By Kevin Cullen, Chicago Tribune
CARMEL — Ann Winkle believes in miracles. At age 5, she saw how prayers to the Blessed Mother brought people back to Jesus, and helped save the life of her own mom. In 1965, her 35-year-old mother — pregnant with her 11th child — suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. The surgeon said she would likely die or be in a permanent vegetative state. Rosie Condit was a devout Catholic who prayed a decade of the rosary each day for each of her sons and daughters. As she fought for life in Cincinnati’s Mercy Hospital, friends, family, doctors and nurses filled the waiting room. They knelt, prayed the rosary and asked God to spare the young mother. When the surgeon emerged from the operating room, he said that he had just been part of a miracle. Mrs. Condit not only survived, she eventually learned to walk and talk again. She and her husband, Jim, recently marked their 58th wedding anniversary. They have 11 children and 59 grandchildren. “I think of all the rosaries offered up for our family,” Winkle said. “If God had taken my mother years ago, I think we would all have been different people.” She told her story to 314 women May 4 at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School at the first annual meeting of Mary’s W.A.Y. (Women Answering YES to the Lord) at the parish. Winkle, of Aurora, Ill., founded the organization in 2002 to bring Catholic women together and unite them to Jesus through his mother’s openness to the will of God. Most the nine chapters are in the Indianapolis area.“ It is our desire to promote modeling Mary’s way as we live our lives,” said Lorita Doucette, who introduced Winkle. “As women we, like Mary, assume a grace-filled responsibility to be the host in this world to carry life and to carry light.” Mary, she said, “provides a perfect way for women to know Jesus.” Parishioner Karen Semler — the mother of six — said the evening allowed busy women to attend Mass together, enjoy a catered meal, meet other women and hear an important message. “It was great to see a group of women together, united in the same faith, hearing a talk about Mary, sharing fellowship in Jesus Christ,” she said. Semler called Winkle’s talk “beautiful. It was so inspirational for someone to speak so eloquently about her faith and how important it is to have the Blessed Mother in our lives.”
“We were so pleased, overwhelmed,” said organizer Kimmie Hamilton, who had hoped for 150 attendees. Most of the women had children at home, so the event provided “a mini-retreat where people were able to be filled spiritually. It was about the Blessed Mother and about the spirit of family … everyone walks away with something different; everyone is at a different place in their journey.”
Winkle, married and the mother of four, organized the first Mary’s W.A.Y. after noticing that many Catholic women tended to gather only at Mass. She felt they needed another way to meet, share their love of Jesus and Mary, nurture Catholic traditions — especially praying the rosary — and draw strength from each other. “I believe Our Lady has something very special for each one of you. Thanks for slowing down and answering ‘yes,’” Winkle told the women. “… Faith can hold us together; when you share it with each other, it is a deeper friendship.”
Teresa Schutzman, of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, is one of Winkle’s sisters and a former teacher. She had attended Mary’s W.A.Y. dinners at other places. She said they offer the challenge to “perhaps go to the next level spiritually, through the rosary or adoration, and knowing that everybody in that room is saying a Hail Mary for you every day. It is the working of the Holy Spirit that so many women are seeking to please God and honor his mother.” Winkle’s parents also attended.
“I was blessed with parents who loved the faith,” Winkle said. “My mother loved the Blessed Mother and she constantly prayed the rosary. I remember her doing laundry practically one-handed; there was constantly a rosary in the other hand.”
Her father, an accountant-turned-lawyer, attended Mass daily. The Condits lived five doors from their church, and the children attended the parish school. Priests and nuns often visited their home.
Then came Rosie’s aneurysm. Countless prayers were offered for her recovery by neighbors, friends and family. It brought some of them back to their faith. The prayers were answered and Mrs. Condit emerged from a coma. Doctors feared possible complications for her baby because of the strong anti-seizure drugs they gave her, but her 11th child, David, weighed 9 pounds and was perfectly healthy.
“They saved not only one life, but eight lives. He has seven children,” Winkle said.
“God has used our family in many beautiful ways,” Winkle said. Many of her siblings, nieces and nephews are “working for the Lord” in various ways, she said. Winkle, a former special education teacher, is carrying on that work, too. Mary’s W.A.Y. gatherings have deepened the faith of thousands of Catholic women. She encourages each one of them to try each day to bring another soul to Christ.
Regular Mass attendance is not enough, she said. She urged women to pray the rosary daily, preferably with family and friends, and to pray before the Eucharist in an adoration chapel. “In today’s world, I truly believe we need to surround ourselves with people who support our Catholic way of life,” Winkle said.
“Everyone in this room has the same love and devotion. It is time to connect … keep the faith and pass it on … let us try to imitate Christ in his love, and always take the Blessed Mother with you.”
The Chicago Tribune, May 16, 2010
