Women Learn From the Ages at Mary’s Table Talk

By Mary Donovan

They get together once a month to talk about other women. They’re the members of Mary’s Table at St. Mary’s in Shrewsbury, but they’re not talking about the neighbors. The subjects of this learning and discussion group are the holy women in our spiritual history.

Mary’s Table is offered under the auspices of the St. Mary’s Parish Nurse Office. It is in its second year. This kind of intellectual exercise has a definite place in parish nursing, said Parish Nurse, Eileen Birch. Part of the mandate of parish nursing is education. Helping people recognize the connection between spirituality and spiritual health is part of nurturing body and spirit.

Mary’s Table meets on the third Wednesday of the month from 9:30 to 11 a.m. for eight months in the year. The winter months January and February and the summer months, July and August, are excepted. The meetings begin with a prayer - the Memorare - then a song, then a talk about the women for the day by a guest speaker.

The schedule of the program allows plenty of time for comment, questions and observations. Parallels are drawn between the life of the woman in focus and the lives of women today, resonance between her problems in her time in history and the circumstances of the world today are noted, experiences are brought forth. In other words, the meeting becomes a sharing time.

This suits Eileen Birch to a "T".

“Wisdom is what we’re looking for,” she said. “We try to build up the Kingdom of God on earth together – learning and growing.”