About  25 to 30 mothers get together every Tuesday evening to pray a Rosary. These moms bring special intentions: first of all praying for their sons. Then they enjoy fellowship and share stories, mainly about what their sons, who are Dominican friars and priests, are doing in their ministry. 

This group is simply known as “Mothers of Dominican Friars.”

The idea took root when founding member Kathy Langevin of Palos Park, Illinois, learned of a group praying for parish priests. When her effort to form a similar group in her home Archdiocese of Chicago fell flat, her son, Dominican Father Dominic Langevin, knew of her efforts and mentioned the concept to Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, a fellow friar and then adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, when they all were at dinner in 2016. 

Langevin remembers Archbishop Di Noia saying he thought it was a great idea, adding that “you should do it for the Dominican Order.” He assigned two Dominicans to provide her with names of mothers who might join her in prayer. And the group was born that year.

“We know that we’re simply there to support our sons and the order in any way that we can,” Langevin told the Register. “And the only way that I knew was the best way: through prayer.”

She described the group’s primary focus as “prayer for the friars, obviously for more vocations, and for the mothers and for their needs,” also adding, “Because the Dominicans are so much about preaching, we would follow up on their preaching and work on whatever they were doing, whether it was a book or whether it was a retreat or a talk, a reflection,” in addition to fellowship.

The informal association was launched with five mothers.

Now, there are more than 100 mothers committed to prayer, community and service for the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph, the order’s Eastern Province, which extends from New England to Ohio and Kentucky down to Virginia, including Washington, D.C. — and they meet via Zoom.

Following St. Dominic’s Mom

As the bourgeoning group took shape, Langevin recalled that Archbishop Di Noia recommended a patroness. 

“And I’m thinking it’s going to be Mary — and he said, ‘It’s going to be Jane.’ And I’m thinking to myself, ‘Who’s Jane?’ Then he said, ‘The mother of St. Dominic,’ Blessed Jane of Aza. We all had to learn about Jane of Aza. We have a prayer for her (and a holy card) that we send out to the mothers, which is beautifully written by one of our original moms.”

Mothers located around the United States began with monthly conference calls to pray the Rosary together. When COVID appeared, they saw a need to pray more often than once a month. So their meetings switched to the online platform Zoom. 

“It’s just blossomed from there,” noted founding member Fran Davenport, whose son is Father Thomas Davenport, who is on the faculty at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. In the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, Davenport joins in from her home in Vienna. 

“Zoom has really brought us together,” explained Jill Kilanowski, the group’s current chairwoman. From her home in Dublin, Ohio, in the Columbus Diocese, she was familiar with Zoom and set everything up when the COVID shutdown started. 

“We could see each other, and we could have images on Zoom on the slide deck,” she said. “That move made a tremendous difference from conference phone calls.” 

With Zoom, “we could put a face with the name, with the voice,” Langevin added. “We’ve made that personal connection, especially when we’ve been able to pray together weekly. I think that bonding has made us so much closer than what we could possibly ever be.”

“Not all mothers can attend because they live in different time zones around the country, in Canada, and even in the Philippines,” Langevin said of the far-ranging locales of the member moms. 

Faith, Fellowship — and Reading

As mothers pray, artwork from Dominican Fra Angelico, Raphael and other major artists throughout the centuries change with each mystery onscreen. Some friars have written reflections for their moms to ponder, some of which come from literature.

“It’s very lovely, and it’s really created a sense of community and fellowship,” said Kilanowski, whose son Father Humbert Kilanowski serves as an associate professor in mathematics and computer science at Providence College in Rhode Island.

While their mission is to pray for their sons, Kilanowski said the mothers also pray for Dominican vocations and for each other, “whether we have different health issues in our family or someone we loved or cared for has died, repose of the soul. And we have intentions. So you have that comfort that there’s prayer behind the women. It’s a very strong message that we can share with each other.”

Reading and studying is another aspect for these mothers. 

“We choose books almost always written by a Dominican because there’s so many wonderful works of literature that have been written by Dominicans,” Kilanowski explained. This year, the mothers are studying two books — Hail Mary: Pondering the Mysteries of Love by Dominican Fathers Andrew Hoffer and Philip Nolan, and Training of the Tongue and Growing Beyond Sins of Speech by Dominican Father Gregory Pine.

Not all mothers attend the monthly book studies running from April through September, but “there’s something for different people and different interests and different journeys that they’re on,” from the weekly Rosary to the occasional retreat, Kilanowski said.

Support for New Vocations

These mothers also “help support mothers of newly ordained friars, especially when their sons are in formation,” said Langevin, whose son is Father Dominic Langevin, the vice president and academic dean at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, where he also serves as assistant professor of dogmatic theology. 

“We try to answer their questions,” she said. “We try to give them assurance that they’re not losing their son — they’re gaining more sons.”

Davenport finds it wonderful “to support our sons’ vocation this way.” 

Kilanowski added, “The moms that have more experience can answer their questions as a mom and can give some advice on what to do — for example, for a birthday.” Because Dominicans take a vow of poverty, she suggests a mom asks her son for gift suggestions. “He might want some books or a portable Mass kit. He might need a stole.”

Dominican Father Joseph-Anthony Kress, the promoter of the Rosary for the Province of St. Joseph and the associate director of their Dominican Friars Foundation, commends the initiative.

“We are very appreciative of the mothers who joined together supporting their sons and the friars of the province through prayer,” he said.

“I would say it also is very edifying to us to see our mothers building a community with each other. And I know that there are a lot of deep friendships and support that they, the mothers, provide to each other through this opportunity and the group that they have together,” Father Kress added.

“It’s a beautiful gift both to the mothers themselves as well as the friars. And they’re very generous in their support of both prayerful support and encouragement to the brothers throughout the province. So we’re very grateful for their dedication to the group, their dedication to each other, as well as to the friars of the province.”

That support extends to when parents go to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, where many of their sons study, Langevin said, since they see “the life, the joy, the spirit of these brothers is contagious. You can understand why they’re so happy. The joy is inspiring.”

The mothers’ group also serves in various ways. Mothers located in the Washington area help set up and decorate for ordinations.

Some mothers travel to Washington for the “Rosary Pilgrimage” sponsored by the Dominicans each September at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. There, the mothers “try to sit together to be able to meet each other and catch up while we participate in the Rosary Pilgrimage,” Davenport said.

Kilanowski highlights another important aspect of their fellowship, sharing “what’s going on with their lives — someone had a new grandchild, or somebody is moving.” Through this camaraderie, she said, “these women have become very important to me spiritually and emotionally. Even though most of them I’ve never met in person, I still feel that they’re my friend. They all are very important to me. The moms have a very special place in my heart.”

Davenport finds it “a joy to be able to get together with the other mothers and support their sons’ vocations.”

And that bond is a blessing.

“I’m in awe of the way that these women have gathered together,” Langevin said. “I think it’s all through the Holy Spirit, truly. He is guiding us in so many ways that I haven’t even envisioned.”

This story was updated after posting.