As Catholics, we know the power of storytelling. We have the scriptures, rich histories of the saints and tales of incredible witness. Good stories leave us hungry for more, and great stories inspire us to be more.

We asked three women to tell us a story of a Catholic woman that has made a profound impact on their faith and how they live it out. The women in these stories illustrate a sliver of the many faces and vocations of women in the Church. We pray that these interviews inspire you to seek and share stories of Catholic women in your life.

Interview with Leticia Ochoa Adams

“I am Catholic because people loved me where I was.”

About Leticia

Leticia Ochoa Adams is a wife, mother and grandmother living in Texas. As a freelance writer, Leticia has contributed to The Catholic Hipster Handbook (Ave Maria Press) and Patrick Madrid's Surprised by Truth (Sophia Press). Her work has appeared in numerous Catholic print and online publications including Our Sunday Visitor and Aleteia. Leticia is also a regular guest on the Jen Fulwiler Show on Sirius XM, and she recently participated at the FemCatholic conference and the Fall Conference at the deNicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. Learn more about Leticia at her website LeticiaAdams.com.

Tell us about a story of a Catholic woman that has made an impact on you.

All the women in my family, from my tías to my mom, are Catholic. My tías always had giant pictures of Our Lady in their homes, as well as statues. My mother also has this statue of Our Lady that has a place for candles. She would light a candle for me anytime I was acting up as a child. And while my mom and most of my tías didn’t know a lot about the teachings of the Church, they knew enough to hold Our Lady in a special place and keep her at the center of their homes and prayer life. That always stuck with me. Now that I am Catholic, Mary feels like home because of their devotion to her.

Inspired by her story, how did your understanding of the faith and the way you lived it out change?

When I was younger, I believed Catholics worship Mary. I had an issue with statues and pictures of her being in every home I visited. But there was nothing I could do about it. There she was... always staring at me. She became familiar in my life and at some point I didn’t even blink an eye at her.

When I began RCIA, I was used to seeing Mary everywhere, and that felt like home, like my family. That’s about the time when I became close with my Tía who lived close to where I moved. She was Catholic her whole life. She taught me how to pray the rosary, which she did every night. Because of her devotion, I have a love for my rosary. It holds a special place for me because it holds all the prayers I have prayed in the last few years, like the rosaries we prayed while my Tio was dying and the prayers I prayed after my son died by suicide.

These are memories that are connected to prayers and the love my family has for Our Lady. Now that I am 42, I realize that all of these things shaped me into who I am and how I pray.

As a Catholic, why do you think it’s important to hear stories from a wide, diverse range of Catholic women?

Because we are not all the same. The same reason that God tells us stories of different kinds of people in the Bible. Jesus also told stories to make a point, and He always asked different people to witness their love for Him––the perfect and the sinful. He loves us as we are, yet we are not all the same. It’s especially important for people from minority communities to hear stories of women who come from their culture and background to know that God works through all of us if we allow Him to.

There's a place for each of us in the Church. What tips do you have for how Catholics can welcome millennial Catholic women into the Church and cultivate belonging?

We always have to remember that anyone who is coming to the Church is there by the Grace of God. It is God who has brought them there, and they are there because they listened to His voice––even if they didn’t know what to expect.

It’s not our job to see that they are worthy. Rather, it’s our job to be witnesses of Him. I have been the woman who walked into a church after not being in one for a long time, wearing clothes that some would consider inappropriate. I also had no intention of becoming Catholic. The whole time I felt like I did not belong, and I just waited for someone to say so, so I had an excuse to leave and never come back. That never happened because my parish is amazing. I was welcomed and loved. And now, here I am! I am Catholic because people loved me where I was.

Interview with Sarah Erickson

“We love others better when we are available to see their life for what it is, not what we assume or imagine it must be like. The Church is a powerful mosaic to begin in journeying with those who differ from us, as we are all bound by the same baptismal call. As we come closer to the Truth, we begin to see the face of Jesus in glimpses of those around us.”

About Sarah

Sarah Erickson is a Politics major with an Intelligence Studies certificate at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Outside of class, she is a writer for Blessed Is She and a research intern at a D.C. think tank. Convinced of Christ's wild love in the little things, Sarah finds joy in mountains, iced lattes, and Henri Nouwen books.

Tell us about a story of a Catholic woman that has made an impact on you.

My spiritual director, Megan, never had a deep desire to enter consecrated life, but always thought that loving Jesus must be doing what she perceived was the most radical thing to do for Him.

I remember when she told me the story about her decision to enter consecrated life. I asked her why she would enter if she didn’t experience joy in her decision. She told me that she felt like, when it came to suffering, she figured it must be what God wanted for her. She spent seven years discerning with a religious community before God allowed her to see His plan for her life, and her deepest desire to love Him as a lay person in this world.

By grace, she began to see how so often we speak about the world in such negative terms, when it is actually the place where He pours out into us, and even sanctifies it with His Son’s incarnation. Megan has chosen to embrace the contemplative in her vocation as a woman, wife, and mother.

Inspired by her story, how did your understanding of the faith and the way you lived it out change?

Megan’s story has changed the way I view the Father, which has changed the way I live.

Seeing the ways in which Jesus has pursued Megan’s joy has been the ultimate reminder that He wants good things for my life. It’s reinforcing this confidence that He is not out to get me, but that He actually is who He says He is. He is not lying to me or using me in some scheme, but is gently loving me back into my own fullness. He is leading me to new adventures, always. When my life is anchored in those truths, I’m simply a hopeful person, consciously founding my solitude in the Light that cannot be dimmed.

Since meeting Megan and witnessing her confidence in the Lord, I pray with an expectant heart––I know that He comes through for me. When we know the Father’s heart towards us, it is so easy to see it in the stories of others. I think Megan’s story has caused me to look at my own, and I inadvertently see His Love woven into those around me.

As a Catholic, why do you think it’s important to hear stories from a wide, diverse range of Catholic women?

We love others better when we are available to see their life for what it is, not what we assume or imagine it must be like. The Church is a powerful mosaic to begin in journeying with those who differ from us, as we are all bound by the same baptismal call. As we come closer to the Truth, we begin to see the face of Jesus in glimpses of those around us.

I always remind myself that ever woman possesses the Spirit on the inside of her skin. We are all carrying His essence in a way. And when we grapple with what that means about the gravity of every individual life, there is a great need to come to know each other’s stories, because they’re part of the greater story Jesus is telling.

There's a place for each of us in the Church. What tips do you have for how Catholics can welcome millennial Catholic women into the Church and cultivate belonging?

I think we have to remember that while Truth doesn’t change, the world has, and we have to be able to go meet women in their circumstances. We have to be committed to reminding millennial women that their love stories with Jesus matter. Sometimes, the pressure feels like, to be a Catholic millennial woman, you need to attend this school, study this particular thing, have a mess-free relationship with Jesus, get married in your 20s, and have the right amount of kids. And I just think that’s exhausting for millennial Catholic women. We have a God who literally comes to us in the flesh as a Nazorean, and it wasn’t glamorous. So, I think it’s important to welcome millennial Catholic women by embracing that Gospel above any other story. The Gospel is to repent and believe, at its core, and that is the only narrative worth matching our lives to.

Interview with Rakhi McCormick

“We need to make space for young women to come together in community with other young women AND create a culture of accompaniment where older generations can walk alongside younger ones to help them find their way without prescribing it for them. That last phrase is critical. To really cultivate belonging, we can’t just invite millennial women to come and fill spots that are already dictated. It is truly important we simply have undefined space in our church communities to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal how the gifts of this generation can and will be used, even if it creates discomfort for others. ”

About Rakhi

Rakhi McCormick is a wife and mother who works part-time in youth/young adult/young family ministry at her home parish in Metro Detroit––all while trying to keep up with her husband of 10 years, three young children, and a growing creative business. She is a first-generation Indian-American and a convert from Hinduism. Her greatest joy is speaking light into darkness and encouraging others to discover the beauty and gifts they possess. She uses these pieces of her life as her inspiration as an artist, a writer, and a speaker. When not chasing her children, you can find her singing, dreaming of Italy, hanging out on Instagram (@rakstardesigns), and making beautiful things and messes, all with coffee in hand. Some of her creative work can be found in her Etsy shop, Rakstar Designs. She is also a founding member of Zelie & Co, a contributing writer for Take Up and Read, and part of the new Voices team for Live Today Well.

Tell us about a story of a Catholic woman that has made an impact on you.

The first woman who comes to mind is my friend and former boss, Beth. She is the co-founder and former executive director of a maternity home in the area. She owns a small Catholic gift shop/bookstore, as well. One day, a young woman brought a friend into the store who was unexpectedly expecting. The friend was considering an abortion because she would be getting kicked out of her home if she chose to have the baby. Beth spent days trying to find a place for the young woman to no avail, and later learned that the young woman had the abortion because she felt there was no other option for her.

From that experience, Beth felt a strong calling to provide a place for young women like her to go when faced with an unexpected pregnancy, that as a people of life, we had to be the solution on a truly personal and tangible level, not just political advocacy. Out of that experience, and with her openness to the work of the Holy Spirit in her life, she and several friends were able to open a new maternity home in the area. Though it is small, it has served nearly 100 women in the short time it has been open.

Inspired by her story, how did your understanding of the faith and the way you lived it out change?

Beth’s openness to the call of the Holy Spirit, her fearlessness in moving forward despite the challenges, her love of these young women who were in desperate situations regardless of how they got there, and the redemption that came from all of that have been a huge inspiration in my life.

Watching the work of the Holy Spirit continue to flourish through her life, I have learned more about what it means to achieve greatness through humility. So often in our world, it is the loudest voices, the largest lives, that receive the attention and accolades. Christian discipleship, though, is far more about becoming little and letting God work through us to demonstrate His glory. In my humanity I forget this often enough, but I also seem to always return to this lesson. To cooperate in the quiet work of God yields far more joy than trumpeting our own perceived greatness. To one day hear the voice of God say “well done, good and faithful servant” will be far more fulfilling than any number of likes or follows or awards on earth.

While there are times we will be called to take a stage or be given a platform to share His glory, more often than not, God will ask us to share His love and mercy and grace and the good news of salvation in the mundane and ordinary moments of our days. We never know how one word might plant a seed in another’s life in truly magnificent ways.

Your work features beautiful quotes and illustrations of the saints. Tell us about the female saints that have inspired you in your faith.

There are such a great variety of female saints in the Church, and I love the wideness of what it means to be a faithful woman by their examples. Many of the Saints I come back to, though, emphasize our littleness. The one you will see a lot of in my work is Saint Teresa of Calcutta. I joke that she is my saintly bestie. I love that she lived and worked with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, which is where my parents grew up and a large number of my family still live.

The parts of her life, though, that really speak to me at this time in my have less to do with her work with the poor, though that is of course inspiring. Rather, her absolute fidelity to responding to the call of Christ even when it looked different than what she originally signed up for, even when there was resistance from others, is a great inspiration. The “call within a call” gives me great encouragement and comfort that different seasons in life can lead to different ways God will ask to use us. We are not a one-and-done with our fiat. Every day is new, and every yes builds a path to the others we will be asked to say. Add to that her fidelity to Christ amid her own darkness and she continues to be a fantastic saintly bestie to me!

Another female saint who inspires me is St. Josephine Bakhita, whose response to her enslavement was to be grateful for finding the love of Christ and not bitterness at her captivity. This example of gratitude over grievance is one I need to visit over and over.

I was introduced to St. Gianna Beretta Molla over World Youth Day in 2008 and have loved her ever since. Having been a professional woman who married later in life, she was a saint I could truly identify with personally and who gave me hope. Sainthood was accessible through the normal life of a working mother and wife as well.

The social teachings of the church in all their breadth have long been dear to my heart, as are the works of mercy. In fact, the parable of the sheep and goats was an instrumental part of my own conversion. To that end, Servant of God Dorothy Day has been a faithful companion. Her love of the poor and her thirst not just for mercy but also justice, are a great inspiration to continue to speak out and to advocate in action for those who continue to suffer injustice in our world.

Lately, St. Zelie Martin has been among my saint squad as well. Aside from the obvious connection through my work with Zelie & Co., her challenges and joys in raising her children have been providing great comfort. If she, who raised Saints and a Doctor of the Church, could be challenged in motherhood, then maybe my own struggles aren’t a sign of impending condemnation, but part of my own sanctification and growth. Maybe it is just a normal thing, and all is not lost!

As a Catholic, why do you think it’s important to hear stories from a wide, diverse range of Catholic women?

God’s imagination far exceeds our own, while the devil likes us to think we are isolated and useless. If we do not hear varied stories of God at work, we may begin to believe the lie that we do not belong and that what we suffer excludes us from the mercy and love of God. Nothing could be further from the truth! Hearing from a wide range of Catholic women, at varying points of their journeys of faith, gives more women an opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief in discovering that they are not alone in this world – that what they suffer, what they enjoy, what weighs them down, what gives them life – all this is shared within the family of God.

There's a place for each of us in the Church. What tips do you have for how Catholics can welcome millennial Catholic women into the Church and cultivate belonging?

I’ve been reading and re-reading Pope Francis’s latest Apostolic Exhortation, Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive!). It is written to and for young people in the church, and I think there is great wisdom in it for us as we try to navigate how to cultivate authentic community with and for young people. One of the things that particularly struck me is the need for mentors and space for younger generations to take risks, to learn how to live a life of faith without fear of failure. This is true for millennial Catholic women too! We, as a Church, need to be humble enough to identify the gifts of our young millennial women and allow them space to make mistakes as they share those gifts.

I believe belonging comes from feeling valued as we are, not as a work in progress. There is such a fear of judgment for past sins (or even current ones!), so much loneliness and fear of being misunderstood, of not being good or holy enough, so much anxiety about not fitting the “Catholic mold,” whatever that is. Creating opportunities for millennial women to express themselves freely, to explore and grow in faith without condemnation, to share the gifts they already have, is imperative to be authentically welcoming.

We need to make space for young women to come together in community with other young women AND create a culture of accompaniment where older generations can walk alongside younger ones to help them find their way without prescribing it for them. That last phrase is critical. To really cultivate belonging, we can’t just invite millennial women to come and fill spots that are already dictated. It is truly important we simply have undefined space in our church communities to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal how the gifts of this generation can and will be used, even if it creates discomfort for others.

Get to know the women in our parishes and communities. Learn what feeds their spirit, what fears and worries weigh them down, and respond in faith. We all want to be seen, known, and loved. Take every opportunity to do that well.