Cumberland Mountain CCW hosts special event at St. Mary-Oak Ridge
By Gabrielle Nolan
Nearly 100 women gathered in the gymnasium of St. Mary School in Oak Ridge for a women’s event sponsored by the Cumberland Mountain Deanery Council of Catholic Women.
“Faith and Fun with Friends” on Jan. 26 included socializing, snacks and a hot chocolate bar, prayer, door prizes, a talk, and a performance from the San Miguel Dancers from All Saints Parish in Knoxville.
CCW leaders present for the event included Karen Marabella-Miller, deanery CCW president; Sally Jackson, chair of the Father Brando Committee and event co-chair; Kelly Rowden, facility chair; Karen Joubert, Spirituality Commission chair; Karen Meiring, Spirituality Commission co-chair; Carrie Manabat; Eileen Widmer; Suzanne Erpenbach; and Jan Scobey.
Financing for the event was provided by the Father Brando Fund.
Father Joe Brando was ordained a priest in 1972 at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Chattanooga. Over his decades of priesthood, he served at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Chattanooga, St. Patrick in Morristown, Our Lady of Fatima in Alcoa, St. Thérèse of Lisieux in Cleveland, St. Jude in Chattanooga, St. Mary in Gatlinburg, and more parishes.
He wrote columns for The East Tennessee Catholic for more than 22 years. Additionally, Father Brando served as a diocesan director of Marriage Encounter and was an Army chaplain. He strongly supported the Council of Catholic Women.
A series of speakers addressed members of the Cumberland Mountain Deanery Council of Catholic Women attending the “Faith and Fun with Friends” event on Jan. 26. (Photo Gabrielle Nolan)
“Father Joe loved CCW,” Ms. Jackson said. “Father Joe remembered the Diocesan CCW in his will. It was Father Brando’s desire to see CCW grow and thrive. He involved himself in many CCW activities, including auctioning women’s purses at one of the conventions in Gatlinburg. It was hilarious because he had no idea what a woman’s purse was.”
Ms. Jackson thanked the attendees for coming and mentioned the CCW is striving to reach the tens of thousands of women in the Diocese of Knoxville.
“Just imagine for a moment if we all worked together in our Lord’s vineyard on one project annually,” Ms. Jackson remarked. “Think about all those women in your parish, think about all those Catholic women that aren’t coming to Mass. Think about all those women who are—I don’t know where they are, but we need them. We could change the world if we all worked on one project, or at least East Tennessee, which I believe Father Joe envisioned when he gave this money to CCW. It is up to each one of us to become the leaders of the Church and the CCW that Father Joe wished. So just say yes when you are asked to serve in any way or any position. Thank you, Father Joe, for your love of council.”
Mrs. Manabat, the director of faith formation at All Saints Parish, was the keynote speaker for the event, with her talk titled “A Sisterhood of Saints.”
She spoke of how she wrote a reflection last year for the parish’s Advent by Candlelight program, honing in on what Mary said in Scripture.
In chapter two of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus’ family is returning home from Jerusalem when they discover that Jesus is not with them, and double back to find Him in the temple.
“If I’m being honest with you, for me it’s the most relatable thing Mary said in Scripture,” Mrs. Manabat remarked. “When they finally find Him in the temple, Mary says the words that any mother, grandmother, auntie, caretaker can empathize with: ‘Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for You with great anxiety.’”
“It struck me during Mass as I listened to that Gospel that day that I, as a mom, had never felt so seen by the Blessed Mother,” she continued. “And although that statement is really relatable, I do actually want to spend our time today reflecting on the other statements that Mary said in Scripture. Those that light a path for us to join her in heaven as a sisterhood of saints. But really, before we follow her in action, we must follow her in our hearts. Mary was already a woman who was in tune to what God was asking of her. She knew her Scripture, she held things in her heart in prayer, so she was already a woman who had holy habits, who tended the soil of her own heart so that when she heard the message to act she would be able to do it.”
Mrs. Manabat suggested the first step to imitating Mary is to contemplate and cultivate a heart that is “ready to follow.” The second step is to take action with “humility and service.”
“The very first thing that Mary did after getting [words from the angel], she chooses to see herself as a handmaid of the Lord. And what’s beautiful is she expressed from the first statement that she would serve God and His Church, already showing a picture, a foreshadowing of what her Son would teach in the Gospel of Mark—that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve,” she said.
Praising Mary’s servant leadership, Mrs. Manabat turned to chapter 31 of Proverbs to share the “secret to the servant’s heart.”
“Let’s break down for a moment just what this woman was being praised for,” she said after reading the chapter aloud. “She’s trustworthy. I’m sure you have friends who are willing to tell you a secret. She seeks the good of others. She makes wise decisions. She takes care of her household. What I noticed here is we are already doing some of these things as we serve our families and our parishes. Are you feeding your family? Amen, you’re a Proverbs 31 woman. Are you making sure your children have clothes in season that fit them? … Amen, you’re a Proverbs 31 woman. Grandparents, are you making sure your children do these things so that your grandchildren are not hungry and without clothing? I know you’re doing that because my mom is doing it, too. I see women around me doing this in big and small ways all the time.”
Mrs. Manabat remarked that she was “preaching to the choir” when speaking about service at a CCW event.
“It is women that keep these churches running,” she said. “I work for the parish, so I see you. I see you coming and laundering the altar linens and serving the funeral luncheons and counting the collection on Monday and every other single thing that keeps the parish running behind the scenes. I know it’s you; I know you’re doing these things. But that’s one of the reasons I wanted to share this passage because I want you to see yourselves as God sees you, His beloved daughters, in whom He is well pleased. Seeing ourselves as He does will give us that strength, dignity, and conviction to not only serve Him but share Him. And not just in our parishes, but in the world.”
Terri Shaffer, a parishioner at St. John Neumann in Farragut, attended the event at the invitation of a friend.
“I just felt like I hadn’t been to a talk for a while, and so I wanted to get rejuvenated in my faith,” she shared. “I think [the talk] was a good kind of nudge to remember our roles as women and mothers and how we can serve the Lord in little ways. We don’t have to be doing great things, it can be just little ways like St. Thérèse or some of the other saints she mentioned.”
Colette de la Barre, a parishioner at St. Thomas the Apostle in Lenoir City, said she always loves Mrs. Manabat’s talks.
“I thought it was a very inviting forum, very easy to be here as a new person, and very spiritual,” she commented. “I think the readings Carrie did out of the Bible, Proverbs 31, were very insightful.”
Dee Woods, a parishioner at St. Therese in Clinton, is new to the area.
“It was a good day to come and meet new ladies from the other parishes,” she said. “I’m excited to meet people because I’m a new widow.”
Ms. Woods thought Mrs. Manabat’s talk was “wonderful.”
“It kept our attention, and it was a very inspiring talk that she gave,” she said.
For more information on the Knoxville Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, visit the website at kdccw.org.
