A Message from the President:

Welcome to Faith and Wine!    My name is Mary Beth Clary and I am a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.  I am also the newly appointed leader of this amazing ministry for women of all ages and stages along their faith journey. 

I am excited about the upcoming year for Faith & Wine and invite you to join us!

Faith and Wine was organized three years ago by a remarkable woman, Carol Moore, and several of her friends from St. Ann Catholic Church. Carol asked Father John Ludden, Pastor of St. John the Evangelist who was one of Carol's speakers in 2010, to take over the program in the hopes that new leadership might keep the programming fresh and motivating. Father John, knowing my enthusiasm for wine, asked me to take on this ministry.

The first thing I did was surround myself with a core planning team of intelligent, fun-loving, creative women, all of whom are very enthusiastic about the potential that Faith and Wine has for helping women use their Catholic faith to cope with the challenges they face in their daily lives.

This planning team reflects the diversity of the women we hope to attract to our events. It consists of nine women (some of us pictured above having way too much fun!) ages 25 to 60+ years old; one single, one newly married (just last July!), one divorced, and several married for over 20 years. Many have children of various ages; three of us have no children. Three have come to the faith via RCIA and others have been Catholic from birth; some attend Sunday services "religiously"; and a few are returning to the church after drifting away for a period of years. Most of us are employed full-time or part-time outside the home. All of us like to have fun, even though one of my team members doesn't even drink wine (a fact that is hard for me to comprehend)! My point is that Faith and Wine is for everyone who wants "something more" out of life. My team believes that the "something more" is our Catholic faith and we invite you to join us to learn more.

With Carol's blessing, we have made some changes to Faith and Wine from the past. For starters, we have moved the location to the Parish Life Center ballroom, located directly behind St. John the Evangelist Church. Click here for directions and map. The ballroom will accommodate more people, we will have more flexibility in terms of the food and wine we serve, and we can make the event more affordable for those who attend – only $10 for those who pre-pay or $15 at the door.

If the spirit (holy or otherwise) moves you, we invite you to become a "Glass of Sherry" sponsor. For $125, we will give you a ticket to each of our nine events and list you on our website and at the door as a person who supports our mission. There are very reasonably priced corporate sponsorship opportunities also available, which are described elsewhere on this website.

We are so very excited about our speakers for the 2011-2012 season! They are as diverse as we are. We hope you will come to one or more – or all! – of our events and discover for yourself the power of our Catholic faith and the support you can experience from networking with women who share a common belief. I hope to see you soon.

God bless, Mary Beth Clary