Posted on 06/10/2025 4:52:43 PM PDT by ebb tide
Jennifer was excited when she was invited to join the Return to Tradition Women’s Conference team and now enjoys using her skills for an event with a mission in which she wholeheartedly believes.
But there is more to it.
First, the young mother of four draws inspiration from the elder women in the conference core group who looked to her for insight into reaching young adults.
But further, inviting women to Christ via the traditional women’s conference underscores Jennifer’s own journey to tradition.
The third A Return to Tradition Catholic Women’s Conference was held last August at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, a parish of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) in Littleton, Colorado.
Women came from 10 or more U.S. states and Canada to attend in person, and many more took part through a livestream; there were multiple watch parties worldwide.
The conference offers speakers, vendors, fellowship, Mass, the Rosary, Confession, and a Marian procession. Speakers and presenters discuss various aspects of tradition, spiritual guidance or growth, or how to live authentically as a woman of faith. Last year’s theme was beauty.
The event has grown every year and will take place again this August.
The conference was founded by lay women at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and with volunteers they host it at the parish via a non-profit organization they formed called Restore Tradition. It presents what many are hungry for: a simple and pure look at the Catholic faith and an interim refuge in which to grow in that faith.
“A significant source of strengthening my faith has come from the other women on the conference team,” Jennifer said. “Many groups form at parishes that are based on the commonality of age. This group is different.”
“I’m surrounded by women who are now grandmothers,” she said. “I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about their lives and the many trials they’ve faced. I am often in awe of how they have persevered through these challenges in life and clung to Christ and Our Sorrowful Mother even in the lowest of moments.”
“They have much wisdom to share,” said Jennifer, “and a perspective that brings me out of the temporary woes of raising little ones and reminds me of the larger picture ahead.”
Jennifer disclosed that she was raised nominally Catholic. Her parents separated when she was eight years old. It was a traumatic time. After that, they stopped going to Mass, but she attended CCD to receive the sacraments. Jennifer remembers sitting in class thinking she was the only one there who didn’t go to Mass.
The strong anti-Catholic sentiment in her home turned her heart away from the Church, but the desire to be with our Lord never ceased, and prayer got her through the tough times when her parents separated, which she called a gift of faith from the Lord.
When she began dating in high school her boyfriend introduced her to a new world of confusion and sin. She attended a Methodist church with him and his family, craving the family life they had. She continued seeking the truth and attended the youth group there a few times.
“It was during that time that I felt a deep surge of our Father’s unfailing, personal love for me,” Jennifer said. “It truly transformed my heart.”
Unfortunately, the youth group itself added to her world of confusion, as most of those attending were involved in the cycle of sin.
“Did being a Christian mean more in one’s life than just being a nice person and loving God? I concluded no,” Jennifer said.
She entered college intent on church-hopping with her roommate.
“I suppose I believed the right fit would mean a church that had good music, young people, prayers involved in the service, and was pro-abortion and gay marriage,” she recalled. “I also planned to party hop because that’s what you do in college, right?”
It just so happened that Jennifer’s roommate took a different path and became involved with the Catholic center on campus.
“What a traitor, I thought. Don’t you know that the Church hates women and is filled with abusive men and backward thinking?” Jennifer said.
She continued with her plan, which eventually would lead to depression for her.
“I realized the shallowness of my party friendships and the lack of fulfillment in the life that everyone celebrates as freeing and liberating,” said Jennifer. “The churches I went to felt shallow as well.”
Her roommate, however, was glowing with peace. Jennifer could not escape the fact that her friend had a joy that she was missing.
“And deep down I knew the source,” she said.
Eventually she ended up at an event at the Catholic center, encountering others, including men, radiating the same joy and peace that her roommate had. This contradicted what she had been taught about the Catholic faith.
READ: New York Catholic parish to celebrate ‘LGBT Mass’ during city’s ‘Pride Weekend’
A pivotal moment came when Jennifer attended a talk by the late Project Rachel foundress Vicki Thorn highlighting the differences between men and women, the effects of contraception, and reasons to save physical intimacy for marriage.
“I didn’t know that people still did that,” Jennifer said, “but the Holy Ghost struck me through her words and immediately convinced my heart that I wanted that life, too.”
As God’s timing would have it, she would soon thereafter attend Ash Wednesday Mass, which brought back pleasant memories from childhood. It was also the first Mass she had ever attended of her own free will.
“I was struck during the consecration,” Jennifer said. “The priest said “This is my body”… Those words were like a lance to my heart. I had heard them many times before but had never thought about them.”
“The body of Christ was here, right in front of me!” she recalled. “In the Catholic Church it wasn’t merely words spoken, or symbolic. It was the body and blood of Christ right there in front of me, and I had the opportunity to be so intimately united with our Lord. The Catholic Church was where I belonged.”
Her emotions were drawn toward the Church, but her intellect was still a bit repulsed, she said. The Eucharist was her only point of clarity.
Jennifer continued to work through her quest for truth throughout college. A couple in the campus missionary program modeled healthy marriage for her, and she began to think that maybe she could one day have such a marriage herself.
The Lord gave her a few miraculous experiences to break through her remaining stubbornness, and she felt zeal to spread the faith. Despite the remaining family issues and the pain of a chronic health condition, Jennifer said her soul was content.
“The Lord was literally carrying me through my days, and I was happy to be in His arms,” she said, “even if it meant I felt the splinters of His cross.”
Jennifer met a religious sister from the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist who taught her how to offer up her sufferings to the Lord.
She was also introduced to the most reverent Masses she had encountered until then. Having become a campus missionary herself at another university, she was exposed to her first Traditional Latin Mass. She could not appreciate it at the time, but her desire for greater reverence grew.
As she continued to gravitate toward tradition, Jennifer developed the natural virtues she needed to be a healthy and whole person.
“I know that my husband and I have a healthy marriage in large part because of that formation,” she said. “I adapted my view of what it meant to ‘be good’ too: loving God with my whole mind, heart, and strength; loving others as Christ loves; and following the commandments and precepts of the Church.”
Jennifer later came to see the beauty and truth of the long-standing traditions of the Church and the way the Mass was celebrated for over 1000 years.
She and her husband moved to Colorado after they were married and found Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.
It still took time for her to embrace all the aspects of tradition in the liturgy.
“But eventually I fell in love with knowing that even if I didn’t love the Latin or the lack of familiarity, I would never be surprised by anything that happened at Mass,” Jennifer said.
She was also drawn to faith formation at the parish.
“The priests, through their homilies or in Confession, call every single person there to holiness” with a rigorous commitment to prayer, she said.
“My view of the Traditional Latin Mass shifted from merely accepting it, to wholeheartedly embracing every part of it, and now publicly promoting it,” said Jennifer.
“I find beauty and humility in veiling,” she said. “Latin means I’ll never have to relearn any Mass parts, [and ad orientem shows clearly that the priest is offering the sacrifice on our behalf.”
The old tools have stood the test of time and are full of wisdom, Jennifer said, and they were filling and strengthening her.
“The traditional teachings on marriage, modesty, and suffering were deepening my faith in a way I didn’t even know existed,” she said.
Since attending the Traditional Latin Mass exclusively, she said she now has the rich history of the Church before her eyes.
“I found that especially entering into motherhood, I needed to be drowning in those graces, or else I’d just be flat out drowning,” said Jennifer. “The traditions of the faith are enabling me to give my children the best chances possible of getting to Heaven.”
Jennifer said she has encountered many trials since switching to the Traditional Latin Mass, and she is confident she will experience more. But she knows she is in the best environment possible to receive as many graces from the Lord as she can to help persevere through those times.
“When I embraced the Catholic faith initially, I described myself as being carried by our Lord, close enough to feel the splinters from His cross,” she said. “Since returning to tradition, I find myself willingly embracing the entire cross, finding the strength to carry it for My Beloved through His most precious Blood pouring out upon me.”
Jennifer said the Return to Tradition conference is particularly important for younger women like her, especially as depravity pervades society.
“The traditions of the Church provide wisdom and clarity,” she said. “They provide a solid roadmap to attaining sanctity.”
Jennifer said it has been wonderful to see the growth of the conference from an event mostly for women at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the local area, to a conference that now reaches throughout the country and even to other countries and continents.
Being a Catholic traditional women’s conference is a niche that separates it from other conferences, she said.
“The conference spreads hope to an entire population of the Church that has been pushed to the margins and has been repeatedly told that their voices don’t matter,” said Jennifer.
“But we’re here to say your voice matters,” she said. “The splendid and rich traditions of the Church matter. The blood of the martyrs poured out for us so that we can worship our Lord in the most beautiful and pleasing manner matters.”
Women deserve to be surrounded by hope in this desolate world, if for only a weekend, Jennifer said.
“I know that many women have had their hope restored and trust in the Lord strengthened because of Restore Tradition,” she said, “and I hope the Lord continues to bless the mission of this conference.”
This year’s A Return to Tradition Women’s Conference dates are August 22-23. Registration is open and information on the conference can be found HERE.
RELATED: FSSP parish hosts third annual Return to Tradition conference for women
Ping
Unfortunately, the Bishops recently appointed in the USA around the country are suppressing the Latin Mass everywhere.
The Traditional Mass is being pushed underground along with the communities.
I don’t know if the new Pope will make a change on this either.
Wouldn’t the “traditional Mass” have been in Hebrew and then Greek??
“...she was invited to join the Return to Tradition Women’s Conference team and now enjoys using her skills for an event with a mission in which she wholeheartedly believes.”
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But is she ‘born again’ ??
Why do some people want to attend mass in a language they don’t understand?
Same reason, people watch foreign language films, with subtitles. There is something compelling enough about it that people find it worthwhile, despite the language barrier.
Latin was spoken during the time of Christ. After all, the charge was writtwn in Hebrew Latin and Greek. JN 19:20
True. Yet, the Lord’s Supper was not.
Which probably wasn’t in greek or hebrew either, likely Aramaic. Which also wasn’t on the cross.
So why did you not insist on Aramaic?
Possibly, but we don’t know for sure. The point is Roman Catholics make out like the Latin Mass has always been the case. It hasn’t. So it’s a feigned outrage
Ever since Peter went to Rome and fixed his see in Rome there has been Latin Masses.
But I think you are mistaken that Catholics see Latin as the only legitimate expression of the Mass. We have plenty of Eastern rites who celebrate Mass in their ancient traditions.
The point is that the TLM has better anthropology to Latin rite Catholics than one invented in a pastry shop 50 years ago.
You make another presumption on this issue. Yet there is a poster on the forum who almost daily laments about the allowance of the mass in local languages.
Pay no attention to the above habitual liar.
He can’t help himself.
I see no problem with a faithfully celebrated Mass if it follows carefully the guidelines of the Second Vatican Council. But I also don’t particularly care for the rigidity of Novus ordo types who refused to acknowledge the gross liturgical abuses which were unleashed by the wholesale canning of the TLM and those who celebrate it.
Let me know how many beach balls and guitars you need to celebrate the Mass faithfully sometime.
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