The Power of the Pope - Part 3: The Final Installment!
by: Gina Loehr, WCI Leader Couple, Mt. Calvary, WI.
(If you missed the first installments, read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)
. . . My graduate studies at Franciscan University deepened my understanding of and appreciation for the teachings of Pope John Paul II. I had already been deeply touched by his apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem, (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women), but now I also had the opportunity to study encyclicals like Fides et Ratio (On Faith and Reason), Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), and Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth), all of which helped me grow in my gratitude for the Church.
In Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (On Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone) John Paul II helped me realize that instead of being offended about the priesthood, I could embrace it as a guardian of the truth about humanity being made in God’s image as both male and female. This idea of masculine and feminine complementarity was a key concept for me. Thus, I discovered that I had in the Holy Father (and the Church herself) an advocate for the importance of women’s presence and influence in the Church. This helped me to open my heart to the vocation of marriage and motherhood as I began to recognize this as a noble and important mission instead of thinking that only the priesthood mattered in the Church.
Nearly a decade would pass, however, before God led me to the man I would marry. In those years following graduate school, I devoted myself to teaching, writing, and speaking about the beauty of our Catholic faith, especially to audiences of women. My first published writing was inspired, in fact, by the funeral of Pope John Paul II. I could not help but reflect on his impact on my life, and to my surprise, when I sent an essay off the next day to a major Catholic newspaper, they ran the piece, and before long I was a professional writer in spite of myself. Five books and six children later, I must thank Pope John Paul II for his role in my mission and ministry. Little did I know when I began my work as a writer and speaker, inspired by the teachings of Pope John Paul II, that his ideals would powerfully influence my future.
When I met my husband, Joe, my mind had been “converted” to the beauty and nobility of the vocation of marriage and motherhood. But I was apprehensive about the reality of physical motherhood. My husband’s respect for the meaning and mission of motherhood and his encouragement to face my fears helped me cross the bridge from contemplation of John Paul II’s teachings to actually living them out and being open to life. I gave birth to our first child 11 months after our wedding. We welcomed five more children in the following eight-and-a-half-years and have another child awaiting us in heaven.
After my fourth child was born, I was invited by the Pontifical Council for the Laity to Rome to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the very letter that had brought me towards my vocation, Mulieris Dignitatem. Ironically, I felt I had to decline the invitation to study and discuss the vocation of women because I was too busy actually being a mother. However, in the end, my husband and parents facilitated my trip there with my baby Gianna in my arms.
The logo for the conference was a woman nursing a baby, and the motto was, “God entrusts the human being to the woman.” As I sat on the steps of the conference center at the Vatican, nursing my baby girl, I knew that God had entrusted a very special mission to me. I gave thanks for John Paul II and concluded the trip with a papal blessing and private audience from Pope Francis. Now, as we have welcomed Pope Leo XIV to the See of Peter, let us all pray that he will continue to uphold the Church’s beautiful teachings on marriage and family, so brilliantly articulated by Saint Pope John Paul II.