by Marc and Julie Anderson
mjanderson@theleaven.org
SHAWNEE — The most often-requested prayer intention Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann says he receives from archdiocesan Catholics is from parents who wish to see their adult children return to the Catholic faith.
Perhaps that’s one reason he expressed his personal gratitude to the National Marian Mantle Group, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 by Bob and MaryAnn Gardner, parishioners of Prince of Peace in Olathe, in response to the heartache they felt when their son Mike stopped going to Mass. The group has since grown to approximately 4,000 members, with at least one member in every state and eight foreign countries.
On Sept. 14, the archbishop celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving at Sacred Heart Church in Shawnee for the ministry’s 20th anniversary. Father Dennis Wait, the group’s spiritual director since the beginning, served as concelebrant.
The group is “dedicated to helping each other and other parents with our same heartaches, to rest in the peace of the Lord while we join together in prayer for all our grown children. Our goal is to work and pray together in the hope that every Catholic mother and father will someday see the return of their prodigals to holy Mother Church.”
Afterward, Mike and his younger brother James shared their stories.
“I knew she was praying for me,” Mike said of his mother. “I found out later just how far it went. She wasn’t hiding it. When we would actually talk, she’d say, ‘I’m still praying for you, and I love you.’ It wasn’t until later that I found out [my parents] would park outside my apartment and pray a time or two each week.”
At the time, Mike was in his early 20s. He was out of college, working and dating someone who did not go to church.
After he returned to the sacraments, Mike said he longed to find someone with whom he could share the faith.
“I was back in church” he said, “but I wasn’t really finding anybody. I remember Mom saying, ‘He’s not going to let you be alone forever. God has somebody for you.’”
To make a long story short, Mike met his wife of nearly 20 years through the prayers of a religious Sister, his mother and mother-in-law during a charismatic Mass. The couple now has three children, all in Catholic schools.
Mike credits his return to the power of prayer, but also “the sheer openness and love” of his parents.
“I was never condemned,” he said. “I knew they didn’t approve, but it was not ‘I never want to see you again.’ There was never condemnation. There was just love and prayer.’”
And that’s something with which his younger brother agrees.
“Don’t push,” James said. “They’ll figure it out on their own. Most of the stories I hear are of people figuring out their way back.”
Still, he said one powerful thing his mom did for him was to invite him to pray on his own in the eucharistic adoration chapel at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Leawood.
Whenever he felt low, he visited the chapel. Two or three months later, he knew what he needed to do.
He went to Mass the next morning. After Mass, he got a call from his parents.
“They were in Iowa, and they said, ‘We just got out of church.’ I said, ‘What a coincidence. So did I,’” said James. “Mom about dropped the phone, and Dad had to pull over.”
Nowadays, the brothers said they cannot imagine their parents’ impact on others.
“It’s pretty powerful,” Mike said, especially as he thinks how his parents started a ministry that has grown not only throughout the country, but also internationally.
And while Mike and James’ stories are known publicly, the group does not share anyone else’s stories, nor does it track the number of people who return to the faith . . . for one simple reason.
MaryAnn said, “Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, ‘I don’t save souls. The Lord saves souls.’”
Still, Sharrid Girard, who started a prayer group 12 years ago — first at Prince of Peace and then at St. John Paul II Parish in Olathe — said she is encouraged when she hears stories of people returning to the faith.
Every Tuesday, she and her husband Dale attend evening Mass, then lead their parish group using the prayers MaryAnn wrote, most of which center on the mysteries of the rosary. Over the course of a month, the group will reflect on all 20 mysteries.
Although 30 or so belong to the group, the Girards said they are joined by a handful of others each week, including Candace Vezendan, who joined the group about three or four years ago.
“It feels better when you’re not praying alone,” she said. “You can look around and see that people who are very faithful and very good with their faith have children who have left the faith as well. It makes you feel as though it’s not some deficit in your own faith that has caused your children to lose the faith.”
For more information about the Marian Mantle group, see the group’s website at: marianmantle.org.
