Katie McKenna — will explore the theme of the conference — “Today’s Catholic Woman: Feminine, Faithful, Fearless at Any Age, at Any Stage of Life” — through the lenses of their own ministries, lives and faith as well as their insights. The event also will feature Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, networking and giveaways. Keaton Douglas, a singer and parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Sandyston, will lead the conference.

“The goal of the conference is to impart the message that true Catholic womanhood is achieved by using our God-given gifts in faithfully, and fearlessly, fulfilling our vocation, standing ever firmly in our faith and beliefs,” states St. Paul’s website, www.insidethewalls.org, in promoting the event, organized by the diocesan Office of Family Life. “As women, we have so very much to offer — a deep and abiding wisdom to share.”

A married mother of five, Wicker also is a journalist, speaker and author of the books “Getting Past Perfect: How to Find Joy and Grace in the Messiness of Motherhood” and “Weightless: Making Peace with Your Body.” She regularly contributes to Catholic Digest and writes meditations for Take Up & Read devotionals. Wicker has written for various regional and national media, including Atlanta Parent, Catholic Exchange, CatholicMom.com, Catholic News Agency, Children’s Ministry Magazine, Family Fun, Pregnancy, WhattoExpect.com, and Woman’s Day.

In addition, Wicker serves as a monthly guest on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air Show and has been a guest on EWTN television and radio and on Ascension Press’s Girlfriends Podcast, the Fountains of Carrots Podcast, Huffington Post Live, Kresta in the Afternoon radio show, the Busted Halo Show and the Jennifer Fulwiler Show. She also has appeared in Danielle Bean’s Momnipotent DVD series and the Catholic Conference 4 Women Relationships Program.

“We live in a world where women are constantly at war with their bodies. Why do so many of us struggle with poor body image, oppressing perfectionism and making peace with food? How do we glorify God with our bodies no matter our age or walk in life?” according to St. Paul’s website. “As a ‘recovering perfectionist’ and an eating disorder survivor, Wicker shares her story as well as the wisdom of the Church to help women of all ages reclaim the beauty of Creation and to see themselves and their bodies as instruments in God’s hands rather than objects that need to be tweaked, fixed or perfected. Wicker will offer ‘beauty tips’ that have nothing to do with cutting out carbs or anti-aging creams and everything to do with God’s transforming love,” the website states.

Costello will return to the Paterson Diocese for the conference, having served as marriage ministry coordinator for the diocesan Office of Family Life, until last year. The married mother of five has a passion and a mission for sharing the joy of a relationship with Jesus Christ and his mother, Mary, with others. Certified through the Theology of the Body Institute and profoundly changed by St. Pope John Paul II’s teaching, Costello witnesses and teaches about how to pray, work and live a faith-filled Catholic life. An “almost” empty nester, she has been pursuing a master’s degree in theology at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, where she recently moved with husband, Tom, and where she works in her Gifts Into Flame Ministry, which is found at cindyacostello.com.

“Have you ever thought of being faithful to the identity that God gave you as a woman? Have you ever wondered what God requires of you when you look in a mirror?” St. Paul’s website states. “Cindy Costello shares a way to find our identity in truth as precious daughters of God by revisiting our understanding of being made in His image and likeness and being given our feminine charisms and genius. Once we’re confident in the source of the One who loves us and we know who we are in God’s eyes, we…learn the joy of being faithful to our identity as women created by God,” it states.

A writer, sometime comedian and professional fund-raiser, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., McKenna suffered life-threatening injuries, after being run over by an 18-wheeler when she was 25 years old. Much of her early writing originated from filling journals since age eight and from stand-up bits for “open mic” nights around New York City.

“Creating something that makes another person smile or laugh gives me joy. I delight in laughing at myself,” said McKenna, who started to write a memoir, as a journal entry on a borrowed laptop during her extended hospital stay, after the accident. “I had finally regained use of my hands and it was the best way to psychologically work through the intensity of my debilitating accident. It felt like my written musings became one long stand-up set —a way to make light of the terrible but surprisingly hilarious, things that happened,” she said.

One of the members of the committee that is organizing the conference is Laure Veet, a doctor and parishioner at Holy Family Parish in Florham Park.

“I like to keep going back to the Women’s Conferences, because they present three amazing examples of what it means to be feminine, faithful and fearless in this world. They speak to what true femininity is and are positive voices for women,” Veet said.

Doors for the conference on April 28 open at St. Paul’s at 8:30 a.m. Tickets are $25 for general admission, $10 for college students.

[To register, go to: www.insidethewalls.org/womens-conference or call (973) 377-1004.]