"When Mary Calls" in DC June 10 at the CIC
30-Day Reflections on Why This Book Hit a Nerve
Today, June 5th, 2026, marks 30 days since my book When Mary Calls: Surprising Encounters with the Mother of God was officially released. I’m delighted to share some of the interviews about the book thus far. But first, let me share about the next event!
In-Person and Live Stream Event on June 10
Come see me in person in Washington, DC on June 10th at 6 pm at the Catholic Information Center, or register to watch the livestream! Hint: I’ll share how I learned from my mentor, the African-American scholar of religion Albert Raboteau, why remembering Mary at the foot of the cross gives insights into not only the meaning of compassion but also creativity.
If there’s time, I hope to also explain why Mary’s unexpected calls are responding to the need for authentic community and (small c) catholicity—universal truths we all embrace which allow our particular gifts to shine.
Recurring Questions
Thanks to video interviews with Tammy Peterson and Eric Metaxas, and an appearance on nationally syndicated radio—thousands of people, if not more than a million people—have heard me answer questions such as:
Why are seekers, Protestants, and fallen-away Catholics returning home to Christ and his church through Mary?
Why do those who believes in the Bible and loves Jesus need to know Mary?
Why did I, a life-long Roman Catholic, write this book about Mary as a mix of personal stories, memoirs and theological reflections?
How is the renewed interest in liturgical worship (including sacred art and music) related to love of Mary?
If you look at the some of the critical or dismissive comments on this YouTube video, you will see I am not preaching to the choir. In fact, I hope I’m not preaching at all. I hope, as I told Eric Metaxas and his listeners, I want this book to remind all Christians that they are called to know Mary personally as their mother. Eric admitted in this interview that he has had a resurgent interest in Mary as the result of a vision his father had of Mary when he was dying.
Won’t we know Jesus better if we also know his mother? If Jesus loved Mary does it make sense for us to ignore her or belittle her? Should we expect young people to embrace the risk of motherhood if we forget the Mother of God?
Ecumenical Restoration Through Mary
Reviewing my book on her popular Substack, UK-based philosopher and journalist Mary Harrington pronounced: “The Icons are Coming Alive Again.”
“Once a central figure of Christian iconography, the veneration of Mary became deprecated in the great religious upheaval of the Reformation and is now viewed as a bit odd unless you’re Catholic or Orthodox. But over recent years I’ve come to feel, increasingly strongly, that the ‘mother shaped blind spot’, a central theme in my writing, is deeply bound up with [Mary’s] disappearance from mainstream Anglophone culture….
[WHEN MARY CALLS] is a gentle, careful work of ecumenical restoration, whose author is both courageous and vulnerable in offering her own relationship with Mary, as a prism through which to refract other stories. If you are looking for a nourishing, ecumenical, and accessible resource for reflection on Mary—and perhaps through her—there may be gifts for you in this book.”
—Mary Harrington, journalist and author of Feminism Against Progress
I posted on her comments section:
“I reflect praise for the book to where I hope my book on Mary directs people: to greater knowledge of God’s merciful love which was manifested in the world through the Jesus taking the form of human flesh in the womb of Mary... I hope to invite people to a simply posture of stating, or rather asking with wonder, as Elizabeth did, “Why am I so favored that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43).
If Only We Knew Our Faith Better
I’m grateful to Ashley McGuire and Betsy Fentress for publishing a transcript of their interview with me for Catholic Conversations. How I hope both Catholics and Protestants read my book and this interview—if only we knew how much we share!
My Debut Leading Music and Prayer at the National Cathedral in DC
Most of us intuitively know that music and art can bring us to a posture of loving attention. When Anne Snyder, Editor-in-Chief of Comment Magazine, invited me to lead morning devotions about Mary on May 29 and 30, 2026, at the National Cathedral in DC as part of a 3-day festival called “Understory”, I dreamed about how I could integrate Scripture, art and music as I introduced Mary to a mostly Protestant crowd of 1,000 people (though registration for my sessions was limited to under 100 to keep it intimate).
For more than a year, I’ve been taking voice lessons, hoping to be a better choir member and a causal singer at friendly gatherings. Now I saw my chance for a debut as a leader of church music in a magnificent cathedral that rivals some of the best in Europe! I worked hard with my voice teacher to rehearse two Marian hymns of praise, the Salve Regina and the Regina Coeli, which I sang at the end of morning prayer sessions that largely followed the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. To my delight, those gathered, stood, knelt, and prayed together the psalms and also sang together the two Marian hymns which I led.
What if we began each and every day in a posture of loving attention to the Word of God, illuminated by the art and music which help us make connections across revelation and receive insights into our own personal callings?
Mary is Near
Perhaps the most common reaction I’ve gotten is deeply personal: countless stories of Mary’s compassion, protection, intercession and loving presence have poured out as hymn of praise to God’s ongoing mysterious and miraculous presence among us.
Whether you are far or near from me, I hope you know that Mary is near you, drawing you to Christ and his church, showing you just how much you are loved and just how great your calling is.