Stories Of Faith Filled CWU’s May Friendship Day Celebration

By Shannon Hicks

Sharing stories of finding faith and recognizing some of the young leaders among them, a group of women met at St Rose of Lima’s Gathering Hall on May 2 for the annual Church Woman United (CWU) May Friendship Day celebration.

This year’s May Friendship Day theme was “Building on Our Stories,” with celebrants encouraged to share who they are while building on the work of the past. Stories shared during the two-hour event made it one of the most personal gatherings CWU-Newtown has hosted in some time.

May Friendship Day is celebrated by CWU chapters around the world on or near the first Friday in May. The Newtown unit, explained Jean Conover, decided to host its May celebration on a Saturday this year with the hope that more people would be able to attend than if the celebration had been held the previous day. A few new faces were in fact seen among those gathered, which Mrs Conover recognized.

“I’m thrilled that there are so many who have gathered this morning to celebrate with us,” said Mrs Conover, who offered the morning’s welcome remarks in place of unit president Darlene Jackson, who was unable to attend. Members of St Rose, Trinity Episcopal, Newtown Congregational, Newtown United Methodist, and Christ the King Lutheran churches were all in attendance. The Reverend Leo McIlrath, a Sandy Hook resident who also serves as chaplain at the Lutheran Home in Southbury, was a special guest on Saturday, as was NUMC member Marcia Maurer, who served as the music leader.

“We all find ourselves at different points in life picking up stones,” said Mrs Conover, explaining a theme that would run through the morning’s gathering. “There is something about stones — their permanence, their being part of the Earth — that calls to all of us.

“We pick up stones along the road, at the beach, and even in our back yards. Jewish people often will leave a stone at a gravesite after they have visited a cemetery. There is something about stones that call to us,” she continued. “We put them in our pockets, or in a vase, and sometimes put them down and forget them… but they continue to call to us.”

Four women shared very personal stories on Saturday. NCC member Jane Landgrebe, St Rose member Reggie Cernick, Christ the King parishioner Dawn Roman-Weide, and NUMC member Jennifer Ellicott each spent time sharing stories about specific events that led them to find their faith, or even to realize the strength of their faith. Each woman opened up, sometimes choking back tears (as did some of those who were listening to the stories), and shared very powerful accounts of their lives.

After each woman spoke, those gathered were asked to write one word on a stone that would best inspire the speaker or reflect to someone else what had just been heard. The same process was used following Jeane Roberts’s discussion on the history of CWU-Newtown. Words like Witness, Faith, Strength, Church, Family, Sister, Life, Dedication. and Love were written with permanent marker onto the smooth stones.

Once all stories were shared the stones were collected in a basket and everyone was invited to select two or three stones, which had been renamed Sharing Stones, from the basket for themselves.

The celebration also included the naming of this year’s Young Church Women Awards. The Newtown unit began presenting these awards in 2002, Jeane Roberts explained, “to honor not only what young women do within their church family, but also for their contribution to the community at large.”

CWU-Newtown Celebrations Chairperson Linda Manganaro presented the awards, which this year went to Dawn Roman-Weide (Christ the King Lutheran Church) and Darlene Spencer (Newtown Congregational Church).

As is traditional for CWU events, the morning’s celebration also included a Fellowship of the Least Coin offering, which invites people to offer the least coin of their county, and a second offering which will in part remain with the CWU-Newtown unit for its outreach efforts (a percentage is usually forwarded to the CWU National Movement). Hymns and prayers were also shared, and Rev McIlrath was invited to close the event through a benediction.