The Boston Catholic Women's Conference - an awesome event!

I returned home late last night from the Boston Catholic Women's Conference which was truly wonderful. It was a day filled with grace! I will give you some highlights later on, but now I'd like to tell you that it will be aired on Catholic TV at noon (Eastern Standard Time) today. You'll be able to see all of the speakers (myself included) and the beautiful Mass.

To find information to tune into Catholic TV from your computer or TV click here Just scroll over until you see the Boston Catholic Women's Conference and you'll also see my name which you can click on.

You can see my talk here..

Boston Catholic Women's Conference

I am leaving for Boston to give a talk tomorrow at the Boston Catholic Women's Conference. It's a snowy blustery day here so please pray for every one's travel and all to go according to God's holy will. Thank you for your prayers. Here's a short Youtube: here.

Thank you for your prayers! I'll post again when I am finished with the conference about my radio show coming up on Monday or Tuesday morning.


God bless!

Donna-Marie

As we prepare our families for the Lenten season...

Tomorrow is "Fat Tuesday" and the following day is Ash Wednesday, our Church's official beginning of Lent.

Kate Wicker has some advice for families for Lent in her post titled, "Lent for Little Ones." She said, "My oldest daughter is only five, so I don't expect her draw a long list of sacrifices. However, it's my firm belief that even the smallest children can begin their journey to the cross with Jesus during Lent. Here are a few ways I make this liturgical season come alive for my little ones (and I'd love to have others share how they approach Lent with their kids as well):

1. We give up sweets as a family except on Sundays and special saints' feast days. I know this is cliche, but it's an easy sacrifice for kids to understand. It's also a good way to detox from all the sweets we scarfed down back in December. Now I consider myself an understanding mother, so I allow my children to savor their last treat on Fat Tuesday. (Who am I kidding? I NEED the last hooray for myself.) So on Tuesday night we'll be eating ice cream for dinner. It's our feast before the fast, and Madeline looks forward to it every year (I score some serious cool points for serving ice cream for dinner).

Visit Kate here at her blog to see her whole post.

Interview with Kate Wicker about "Mother Teresa and Me"

"Today I'm honored to share an interview with Donna Marie Cooper O'Boyle (pictured left), a wife, mom, author, and speaker who is committed to encouraging others to seek holiness in the context of a happy Catholic family.

Donna Marie's most recent book, Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship, recounts the lessons learned from a ten-year relationship with the humble nun from Calcutta who is known for serving the poorest of the poor.

When I was in seventh grade, a close friend of mine led me to fell in love with the wisdom of Mother Teresa. Later in life I first felt an authentic call to motherhood while commuting on a train to work and reading A Simple Path. Coincidentally, I discovered after reading Donna Marie's book that Mother Teresa received her "call within a call" - her first inspiration to start the Missionaries of Charity - while sitting aboard a train as well.

While my devotion to Mother Teresa has been long-lived, the magnitude of her works and her life have often made her seem aloof and unreachable to me. What Donna Marie's book did for me was to make Mother Teresa real. The book includes snippets of personal correspondence with Mother Teresa as well as photographs of the saint-in-the-making with Donna Marie's children. While Donna Marie's book focused on this one pious woman, it serves as a reminder that the entire "great cloud of witnesses" in which we call saints are not impassable, holy people who are just "out there." They are people we can turn to in our struggles and in our joy for inspiration. They are people who have stumbled under the weight of their crosses just as we do. They are people who wrote letters and hugged children and asked for prayers on their behalf. They are true friends in Christ.

I took advantage of a recent weekend on the road and read Mother Teresa and Me in two days. As is true with all of her books, Donna Marie's words encourage, inspire, and reaffirm the value of traditional motherhood. (Go, Moms!) But what sets this book apart is that it takes an intimate look into the life of a small woman who made a big difference not only in the lives of the people she served but in the world.

Now from Donna Marie:

Donna Marie, I am so honored to have you over here at my little corner of cyberspace. Thanks for sharing your time and talents with us all. Now please tell us a little bit about your relationship with Mother Teresa.

I met Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta in Washington DC a little more than 22 years ago at the Missionaries of Charity convent. My spiritual director at the time, Father John A. Hardon S.J., invited my family down to see him at Georgetown University where he taught theology. We had a lovely visit and were then encouraged by Fr. Hardon to visit the patients at the “Gift of Peace” home at the Missionaries of Charity convent. We visited the terminally ill AIDS and cancer patients there and observed the loving care given to them by the nuns. The nuns invited us to come back the next day for Mass at their private chapel. We were told that Mother Teresa would be attending one of their Masses. I had no idea up until that point that she was even in the country!

What prompted you to write Mother Teresa and Me?..." Continued here at Momopoly.

My recent interview with Al Kresta on webcam

You can see the the recent interview with Al Kresta and me here.

Watch live video from Kresta In The Afternoon's channel on Justin.tv

Praying for the Other Half!

A mother's study group gathering together to share their faith while studying The Domestic Church: Room By Room has just shared this with me:

"During the study of Chapter 1 Part 2, I was led by the Holy Spirit to pray for the husbands of our group...then prompted to suggest a novena for our husbands to the group... then I turned the page...and there it was, the next chapter! "The Garage" ! Boy, the Lord knows, Mother Mary knows just when to send the graces! So, as we embark on the "Garage" chapter we have listed the husbands in our weekly e-mail and each of us will be praying not only for our own husbands but for each other's husband as well."

Isn't that wonderful that these women are praying for all of the husbands as they connect with each other to strengthen their own faith and learn more about Church teaching and how it applies to them as women, mothers, and wives?

The novena prayer that they are praying is this:

O glorious Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, to you we raise our hearts and hands to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the benign heart of Jesus all the helps and graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly for the grace of a happy death and the special favor we now request. (mention your request)

O guardian of the Word Incarnate, we feel animated with confidence that your prayers in our behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God.

O glorious St. Joseph, through the love you bear to Jesus Christ and for the glory of His name, hear our prayers and obtain our petitions. Amen.

To see each day of the novena and find other great prayers to St. Joseph, click here.

I happen to be praying a novena to St. Joseph right now too, so I told them that I will include them in my novena. God is so good!

God bless and hugs!

Donna-Marie

My review for the new Celebrate books by Heidi Bratton

Award-winning photographer and author Heidi Bratton has given families something to celebrate! Heidi’s Celebrate series (Circle Press, 2009), comprised of four board books for the very young is bright, cheery, and inspirational for the whole family.


These sturdy and practically indestructible books: Celebrate: Me & You, Celebrate: Feelings, Celebrate: Animals, and Celebrate: Family bring the Gospel to life and are just perfect for little hands. They can be tossed into the car, diaper bag, purse, or playpen to be picked up and enjoyed on scores of occasion.

The author has captured and highlighted some essential aspects of family life in her enchanting photos illustrating the simple and understandable text which is based on Genesis, 6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:14-27, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, and Mark 10:13-16.

Your children, grandchildren, godchildren and friends will love these delightfully charming books while learning a number of timeless truths at the same time!

These books are available at Circle Press.org

Tomorrow, I'll be Al Kresta's guest chatting about my beloved friend Mother Teresa

I hope you can join Al Kresta and me tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM Eastern time. We will be chatting LIVE on Ave Maria Radio aired through EWTN and all of its affiliates and through Sirius Radio. We will be chatting about my book: Mother Teresa and Me: Ten years of Friendship and of course, my friendship with Blessed Mother Teresa. I am honored to be Al's guest again. He has a great inspirational show every afternoon called "Kresta in the Afternoon" where he "talks about things that matter most." I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to Al's show and also being a guest on Al's show both in person LIVE at events I have attended around the country and over the phone LIVE as well.

The latest news on the "blogfront" is the new webcam on Al's blog. You can watch the webcam during our interview! You can join us by tuning into Kresta In The Afternoon.blogspot.com

See you tomorrow!

God bless and hugs,

Donna-Marie