“I have actually met this talented and amazing author in person! Jean Schoonover-Egolf and I both attended the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference, making our books available to attendees. At one point, a sister in a purple habit approached Jean Egolf’s table and the two of them stood talking for a moment. Well, I was impressed. This woman loves Jeanie Egolf’s books so much, I thought, that she dressed up like the main character in her Molly McBride and the Purple Habit series!
“Well, I was wrong. She was a real Sister! There really is an order of Sisters who wear purple habits! They are called the Children of Mary and they are a new community in the service of the Church “to satiate the thirst of Jesus to be loved in the Most Blessed Sacrament.”
“Through entertaining and beautifully illustrated stories, the Molly McBride and the Purple Habit series promotes charity, virtue and even plants the seeds for vocations in little hearts.”
Sister and Molly have a heart-to-heart.Yes, The “purple nuns” are real!
Friends, I am so excited to announce the forthcoming release of the FOURTH book in the Molly McBride series of Catholic children’s picture books fostering vocations:
Molly McBride and the Christmas Pageant: A Story About the Virtue of Obedience
The kindergarten class at Holy Trinity School is having a Christmas pageant, complete with stable, angels, barn animals, and baby Jesus. Molly McBride thinks she’s a shoo-in for the role of Mary, while her bestie, priest-wanna-be Dominic, has his heart set on the role of Joseph. But Mrs. Rose, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire, might not have quite the same “vision” for this year’s Nativity that the kids have, leading to an upset that snowballs into a lesson on obedience.
Will Molly’s feisty temperament ruin the whole play? Or will she find the strength, through the intercession of the Blessed Mother, to say, “Thy will be done?”
From Amazon: Christmas Pageant: A Story About the Virtue of Obedience is the fourth book in the Molly McBride series about a little girl who wants to be a nun when she grows up. Catholic kids young and old have fallen in love with the feisty, red-haired five-year-old heroine and her faithful wolf-pet-named-Francis. The tales, along with their charming illustrations, help school teachers, parents, and grandparents pass on our beautiful Faith to children around the world. The Molly McBride series not only deights readers with the funny and familiar antics of childhood, but also makes learning about virtues, Sacraments, and the Bible stories enjoyable. Because the stories feature religious sisters and priests as role models, both girls and boys become acquainted with religious vocations.
Preorder Molly McBride and the Christmas Pageant: A Story About the Virtue of Obedience by clicking here.
The header image above is an actual message I received, in a rather round-about way, from a reader. Fear not, faithful followers of the fiery-haired five-year-old! The “folks” over here in Mollyland have set a goal: in 2018, the month of Valentines and Mardi Gras will feature BOOK THREE! Rumor has it, it’ll be something to party about. Little teaser:
National Vocations Awareness Week 2017 begins Sunday, November 5, and it’s been a really exciting time here at the “McBride” residence. I had the pleasure of writing a piece again this year for Peanut Butter and Grace, and that article is here. Additionally, I had the privilege of appearing live on Catholic TV’s This Is the Day show with Bonnie Rogers and Kevin Nelson. We discussed my favorite topic: fostering religious vocations through children’s literature!
Looking back, I was lucky. I treasure so many beautiful childhood memories, especially visits from my 2 nun-aunts, Sister Carla and Sister Mary Elizabeth. My mom used to say, back then, every Catholic family strived to raise at least one child to hear the calling to the religions life.
Back then, every Catholic family strived to raise at least one child to become a religious.
My grade school principal was a religious sister, as were several of the teachers and staff. These days a Catholic school kid can go a whole 12 years of school (or more, if you count pre-school and kindergarten) without ever meeting a religious other than his/her parish priest.
This makes me so sad. How will we continue to have religious sisters and brothers, as well as ordained priests and deacons, in the future of the Church when this generation of children never sees any? And so I write the Molly McBride series with the hopes that my colorful little character will influence other spunky little kids to consider the calling.
Besides reading books about religious to your kids, you can head over to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ page for a long list of suggestions for families. The following prayer is from the same site:
“O Holy Family of Nazareth, community of love of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, model and ideal of every Christian family, to you we entrust our families. Open the heart of every family to the faith, to welcoming the word of God, to Christian witness, so that it become a source of new and holy vocations. Touch the hearts of parents, so that with prompt charity, wise care, and loving devotion they be for their sons and daughters sure guides towards spiritual and eternal values. Stir up in the hearts of young people a right conscience and a free will, so that growing in wisdom, age and grace, they might welcome generously the gift of a divine vocation. Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that all of us, contemplating and imitating the assiduous prayer, generous obedience, dignified poverty and virginal purity lived out in your midst, might set about fulfilling the will of God and accompanying with far-sighted sensitivity those among us who are called to follow more closely the Lord Jesus, who has given himself for us (cf. Gal 2:20).”
Congrats to Katherine S.! There were 86 entries, and she is the winner of my very first ever Rafflecopter contest, so a signed copy of MMPH is headed her way.
What’s the best part of these giveaways? Making new friends! I had the pleasure of communicating with Katherine via email as well as friending her on FB and checking out her beautiful blog!
Here I am at my beautiful mess, signing her book for her 5 daughters. I told Katherine I hope at least one of them is considering a religious vocation 😉 .
For the 54th World Day of Vocations, Vatican Radio has announced that the 2017 message will be “Led by the Spirit for Mission.” Pope Francis said, “I ask parish communities, associations and the many prayer groups present in the Church, not to yield to discouragement but to continue praying that the Lord will send workers to his harvest. May he give us priests enamoured of the Gospel, close to all their brothers and sisters, living signs of God’s merciful love.”
The idea to create the Molly McBride character and books came to me after many years of praying about the need for more men and women to enter the religious life. Therefore, it seems fit that I should send a free copy of “Molly” out into the world on this special day. Click below and good luck! Drawing will be Monday, May 8, the day following World Day of Prayer For Vocations.
via 7 Must-Know Authors of Catholic Children’s Books
Stay tuned for updates!
