Women in the Diocese of Allentown were encouraged to journey through the Lenten Season with forgiveness and mercy at the March 8 Diocesan Women’s Lenten Retreat, held at St. Mary in Kutztown and attended by 225 women.
Organized by the Bishop's Commission for Women, the theme of the retreat was “Lent: A Time of Forgiveness and Healing,” and provided women of the Diocese with a contemplative day of community, prayer, and reflection.
“We need forgiveness in our lives to journey through the Lenten season with Our Lord,” said Mary Stoddard, parishioner of St. Jane Frances de Chantal in Easton.
She attended the retreat with fellow parishioners Kathy Coryell and Allison Civitella, mother of Dominic Civitella, a seminarian at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.
The women agreed that “opportunities for reflection and retreat” help them to grow in faith and in their roles as wives and mothers.
This event was the third diocesan women’s retreat attended by Kathy Readinger, a parishioner of St. Margaret in Reading for 36 years.
Readinger said she enjoys time in retreat with “women in a variety of ages,” and that it provides her and others with “a reset button and downtime” from busy schedules.
“Women have so many commitments,” she said. “We’re givers and caretakers, and in that mindset 24/7.”
The women heard the keynote address in St. Mary Church by Bishop Keith Chylinski, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Lower Gwynedd Township.
Bishop Chylinski was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2007. After serving in parish ministry for five years, he was assigned to graduate studies at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences (now Divine Mercy University), where he obtained a master’s degree in clinical psychology in 2014.
That same year, he became a faculty member of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and later became rector in 2022.
He was ordained a bishop on March 7, 2024, at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.
Bishop Chylinski spoke to the women about the power of Jesus’ forgiveness by which all things “are restored and redeemed,” and how our natural human condition, though good in itself, canoften lead us to react in sinful ways.
“God made us for love,” said the Bishop. “When we don’t have it, it creates a hole, a vacuum, and we’re trying to fill it,” he said, noting how people are often grasping for love in the wrong places, and that’s how we can injure one another and find ourselves in need of forgiveness.
“Forgiveness is counter to what our instincts want,” he said, as we’re often seeking to punish the person who wronged us. Yet, it is “divine to forgive someone who’s hurt us.”
Bishop Chylinski also spoke of anger, calling it “a natural human emotion” that is not sinful but can lead to sin based on how we react to it.
“Our Lord expressed anger in His human nature in situations where there was injustice,” said the Bishop, referring to Jesus cleansing the Temple in Matthew 21:12-13, when He overturned the tables of the moneychangers.
“Anger is sinful if its directed at someone else,” he said. “Anger is not sinful if its cause is just, and we let go of anger when the situation has been addressed.”
The Bishop encouraged women in the audience to open their hearts to God’s love. “He loves you as His precious daughters,” he said. “Don’t forget to open your wings and let the wind of the Lord’s grace carry you.”
Mass followed with Bishop Chylinski as a concelebrant and homilist, along with concelebrants Bishop of Allentown Alfred Schlert, and Father John Maria, Pastor of St. Mary in Kutztown. Master of Ceremonies was Father Allen Hoffa, Pastor of Holy Guardian Angels in Reading.
Music was provided throughout Mass by the Angelorum Choir, directed by Beverly McDevitt, Director of Music for the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena in Allentown.
The retreat also provided women with opportunities for Eucharistic Adoration and the Sacrament of Confession.
The afternoon speaker was De Yarrison, a certified Catholic inner healing coach, dedicated to guiding women on their journeys toward spiritual and emotional healing.
She gave two talks: “The Path to Inner Healing” and “Forgiveness and the Unburdening Process.”
The Commission for Women of the Diocese of Allentown exists to encourage and support the evangelization of women, and to enrich them in their roles as daughters, sisters, aunts, mothers, and wives.
For more information, go to www.allentowndiocese.org/commissionforwomen.
Photos by Norm Steinruck.
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