MENOMONEE FALLS — For Barb Messerknecht and other members of the Women Celebrating the Spirit group at Good Shepherd, Menomonee Falls, the Mary of Magdala Chapel is not only a room of prayer and worship for the parish community, but a place that celebrates strong women in the church’s history.
The idea to rename the parish’s chapel came to Messerknecht after she attended a meeting at Lake Park Lutheran Church in 2013.
Members of the Women Celebrating the Spirit group from Good Shepherd Parish, Menomonee Falls, pose for a photo in the newly named Mary of Magdala Chapel at the parish. Pictured are Joyce Guinn, left to right, Barbara Finley, Barb Korneth, Loretta Grow, Barb Messerknecht and Carol Harder. (Catholic Herald photo by Margaret Naczek)
The pastor of the church, Rev. David Dragseth, told the group that the room in which they were meeting had special importance.
“He said, ‘The women of the congregation had decorated it with women from Scripture,’” Messerknecht recalled.
Loretta Grow, a member of the Good Shepherd women’s group, was happy to say Messerknecht and the women came up with the idea to rename the Good Shepherd chapel from a Lutheran pastor, something she described as “a great symbol of ecumenism.”
After leaving the meeting, Messerknecht thought of her parish and its lack of recognition of women in church history, and she wanted to change that. So, she formed a group that would later be called Women Celebrating the Spirit to work toward dedicating a part of the church to celebrating faithful women.
“The point is to celebrate women who were very strong leaders in the early church,” said group member Joyce Guinn.[su_pullquote align=”right”]IF YOU GO
An evening of prayer, reflection and fellowship will be held in the Mary of Magdala Chapel at Good Shepherd Parish, N88 W17658 Christman Road, Menomonee Falls, on Thursday, July 21, at 7 p.m. [/su_pullquote]
It was decided the chapel, previously called the day chapel, would be the perfect place to recognize and celebrate women in the church. The group took their idea to the parish council with a proposal, and after working its way through the church committees, the proposal was accepted and the day chapel became the Mary of Magdala Chapel.
In the proposal to the parish council, the group wrote, “We propose that the day chapel will be renamed Mary of Magdala Chapel. Our purpose is to give the room an appropriate religious name based on the use of the room for prayer and ministry.”
When deciding what to call the chapel, group members considered names of several faithful, strong Catholic women, but Mary of Magdala stuck with them.
The proposal went on to read, “We chose Mary of Magdala because we want to honor her gifts and contributions to the church while correcting common misconceptions about her.”
“We liked her role in the appearance of the risen Jesus,” Grow said.
Another group member, Carol Harder, added, “She is considered an apostle to the apostles.”
The Mary of Magdala Chapel is used for a variety of ministries at the parish, including Bible studies, children’s religious education, meetings of the Gay and Straight in Christ group, reconciliation and even blood screenings.
“Everything from the sublime to the mundane,” Grow noted.
In 2015, the women further celebrated Mary of Magdala, otherwise known as Mary Magdalene. With the help of an anonymous and generous donor, the women commissioned Jody Cole, an iconographer from Pennsylvania, to write an icon for the chapel.
“An icon is not just a picture. It’s a prayer,” Grow said.
The women worked closely with Cole, who describes the work she does as “being an instrument of the Holy Spirit.” The icon held a lot of symbolism from the cave with the cloth, recognizing Mary of Magdala’s role in the resurrection of Christ to the colors of her garments and her gesture toward the tomb.
Completed in June 2015, the icon is displayed in the chapel.
To celebrate the life of Mary of Magdala and of Christian women, Women Celebrating the Spirit will have a feast day dedication on July 21, at 7 p.m., the vigil of Mary of Magdala’s feast day. Though they did a similar event in 2015, this year will hold more significance because on June 10, Pope Francis declared July 22 would be an official feast day for Mary of Magdala. (See accompanying story.)
The dedication will involve prayers, background on Mary Magdala and a discussion to talk about women who have influenced people’s lives. The dedication is open to everyone.
“The main focus is recognizing the women in the church.” Harder said.
Several of the women in the group shared women who inspired them to live faith-filled lives. Messerknecht talked about two sisters, Sr. Lucy Edelbeck, a Racine Dominican, and Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister, who have taught her how to grow in her own faith. Of Sr. Lucy, Messerknecht said, “She has stretched me as a Catholic woman,” and of Sr. Joan, she said, “She’s a part of me. She’s a part of my day.”
Barbara Finley talked about her mother, who, during the 1950s, could only go to the altar to clean it. “Women can do so much more now,” Finley said.
Guinn simply said, “Barb inspired me to jump into this.”
The support the women’s group received from the parish was overwhelming.
“Our parish is very open to women,” Messerknecht said.
The members of the women’s group have been at the parish for a number of years. Barb Korneth, the longest tenured parishioner of the group, has been at Good Shepherd since 1969. The welcoming spirit of the parish is what persuaded the women to stay for so long and to work toward projects such as the chapel.
Women Celebrating the Spirit hopes to continue its work in the parish.
“We are still trying to raise that level of awareness of women,” Korneth said.
The group is also working to reach younger women in the parish.
“That is our dream,” Messerknecht said.
