Laudato Si'

Back when I was very pregnant and on bed-rest with the triplets, I also was behind-the-scenes in coordinating a diocesan-wide panel on Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si'. From the start to the finish, I helped conceive and execute this evangelization event as part of a leadership team to which I belonged at my former church. I had prepared to moderate the evening's panel, but the triplets pregnancy was too much, and I had to stay home instead. Unable to attend, I worried that no one would show up; my friend Mary offered to take photographs in my absence. When I look at this photo of a packed house (maximum capacity!), I just feel such relief.

I also made some meaningful relationships with a couple of the panelists and organizers. Maureen Bausch, a gardener, farmer, animal lover, and chaplain at St. Elizabeth Hospital, just so happened to be working at the hospital on the day our babies were born by emergency C-section. Look at the hand of God there! Maureen was able to pray with us and our entire medical team before the precarious birth of our babies. Maureen brought us so much comfort and compassion throughout our time at the hospital. Fr. Clark has also become a special family friend who offered kindness, compassion, and gentle understanding during a particularly difficult time in our lives: the kids especially love Fr. Clark for his knack for remembering all of their names and faces. Overall, it was a blessing to dedicate myself to a worthwhile project such as this, and I hope to return to these kinds of activities now that the babies are a little older and independent. Laudato si!