MOMS is the creation of Benedictine Sister Paula Hagan, of St. Paul's Monastery, St. Paul, Minnesota. It is a plan for small-groups focused on spirituality and "self-awareness". The materials are published by Resource Publications of San Jose, California.
The Resources for On-Going MOMS Groups lists works by radical feminist writers such as Sister Joan Chittister, OSB (Wisdom Distilled from the Daily), Sister Miriam Therese Winter (The Gospel According to Mary, A New Testament for Women), and Wendy Wright (Sacred Dwelling, Forest of Peace). The list is on the web site:
www.osb.org/spm/momsfollowreading.html. [
osb.org]
Your negative impression of the "Personal Journal" spirituality workbook was very well-founded - as a glance inside its appealing "cross-stitch" cover confirms.
It opens with a "psalm" by Edwina Gateley, of Call-to-Action fame, from her book, Psalms of a Laywoman.
Quotes from Sister Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ, (Lay Presiding: The Art of Leading Prayer), and Sister Anne E. Carr, BVM (Transforming Grace) are included, among others.
Sister Hughes, a feminist liturgist, was for many years a member of ICEL, a group that provided problematic English liturgical translations.
Sister Anne Carr is a member of the radical Catholic Women's Network, and was a signer of the infamous 1984 "pro-choice" ad in the New York Times sponsored by Catholics for a Free Choice.
The list could go on.
MOMS resources do not contain even one single reference to any work of Pope John Paul II, utterly ignoring his profound insights into the meaning of family (Familiaris Consortio), human life (Evangelium Vitae) and womanhood (Mulieris Dignitatem). Considering the purpose of MOMS, this is astonishing. (All of these are on our web site [Women for Faith and Family] , Church Documents section.)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is not cited even once, unsurprisingly.
The idea of Catholic women getting together for fellowship, prayer and study is great. This is one of WFF's goals, in fact. But MOMS is not the answer.
We'd be glad to give you suggestions for a prayer-and-study group that would be completely faithful to Catholic teachings, and truly helpful to the members of the group.
