Kenwood Ladies Luncheon "Friend-raiser"

“Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?” Job 38:16

Father Jason Williams, who spent years aboard a submarine, isn’t out of his league when he talks about achieving a deeper spiritual life.

“Once we love the Lord who calls us, we can’t help but serve him,” he told a gathering of more than 100 women as keynote speaker for the LIVE the FAITH Ladies Luncheon on May 10, sponsored by the Athenaeum of Ohio and hosted by Kenwood Country Club.

If we do the small things well, Father Williams said, “Those large decisions we make will just fall into place.”

Ordained a priest last year, Father Williams is parochial vicar of the pastoral region that encompasses St. Anthony, St. Cecilia, and St. Margaret-St. John parishes in Cincinnati. He spent six years in the Navy before entering Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West, four of them as a nuclear reactor operator on a fast-attack submarine, the USS Hampton.

His topic for the luncheon was “21^st Century Discipleship: how does following Jesus Christ bear fruit in our lives today?” Father Williams urged his audience not to be content with mediocrity, which is “where our humanity finds us without Jesus Christ.”

Our Lord wasn’t “just a nice man who lived 2,000 years ago,” he noted, saying Catholics need to live our baptism, make time to get to know the Lord, and invite Him into our ordinary lives.

This latest installment of the luncheon series was the third in as many years at Kenwood. Others since the program’s 2015 launch have taken place in Dayton, Sidney, and on Cincinnati’s West Side (including one last month at Western Hills Country Club). Their purpose is to offer spiritual affirmation for women in a social setting, as well as to provide information about the Athenaeum's mission and services.

That setting aside of special time dovetailed with Father Williams’ theme.

As women “we wear many hats,” said Janie Klare, Athenaeum board member and co-chairwoman of today’s event along with Kelly Misleh. “We are caretakers. We are mothers. We are grandmothers. We are volunteers. Sometimes we need to take time out for a Catholic message and nourishment and recharge our batteries. This was a way to replenish what we constantly give and do. Not that men don’t, but women do it in a different way.”

She called the gathering “not a fundraiser, but a friend-raiser.”

Among today’s guests was Audrey Ruthman of West Chester Township, who’s attended previous Ladies Luncheons. She and her husband, Tom, are members of St. Gertrude parish in Madeira.

“Anything for the Athenaeum” is how she described her presence at today’s event. She said she became a great admirer of the institution years ago while serving as cook and housekeeper for Cincinnati Archbishop Paul Francis Leibold.

The luncheons help raise awareness, Mrs. Ruthman said, because “I think some people have no idea what happens at the seminary.”

To combat that, the May 10 program also featured a presentation by Father Benedict O'Cinnsealaigh, president and rector, about the seminary’s plans, vision, and progress to expand.

"I can't go back to God and say we have too many seminarians, stop sending them," Father O'Cinnsealaigh said.

Luncheon sponsors included Mary Dean Grote; Gloria and Greg Ionna; Kathy and Tom Joseph; Debra and Trey Rouse; Skyline Chili Franchise Group (Kelly and Michael Misleh), and Teller’s of Hyde Park (Charles Kohnen).

Many thanks to all the people who made the Kenwood Ladies Luncheon so successful!

Click the following link to view a photo gallery from the 2017 Kenwood ladies luncheon  http://www.mtsm.org/photogalleries/2017KenwoodLadiesLuncheon.aspx

Photo Credit: LIVE the FAITH Ladies Luncheon at the Kenwood Country Club photos courtesy of Julie Noeth / Julie Walling Photography.  Text Credit: Paul Clark.