One of the essential starting points in understanding ourselves is to know our purpose and mission in this world. Understanding that shared mission of our humanity then allows us to explore our differing modes of humanity, that is as women or men. When I asked Dr. Deborah Savage to delve deeper into these points, she answered that our mission, and the mission of all Christians is to return all things to Christ, to whom they originally belonged anyway. She added that woman reminds man that he cannot make a gift of himself to a bottom line or a project. He can only make a gift of himself to another person. Both of their work must be ordered toward authentic human flourishing. “Woman’s task is to bring the divine presence into the world.” This is the model that the Blessed Mother creates for all women through her fiat.

Therefore, if a woman enters a corporate boardroom, parish office, or her own home, her task is to bring the divine presence into that room. “Woman is responsible for reminding us all that all human activity is to be ordered toward authentic human flourishing.” When pressed to answer how individual women live out their mission in their particular vocations, Dr. Savage emphasized the critical importance of a woman’s prayer life, because she can’t give what she doesn’t have. Further, she added, “Whatever I do, I do it as a mother.” This was my favorite and the most compelling line that Dr. Savage spoke to me, because I believe that spiritual maternity is the gift that women bring into all situations. This spiritual maternity is imbued in her nature as a woman and is oriented toward the care of all of humanity. Understanding this truth gives women access to fully living their mission in Christ. As Savage so eloquently articulated, “Women are the guardians of the gift of life.”

Politicians have often debated about the capacity, roles, and therefore the rights of women. Philosophers have considered the differences of women and men in their mental abilities and trajectory of potential. Yet, theologians, inspired by the wisdom of the faith and the Scriptures, ask what mankind is to God, in the created partnership of male and female, and beyond that, how each individual relates to God and finds his own way back to Him. This is why I was struck when Dr. Savage stated that the real driving force behind the question of what it means to be a Catholic woman, is “what does it me to be me?” In asking this, I am asking, “How can I live out my womanhood in a way that God had in mind when he created me?” Now this is certainly a deep question to ponder in prayer, and one that all women should be dedicating far more time to than to any political debate about women. This question should shape us.

“It’s a principle of the natural law, that we’re born already in debt to our Creator for the gift of life, and the only way to repay that debt is to become that person God had in mind when he created me.”

Have I become the person God had in mind when he created me? This question has certainly resonated with me and I believe it should challenge any area of our lives that have become lukewarm or apathetic. Let’s pause to experience the great mystery of human existence! Living within my body and soul is how I discover the meaning of creation and my place in it, not by creating my own body or my own purpose.

Lovely Lady Linens

Get full access to Where Wildflowers Grow at kimberlycookdelineates.substack.com/subscribe

Originally published in 1938 in German by Gertrud von le Fort, The Wedding of Magdeburg recounts the sacking of a German city, in 1630, by the Holy Roman Empire. It takes place in the wake of the Reformation and challenges both the wielding of power and religion in war. “The Wedding of Magdeburg tabulates the spiritual cost of war and shows how grace can dramatically imbue even the darkest moments of history.” The book was recently translated into English and published by Ignatius Press. I had the delightful opportunity to receive an advanced copy and read it in preparation to discuss the work with Vivian Dudro, a senior editor at Ignatius. Vivian has a great love of Le Fort’s work and is a wealth of information on the author. She has been a senior editor at Ignatius Press for more than twenty years. Prior to that, she wrote for Catholic publications including the National Catholic Register and Catholic San Francisco.

Gertrud von le Fort (1876-1971) was a German novelist and essayist. She was a baroness and attended the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin and Marburg. Le Fort converted to Catholicism at the age of 50, after which she wrote most of her influential works, including the Song at the Scaffold and The Eternal Woman.

Relevance: The work of Gertrud von le Fort is extremely relevant to the work that I am doing, in exploring the role of woman and mother in humanity. Le Fort visited St. Edith Stein in the Carmel in Cologne as well as exchanging letters with her. Both women were deeply impacted by the concept of woman and mother, elevated by the most perfect example of the “eternal woman,” the Blessed Mother. While The Wedding at Magdeburg does not focus on the concept of woman in the same way that Le Fort did in The Eternal Woman, she masterfully weaves in the concept of bride and mother, both in physical reality and as symbolism.

Motherhood Redeemed A Hermitage of Her Own

Get full access to Where Wildflowers Grow at kimberlycookdelineates.substack.com/subscribe

About Erin

Erin has extensive experience coaching and training high-achieving professionals at all levels of their career. Her approach is informed by her diverse experience in project management, strategic planning, and human formation in the political, legal, nonprofit, and higher-ed industries. She spent her early career in public policy and project management in Washington, D.C. Often finding herself at the beginning phases of multiple start-ups, Erin enjoys the challenges of entrepreneurship. She currently serves of the Board of Advisors at the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship at The Catholic University of America. Erin holds a Bachelors degree in political science and coaching certifications from multiple programs including the Life Coach School. Her favorite city is Krakow, Poland where she lived for nearly 3 years. You’ll find her traveling on adventures with her husband and 4 boys.

SMART Goals

When you determine the goals that are actually meaningful to you and your family, the ones in which you really want to achieve, then you need to put them into SMART goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. These goals help us actually achieve what we set out to accomplish because we can measure and know when and how we have succeeded because of the specifics we outlined for ourselves. In evaluating through the SMART goals formula, we are also able to decide if our goal is relevant to the stage in life we are in and if it is the right time to set such a goal. If we decide that it is the right goal and time to accomplish it, then we need to have proper accountability and a deadline set in which to accomplish the outlined goal.

Questions to Ask

Begin with reflection, asking what I am grateful for in this last year and what goals I accomplished, what good habits I formed, and what drove the most happiness for me, personally and professionally. What am I most proud of? This kind of reflection helps to ground us and grow our self-reflection. If we skip this first step of reflection, then it is hard to move forward and we are not setting ourselves up to succeed.

Then ask, what it means if I succeed or fail at my goal? How long will this goal realistically take to achieve? What does this look like in the greater context of my life? How will I give myself parameters that will make something very big become practical? Am I allowing perfectionism to get in the way of meeting my goal? Do I need to adjust my expectations? Who is my accountability partner? How will I prioritize my goals?

Keeping in mind what it will look like to succeed and what I will do when I fail are important to beginning to set realistic goals. Sometimes the ultimate question to ask myself is whether or not my goal or the means of achieving that goal are realistic or if I need to shift the parameter of what success looks like.

First thing’s first! What is first for you?

Links

Goal Setting Guide

West of Perfection

The Busch School of Business CUA

Get full access to Where Wildflowers Grow at kimberlycookdelineates.substack.com/subscribe

Angela Perez Baraquio was the first Asian woman to win the Miss America competition. As the eighth of ten children, Angela is the daughter of Filipino immigrants. Her parents immigrated from Pangasinan, Philippines to Hawaii, where she was raised. A faithful Catholic, Baraquio leaned on her faith through pageantry, tragic loss, illness, and family life. Angela Perez Baraquio joins me on The Dignity of Women to share the valuable lessons that she has learned and now implements at the Catholic school where she is principal.




















Me, Angela, and Michelle Hillaert






Angela Perez Baraquio 
Growing up as the daughter of two teachers, Angela always aspired to follow their lead into the classroom. Her second-grade teacher was another inspiration to her, creating a life-long impression. Finally fulfilling this dream as athletic director and elementary P.E. teacher at Holy Family Catholic Academy in Honolulu, she was challenged by two of her students to enter the Miss Hawaii competition, which she had already entered twice and had no plans to enter again. Accepting their challenge, Baraquio went on to became the first teacher to win the title of Miss Hawaii 2000. This would not be Angela's last time overcoming odds.
Angela went on to represent Hawaii in the Miss America 2001 competition and became the first Asian to win the Miss America title since the pageant’s inception in 1921. Baraquio's original intention in joining beauty pageants was to supplement her higher education. The two pageants together netted $14,000 in college scholarship money,  which she used to complete her bachelor’s degree in elementary education. The $81,000 scholarship assistance she received as a prize for winning the Miss American pageant went towards her master’s degree in educational administration.
Baraquio married her High School sweetheart, Tinifuloa Grey, in 2002, who is a Polynesian musician. Together, Grey and Baraquio have five children and live in California where Angela is the principal of St. Anthony of Padua School in Los Angeles county. Baraquio is outspoken about her pro-life views and has put her Catholic values above her fame, refusing calendar shoots and television roles that compromise her beliefs. 




















Angela and husband Tinifuloa 













Platform
Baraquio used her platform to promote her advocacy of “Character in the Classroom: Teaching Values, Valuing Teachers.” She believes that it is not enough to just aim for high grades. What is more important are the values instilled in the students and their character education. Negative behaviors of students can be turned around in an environment of trust, in which adults model good character traits.
 













Angela crowning my little guy!

















Tragedy, Loss, Illness
Five years after winning the Miss America pageant, and a few days before delivering her second child, Angela's younger brother Alfred committed suicide. This period of loss shook the Baraquio family and tested their faith. They went to counseling together and a priest walked them through the anxiety surrounding the state of Alfred's soul. This eventually allowed them to have hope and eventually peace in spite of the incredible pain of his loss. 
The Baraquia's would again face suffering when Angela's older sister Bernadette contracted and went through treatment for breast cancer. Two years later, Angela herself discovered that she also had breast cancer. Thankfully, she and her sister are both currently in remission.

“Here I was—a former Miss America who loves my hair!—going through hair loss and chemo. It was brutal. Laughing was the only way I could keep from crying.”

Get full access to Where Wildflowers Grow at kimberlycookdelineates.substack.com/subscribe

Better Way Designs is a Michigan based company making a real impact on those freed from the sex trafficking industry. Through 9 world-wide supplier locations, Better Way Designs purchases and resells the products made by those who have been freed.  Melanie Schmiedicke joins me on The Dignity of Women to share how she became a freedom fighter and how the emphasis of this mission is on dignity rather than charity. 















Melanie Schmiedicke
The daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, Melanie (Fedoryka) Schmiedicke was trained from a young age in classical violin, and performed with her family in concerts across the country. She spent her high-school years in Austria and eventually graduated from Franciscan University and continued to travel and live in various places abroad and here in the US. Now married with four children, she is passing her love for music on to her children, and still enjoys traveling, as well as baking, knitting, and working with others to create freedom for women through her Better Way business. 
















Shop Here!













Better Way Designs

"Trafficking is a BIG problem. So, we want to be a MASSIVE part of the solution. That is why we have chosen to partner with over 15 other organizations in over 9 different countries to FIGHT it!"

Better Way Designs is a traveling marketplace for many who have been silenced for too long. They recognized that many Americans were willing to purchase, as well as develop freedom businesses of their own, in supporting this mission. Better Way committed to buying and selling products, and then coming back again and again for more. They wanted to keep those freed from sex trafficking employed and believed that it could be done by good business practices. That's why Better Way Designs is certified by the Fair-Trade Federation and are a certified B-corporation.

"One of our favorite attributes is that Better Way allows ANYONE to be involved in the fight."

Whether purchasing, booking a freedom party or becoming a Freedom Fighter, this is a way for Americans to get involved and make tangible differences. Each purchase generates a certain amount of work hours for a woman, indicated in the catalog next to each item. These hours translate directly into income for her and her children, and the greater the demand for her work, the more stability she can enjoy. 

"Most who work for our suppliers are given health care, child care, education and an opportunity to experience independence. With safe working environments and an opportunity to create impactful relationships, you can see why this is much more than a job. This is dignity in its most active form."
















Shop Here!




































Countries:
IndiaCambodiaThailandNepalBoliviaBangladeshUSUndisclosed area in Middle EastUndisclosed area in Asia

















Freedom Fighter
If you choose to go a step beyond just purchasing products from Better Way Designs, they offer the opportunity to become a freedom fighter.
This is considered the greatest level of impact on those seeking freedom. It also provides income for the freedom fighter, and therefore can become a business for them. This is not only an opportunity to work for freedom, but alongside others who are doing the same thing. You literally become business partners with women around the world who are freed from sex trafficking and making the products!
Imagine spending your work hours to create sustainable freedom for others around the world. Working for a Fair-Trade organization bent on advancing the concept of dignity to those who were once caught in the sex trade by empowering women to run the...

Get full access to Where Wildflowers Grow at kimberlycookdelineates.substack.com/subscribe

Archduke Imre and Archduchess Kathleen of Austria credit their own love story and the continuing example for their marriage and family life to their saintly ancestors; Blessed Karl and Servant of God Zita of Austria. The Archduke and Archduchess join me on The Dignity of Women to share their own story and what the legacy of Karl and Zita has taught them, and can teach all of us!






















Blessed Karl
Karl was born on August 17, 1887 to Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony. A deep devotion to the Holy Eucharist and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began to grow in Charles and he turned to prayer before making any important decisions. Karl married Princess Zita of Bourbon and Parma on October 21, 1911, and the couple had eight children. Their marriage and family life were inspirational and Charles died saying to Zita, "I'll love you forever."  





































Emperor of Peace
On June 28, 1914 Charles became heir to the throne of the Austro‑Hungarian Empire , following the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. He would be the last Emperor of the Austria-Hungarian Empire.
Charles approached his royal duty as a way to follow Christ, showing love and care to the peoples entrusted to him, and in dedicating his life to them.
He placed the most sacred duty of a king - a commitment to peace - at the center of his preoccupations during the course of WWI and was the only political leader to support Benedict XV's peace efforts.
Two attempts to re-establish authority in Hungry failed after the war. Wishing above all to avoid civil war, Charles was exiled to the island of Madeira, but since he considered his duty as a mandate from God, he could not abdicate his office.
Karl and Zita were reduced to poverty, and they lived in exile until he fell fatally ill. Accepting an early death in exile as a sacrifice for the peace and unity of his peoples, Karl forgave all those who conspired against him and died on April 1, 1922 with his eyes turned toward the Holy Sacrament. On his deathbed he repeated the motto of his life: "I strive always in all things to understand as clearly as possible and follow the will of God, and this in the most perfect way”.
 











Zita of Austria-Hungry
Born May 9, 1892, Zita was the last Empress. She is said to have had an energetic personality, unbending will, and superior intellect. She accompanied and influenced her husband in many important decisions, but above all, they clung to a unity in their shared Catholic faith. When Karl's peace initiative failed, Zita was vilified as a traitor by German Nationalists because of her Bourbon descent. She went with her husband into exile and was his greatest support throughout. After his death, Zita raised their eight children and defended their dynastic rights. 

"Thanks to her authority, the former empress became the central figure in the Habsburg-Lorraine family in the difficult times after the loss of the crown.During the Second World War, which she spent in exile in Canada, she became an influential advocate for the restoration of Austria’s independence, but after 1945 she mainly focused her energies on the beatification process for her late husband.
Reconciliation with the Republic of Austria was finally achieved in 1982, when the former empress, who had been denied entry to Austria, was allowed to set foot on Austrian soil for the first time again on the initiative of Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky.Zita died on 14 March 1989 in Zizers at the age of 96. She was interred according to Habsburg dynastic tradition in the crypt of the Church of the Capuchin Friars in Vienna. However, her heart was buried in the new Habsburg family crypt at Muri Abbey in the northern Swiss canton of Aargau,

Get full access to Where Wildflowers Grow at kimberlycookdelineates.substack.com/subscribe

Ortrud and Dr. Germain Bianchi have an extraordinary story of being joined together by the famous Italian stigmatist priest, Saint Padre Pio! Ortrud joins me on The Dignity of Women to tell how she came to find her Catholic faith, befriend the saint who would change her life forever, and ultimately how that saint would lead her to her future husband.







Ortrud Bianchi
Ortrud Bianchi was born in 1945 in Ronsperg, Czech Republic as the youngest of six children. Her family settled in a small town in Germany for a few years until her parents divorced when she was only five years old. Her mother’s difficult life as a divorcee convinced her that she would never marry. Although Ortrud grew up without a religious atmosphere at home, she received religious instruction at school and the sacraments of the Catholic Church.
When Ortrud was a teenager, her maternal grandmother died unexpectedly and her mother traveled to Austria for the funeral, deciding to remain there permanently. There Ortrud's mother returned with fervor to her Catholic faith after the loss of her mother, and began to fast and pray for the return of her six children to the faith as well.
Meanwhile, Ortrud moved in with her oldest sister and brother-in-law in Landshut, Germany to finish her schooling and often visited her mother in Austria on school vacations. She strongly resisted her mother's new mission to convert her however, and even threatened to stop visiting if she kept talking about religion. Although her mother remained silent on the matter, she handed Ortrud a pamphlet with Jesus on the cover as their next visit came to a close. Despite accepting the pamphlet in order to avoid an argument with her mother, Ortrud avoided it until Easter vacation was about to begin. She decided to read one small page of the pamphlet in order to appease her mother at their upcoming visit.
She was home alone when she finally opened the pamphlet from the diary of the Polish nun, Saint Faustina Kowalska, randomly. Jesus' words to Sister Faustina hit her like lightning as He explained that His mercy was greater than any human or angelic mind could fathom and invited every soul, no matter how sinful, to draw close to His merciful heart. Ortrud realized in that moment that Jesus loved her more than she could imagine and was convicted that she didn't want to be indifferent to Him anymore. She was overwhelmed by deep emotions of contrition and felt a force that brought her to her knees as she cried out over and over, “Jesus, from now on, I want to be your friend.”
The next morning was Sunday and to her sister and brother-in-law's great shock, Ortrud woke up early and went alone to church for confession and Mass, never missing another Sunday Mass again!





































Meeting Padre Pio
 By 1964, Ortrud was living with her mother in Austria. Two years later, the family had planned to meet in Rome for her brother's wedding. When the documents for his wedding disappeared, Ortrud's mother decided to seize the opportunity for the family to use their time together to visit a holy monk named Padre Pio, who had the stigmata and lived near Rome, in San Giovanni Rotondo.
At first, Ortrud was excited to see a saint, but their first experience was Padre Pio’s 5:00 a.m. Mass, in which people were pushing and shoving so much that her brother-in-law lost his shoe, another person’s glasses flew off their face, and people were racing down the middle aisle and jumping over the pews in such a frenzy that it seemed more like a sporting event. When Padre Pio entered the sanctuary, he looked old, weak and sickly. Ortrud felt sorry for him and for the misled people who seemed more devoted to him than to Jesus and Mary. As she watched Padre Pio celebrate Mass, she was disappointed that nothing extraordinary happened, even inside of her.

Get full access to Where Wildflowers Grow at kimberlycookdelineates.substack.com/subscribe

Sr. Mary Madeline Todd serves on the Board of Directors for the GIVEN Institute. She joins me on The Dignity of Women to talk about the need for Catholic Women Leaders in our culture and how young women are being formed through continuing mentorship at GIVEN. 







Sr. Mary Madeline Todd
 
Sister Mary Madeline Todd, O.P., S.T.D., a Dominican Sister of the Congregation of Saint Cecilia, serves as Chair of the Philosophy Department at Mount de Sales Academy and Adjunct Professor of Theology at Aquinas College in Nashville.
Sister earned her doctorate at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Memphis. Her dissertation was on Christ, The Liberator of Woman, a study of the theology of Mulieris Dignitatem in light of current questions.
Sister Mary Madeline writes on spiritual and moral theology and speaks on both theological and literary topics internationally. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the GIVEN Institute and St. Agnes Catholic School. Her retreat and parish mission ministry has been a graced opportunity to share the light of Christ's merciful love from Australia to Alaska. 




















 
What is Given?
 
When deciding what to call this initiative, our founding Sisters began with the reality that all we have has been given to us by God: our faith, our hope, our love, our gifts, our destiny, our lives—everything–is freely given to us by God. The GIVEN Institute explores the feminine response to God’s love, to illuminate the “the feminine genius” that women contribute to families, society, the Church, and the world.  We desire to help women receive the gift that they are, realize the gifts they’ve been given, and respond with the gift that only they can give.
The GIVEN Institute was established in February 2018 and has its origin in the 2016 GIVEN Catholic Young Women’s Leadership Forum, organized by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. Sister Mary Gabriel, SV and Sister Bethany Madonna, SV, Co-Chairs of the 2016 GIVEN Forum, conceived of the idea to host a leadership forum for young women throughout the United States with the aim of helping them to “receive the gift they are, realize the gifts they’ve been given, and respond with the gift that only they can give.”
Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, Superior General of the Sisters of Life and an organizer of the event, said “GIVEN was conceived in the hearts of women religious and remains a significant response on the part of the Church to encourage, inspire, and mentor young women at a crucial moment in their lives. We want each of them to know they are loved, noticed, and necessary.”
The 2016 GIVEN Forum brought together nearly 300 young adult women from every state in the country, and connected them with some of the leading women in the Church. The attendees were accompanied by over 70 religious sisters from more than 25 different religious communities. Each participant developed a post-forum action plan that they implemented in a community of their choice. The GIVEN Institute was formed to continue the inaugural forum’s mission of activating the gifts of young adult women for the Catholic Church and the world. 
 























 
  EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS 
 

What is the Theology of Women?
How is GIVEN responding to the need for Catholic Women Leaders?
Why is mentorship important?
What is the difference between feminine and masculine gifts?
How do you live out your spiritual maternity through your religious vocation?






LINKS AND RESOURCES 
 

The Given Institute
GIVEN Academy
Women on Mission







SOCIAL MEDIA
Join our social media discussion group: The Dignity of Women Facebook page







MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

Get full access to Where Wildflowers Grow at kimberlycookdelineates.substack.com/subscribe

Sr. Mary Madeline Todd serves on the Board of Directors for the GIVEN Institute. She joins me on The Dignity of Women to talk about the need for Catholic Women Leaders in our culture and how young women are being formed through continuing mentorship at GIVEN.