BURNABY, B.C. (CCN) — On the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, a small picnic gathering of Catholic single mothers took place at Burnaby’s Central Park, where they chatted and shared with one another while their toddlers played nearby.
Lyn arrived at the picnic with two extra diapers from a recent visit to the food bank. Her gesture, just in case one of the other moms was in need, illustrated the spirit of Momentum Catholic Single Mothers, women who support each other through the challenges of being a single mother.
Momentum provides both faith and community support, said Gloria, the picnic organizer and co-lead of Momentum’s weekly faith study, who spoke about how God, although unseen, can be found in the love and actions of others.
Gloria, who has been separated for six years, credited the women of Momentum with showing her the path to healing.
“When it happened, it hit me hard. I am a social worker,” she said. “I felt I should have known how to handle it.”
She had struggled with the ensuing depression until she met Talitha, who shared with Gloria her own story of loss due to separation.
“She shared her story so that others don’t need to live in the shadow of shame,” Gloria said. “We have to refuse to live in this shadow because if our children see us living in shame, what is that teaching them?”
At the picnic, Andy, who regularly provides child care during Momentum’s monthly meetings, grilled chicken and corn.
Jessica and Anita attended the picnic for the first time. Lyn and Monica regularly attend Momentum’s monthly faith formation.
When Lyn was introduced to Momentum through a fellow parishioner, she immediately knew it was exactly what she needed. She has since developed close friendships within the group and regularly meets with the other women for play dates and coffee. They help each other with food, diapers and even finances.
Monica said Momentum is “an excellent place, a home away from home.” She described it as an antidote to the isolation she felt after arriving in Canada last year from Kenya, where faith and community are strong. Momentum reminds her to strengthen her roots in her faith, she said.
About an hour east of the picnic, the feast of the Assumption was being marked at an event of a much larger scale. Thousands of Catholics were taking part in the annual pilgrimage to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Mission. Although the two events were unrelated, they both reflected what Archbishop Richard Smith of Vancouver called “a communion of faith and love” from which “God causes great things to happen in our lives.”
At the pilgrimage Mass before the crowds trekked up a steep hill to the grotto, Smith posed three questions. “On this Solemnity of the Assumption: Where are we going? Where is our life journey headed? And who can help us get there?”
While Jesus promises eternal life, it is in his mother, Mary, that we see the promise fulfilled, the archbishop said. Her Assumption was her “unique privilege,” but it “radiates throughout the Church as a sure sign of hope for us all.”
The pilgrimage is the largest annual event in the Archdiocese of Vancouver and takes place on the third Saturday of August. It traces its roots back to Bishop Louis-Joseph d’Herbomez, OMI, the first bishop of the Vicariate Apostolic of British Columbia (1864–1890). His dying wish was for a shrine to be built at a spot along the Fraser River that reminded him of the grotto in Lourdes, France.
The single mothers in this article did not provide their last names for reasons of privacy.
With Canadian Catholic News files.
