Online Catholic Moms Summit Will Offer Encouragement on Motherhood Matters, Feminine Gifts

Free event featuring 80 notable speakers aims to inspire, offer practical support and community.

Danielle Bean will join 80 other speakers, some shown here, to talk all things Catholic motherhood Nov. 13-15.
Danielle Bean will join 80 other speakers, some shown here, to talk all things Catholic motherhood Nov. 13-15. (photo: Courtesy of Cardinal Studios)

The upcoming “Catholic Moms Summit” is being billed as “the world’s largest ever gathering of Catholic moms” — and you don’t have to leave your home to participate. 

Some 80 distinguished Catholic women from a variety of experiences and backgrounds will be sharing inspiration, wisdom and encouragement on parenting, marriage, work, health and prayer Nov. 13-15 through the online summit. Best of all, the presentations are available for free during the three-day conference.

Among the plethora of presenters are Lila Rose, Crystalina Evert, Lisa Cotter, Jackie Francois Angel, Kimberly Hahn, Kelly Wahlquist, Lisa Hendey and Sarah Swafford.

“It’s a beautiful patchwork of women presenting on a host of topics that Catholic women care about,” said author-speaker Danielle Bean, summit host. “We’re focused on encouraging, supporting and affirming women in their primary vocation to Catholic motherhood and all that that entails.”

Due to the wealth of content, participants may upgrade to an All-Access Pass for $49, which will permit lifetime access to the weekend presentations and bonus offerings, including a 21-day online retreat, “Balancing Your Life as a Mother,” led by Bean. 

To learn more, the Register spoke with Bean, who serves as brand manager at CatholicMom.com and talk-show host on Catholic TV. Bean is married and the mother of eight children. She is a popular speaker on Catholic family life, and she and her husband have written a book together.

 

Eighty is a phenomenal number of presenters!

It’s a great opportunity to hear from women from all walks of life and different ages and stages of motherhood. Our goal is for every Catholic mom to feel welcome and that she has a voice in this summit.

 

How can people participate?

Go to CatholicMomsSummit.com for information and to register for free. The free registration gets you access to the talks for that weekend, Nov. 13-15. 

 

What bonus content is included in the optional All-Access Pass?

The All-Access Pass ($49 cost) bonus content will include some live events — 10-plus live events that will take place over the course of the weekend — interviews, some download options, resources, exclusive access to some private community things, and a 21-day Advent retreat hosted by me. 

 

Has this online Catholic women’s conference been done before?

This is an unprecedented event. One of the unexpected side benefits of the COVID-19 pandemic is that people have explored these new options for gathering. This will be the largest virtual gathering of Catholic moms ever. We’re excited about the scale of this event. Beyond that, we’re excited about the opportunity to form a community. This isn’t going to be all over and done at the end of that weekend. It’s the beginning of a community — a connection of Catholic women coming together to support each other inside of their Catholic motherhood. 

 

It’s wonderful that during this time of pandemic, when people are unable to attend a large conference, the conference is going to them.

It’s really important, especially now, during these different stages of quarantine. People have been feeling more isolated than ever. That’s not a new problem for Catholic moms. Oftentimes we do feel alone in our vocation. It’s always been vitally important for us to get together with other women who share our faith, our values, some of our life circumstances — to be able to affirm our identity in our vocation as Catholic women to one another. No one can build up a woman quite like another woman can. That’s what this summit is all about. 

 

In addition to the number of presenters, and not having to leave one’s house and incur costs related to a live conference, are there other benefits the summit will provide?

Our presenters’ combined years of motherhood, wisdom and life experience is enormous. We are also offering opportunities to connect: We have a lively Facebook community that is growing as registrations grow. Women are connecting with other women every day. Moms are looking to connect with other women in their area. Our hope is that that community will grow in ways that are really going to be supportive, especially in this time when we have fewer social options available — sometimes even feeling disconnected from our faith lives, with not having the easy access to the sacraments as before the pandemic. 

 

Will you also be presenting?

The talk I’ll be giving is called “7 Things Happy Moms Know.” I’ll be focusing on those things not only from my own experience, but that I’ve also gathered from other women’s experiences through the years and through my work in Catholic ministry: those core things that make a difference in whether we find joy in our motherhood.

 

The secular world and the Church don’t seem to share the same view of motherhood, do they?

So many women struggle inside their vocation of motherhood, and part of that problem is the lies the world tells us. The secular world tells you your motherhood is an obstacle that gets in the way of your happiness, something you need to work around to find joy, peace and fulfillment. But our Church teaches — and it’s true — that it’s inside that vocation of motherhood that we find those things we’re seeking: peace, lasting joy and fulfillment. Even though it’s hard and sometimes very sacrificial to be a mom, it’s inside of that self-giving love that we women are uniquely gifted in — we have this unique capacity for loving the people God puts in our lives — it’s inside using those feminine gifts that we find peace, lasting joy and fulfillment. 

Through this summit, we want to say to women: No matter what your life circumstances are, God has a unique plan for you to be happy inside of that vocation, to find happiness in fully embracing your identity as a daughter of God and expressing it through your motherhood.

 

Who are some of your presenters, and what are some of the topics?

We have Emily Wilson, Lisa Canning, Kathryn Whitaker, Sarah Christmyer, Lindsay Schlegel, Dr. Monique Ruberu, and Daughters of St. Paul Sisters Helena Burns and Nancy Usselmann — and many more! I’m so excited and honored and grateful to all of them.

Parenting topics include how to have a talk with your kids about sexuality; marriage: ways to support your husband if he’s going through a hard time, ways to nurture your marriage; spirituality: going through a hard time, the value of praying together, modeling our motherhood after Mary. 

 

Will there be any interactive opportunities?

Some of the bonus content are live presentations with opportunity for questions and answers. We’ll also have some fun live things: We’ll have a makeup tutorial. A woman who works in style and fashion will lead us in how to makeover your closet. A mom will lead us in prayer daily. We’ll have 24-hour virtual adoration, so we can pray with and for one another.

 

Who is responsible for the summit?

I’m so excited to be working with the team at Cardinal Studios. They are great professionals who have experience putting on virtual events and video content. They recently did a Catholic marriage summit that reached over 40,000 couples. We hope to do similar numbers with this summit to bring women together in a way that’s joy-filled and fun. 

 

Is there anything you would especially like to emphasize?

This is about building community and connecting women with other women that will be uniquely valuable for each woman over the course of the weekend and beyond. The presenters are going to be sharing very personally. I’ve been to so many different Catholic women’s conferences, and they’re wonderful. Sometimes I come away inspired but unsure of how to put it into practice. This is not just to inspire, encourage and uplift, but to provide women with practical tools and resources that will benefit them in real ways.

Roxanne King writes from Denver.