Editor’s Note
After nearly ten years of ministry with the Diocese of Norwich, our dear colleague Mary-Jo McLaughlin has entered retirement. While she may be stepping away from her day-to-day role, she is not stepping away from us entirely. I’m happy to share that she will continue writing her beloved Marriage Matters column, bringing her insight and compassion to our readers in the months ahead.
In the following reflection, Mary-Jo shares her heartfelt gratitude for the journey she’s been on—and the faith that continues to guide her. It’s a beautiful witness to a life of service, and we’re honored to share it with you.
When I interviewed for my job as Catholic Family Services Coordinator for the Diocese of Norwich nine and a half years ago, one of the panelists asked me why I wanted the job. I said that I could probably find another job working in an office or at a retail store. But God had been very good to me, and I wanted to give back something of what He had given me in service to Him and His people. I hope I have been able to do that.
Last Wednesday, July 9, I retired from my position with the Diocese. It is a bittersweet feeling to walk away from a job in which I have found great fulfillment and have received so much more in return than I have offered.
I have been a part of a circle of many dedicated people working for the Diocese who go about the quiet day-to-day work of helping to further the mission of serving others in God’s love.
I have found incredible friends and colleagues in the Office of Faith Events who, like me, have a strong desire to help others draw closer to God, deepen their faith and discover ways to serve Him in their families, parishes, and community. The camaraderie we shared was a gift I never expected but joyfully welcomed and will greatly miss. I will always be grateful for the ways they stretched me and challenged me to step out of my comfort zone to use the gifts with which God has blessed me.
I have encountered faith-filled people across the Diocese who have a deep and profound love for the Lord and who have honored me by sharing with me their intimate stories of faith. There have been engaged couples who have invited the Lord into their love by choosing to enter a sacramental marriage. There have been couples who have found love again after the painful loss of a previous marriage relationship, whether by death or divorce. There have been older, well-seasoned couples celebrating significant wedding anniversaries who have witnessed to me the joy of a love that never gives up.
What a sacred experience it has been for me to walk, if only briefly, with people suffering the pain and heartache of loss, who found the courage to share their grief with me. I hope that the empathy I shared with them brought them a glimmer of hope that God is always close to them and that the love that they shared with their loved ones did not die, but took on a different form. I pray that my compassionate words to those suffering the forbidden grief of a past abortion helped them to find solace and consolation in realizing there is no limitation to God’s mercy.
Something of which I will always be proud was helping others to deepen their relationship with Our Lady through the Seven Sorrows of Mary program. It was a different venture for me, and one I almost never pursued, but Mary tugged at my heart and invited me to help others embrace the comfort and peace she could offer them in their grief journeys as she did in mine.
Looking ahead, I am excited about the possibilities that await me in retirement. This past June, our youngest daughter and her husband welcomed our first grandson, whom my husband and I will be taking care of two days a week when our daughter returns to work in the fall. My husband Pat and I continue to serve in our marriage ministry as a presenting team for Worldwide Marriage Encounter. Three years ago, I was blessed to complete the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola through a 30-week retreat in daily life in Worcester, Massachusetts. Following the retreat, I was asked to be a prayer companion accompanying future retreatants making the exercises. After two years of intense training, I will begin this ministry in October.
All is good. I have so much to look forward to, and do so with much joy and excitement. Still, there are wisps of melancholy at what will no longer be. Whenever the telephone rang in my office, I always believed that Jesus was on the other end of the line, and I was there to serve Him as best that I could. As I said at the beginning, I hope that I have done that. I believe, in many small ways, that I have. It has been an honor and a privilege to minister to the people of this Diocese who have sought my help and counsel. May God bless you as He has so bountifully blessed me by having crossed paths with each of you. God is good, all the time!
By Mary-Jo McLaughlin
Mary-Jo McLaughlin, retired coordinator for Catholic Family Services, poses with her colleagues at the Office of Faith Events (OFE) at a retirement party held for her last week. Front row, left to right are Liza Roach, youth and young adult minister, and Mary-Jo. Back row, left to right are Alvania Tejada, administrative assistant and Andrea Hoisl, OFE director.