My name is Mary Beth Clary and I am a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. I am also the President of this amazing ministry for women of all ages and stages along their faith journey.

When my board and I took on this ministry early in the summer of 2011, we really had no idea what we were getting into. For our first event in September 2011, we optimistically thought we would have 75 ladies...at best. We were astounded (and not well prepared for) the 150 ladies who showed up. There was much confusion, long lines, delays in check-in, and a host of other challenges. And that was before the lights went out right as our speaker, Father John Ludden, began to talk! The placement of the “stage” directly under the emergency lights and the candles on each of the tables was either clever advance planning (NOT!), extreme luck, or divine intervention! We really knew God was with us when we managed not to run out of wine.

We learned a lot during that first event and we tried to improve with each subsequent event. After much trial and error, I think we finally got the whole registration thing working – just in time to host 1,050 people for an evening with Matthew Kelly in February 2012. The comments, encouragement, and support that we have received from so many ladies who attended one or more or all of our events has been the fuel that we needed to keep going. We finished off the season last May, exhausted but satisfied that we had been true to our mission.

My board has been very hard at work planning for the upcoming year. As with last season, we will be co-sponsoring an event in February with Faith and Ale of Naples featuring Teresa Tomeo, a syndicated Catholic talk show host heard on EWTN. But don’t wait until February to come to one of our events. We think that you will enjoy hearing from all of our excellent speakers who, while being diverse in topic, are consistent with our mission. Believe me, getting to know and network with women who share your fundamental beliefs is empowering. And, of course, there is the wine!

None of this would be possible without the talent, hard work, and commitment of my board: Natalie Campbell, Judith Dolkas, Karen Judd, Colleen Kvetko, Julie Kwiatkowski, Peggy McCloud, Martha Oram, Mindy Slenn, and Char Youngs. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to work with these amazing women. The other group that deserves special mention is our incredible sponsors. The only way we could avoid increasing the prices being charged for our 2012-2013 season’s events was to increase what we were asking from our sponsors. They have been incredibly supportive. I ask that you look over our list of Sponsors (you can visit their websites by clicking on their names on the list of sponsors on our website or on their logos on this page) and please contact them if you are in need of their services or products.

Thank you all for your ongoing support. I am so excited about this 2012-2013 season for Faith & Wine and hope you will be able to join us!