Diocesan Life MOPS: Helping Mothers of Pre-Schoolers in Trenton On Tuesday, February 10th, the parish of St. Vladimir held the first meeting of a brand new ministry - Mothers of Pre-Schoolers (MOPS)! MOPS meets here the second and fourth Tuesday of each month from 9:30am-noon, providing free childcare for mothers of children aged birth to pre-school, as well as expectant mothers, during which time the moms gather for a few hours of fellowship, activities, discussion, and fun! MOPS had a profound impact on me and I wanted to share the blessings I received with others in our parish and the surrounding community. As a new mom, you often feel overwhelmed and begin to neglect yourself and your own needs. I am excited about the possibilities of helping other mothers and am hopeful that the time they have with us will benefit not only the moms, but their children and entire families! Each meeting we watch a video provided by MOPS that has a Christian message or lesson. Since people are more likely to feel free to share their thoughts while their hands are busy, we also have a craft. While doing the craft we discuss ways to incorporate what we learned and how we can apply it to our lives. One recent meeting we watched a video on forgiveness and made “keys to forgiveness.” As the women share and connect with one another they build a lasting bond and are more likely to return again. Statistically if one mother makes two or three friends in a group she has a 70% chance of joining your parish.
Fr. John Diamantis, the pastor, commented, “Our parish strives to be constantly aware of the needs of the community around us. It is my hope and prayer that by reaching out to mothers, whether they are stay-at-home moms by choice or necessity, that we can help to replace some of their stress with Christ’s love, warmth and comfort – if only for a few hours every month.”
Spring/ Summer 2015
Our parish is blessed to have so many helping hands to get this going. We’ve reached out to members from another local MOPS to help get us up and running, and we are so grateful for the dedicated experience of people like Charlotte Toth who brings a decade of youth work, program management, and childcare with her from her MOPS experience, Ann Kasmer and Tahara Ortiz, who as a grandmother and mother will be helping as “Mommy Mentors,” and all of the moms who have boldly stepped forward to help us launch so successfully! In the first month we have had two new mothers from the neighborhood join us and two volunteers from the surrounding area offer to volunteer with childcare. To learn more about MOPS here in Trenton, or to become involved, please contact Matushka Andrea Diamantis at: MOPS@saintvladimir. org. Discover more about MOPS International at: www.mops.org. v
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ll guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for He Himself will say: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 53).
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