June’s female voice for the “Why I Love Being Catholic” series is totally awesome because, like me, she is named Amy. All people named Amy are automatically awesome people, right? Amy is the founder of the website prayerwinechocolate.com. She is just an awesome woman who writes a lot about her journey of adopting three beautiful children. Besides sharing the same name, we have a few things in common. She is from Philadelphia and back in 2015 she was present for different events for the World Meeting of Families. I was there, too, though we weren’t acquainted. You’ll love hearing about the places she has visited. We, also, both want to go to Italy. Really, though, who doesn’t? Amy recently published a journal for young teens. I bought it for my 13-year old daughter and it really is a wonderful book. The middle school age range often gets forgotten and her journal book focuses on helping them discover their personal uniqueness and gifts. I highly recommend it. I, also, highly recommend following Amy on any one of her platforms. She is a sincere, genuinely beautiful soul and I’m so happy to feature her. I’ll link all her social media platforms at the end of her interview.
1. Are you a cradle Catholic or a convert? If a convert, from where did you convert?
I am a cradle Catholic. Both of my parents were cradle Catholics, as well.
2. Who is your favorite saint and why?
This is a tough one, but I would say, Saint Therese of Lisieux. I love how her novena states, “please pick me a rose from the heavenly gardens and send it to me as a message of love . . .” I truly believe she has sent me many roses and prays for me when I ask her too. I almost called my blog “Raining Roses” because she truly sends them to me! I ended up picking a different name because that domain was already taken! I do have to say though, I am growing extra fond of St. Therese’s mother, Saint Zelie, lately too. I noticed how much she loved her husband in a letter she wrote and I prayed to her once about my marriage. The immediate answer to my prayer told me she is a great advocate and intercessor for married people in heaven!
3. What is the best Catholic place you’ve visited and where do you hope to visit?
This is another difficult question because I can think of many! A few years ago I was able to see the Pope when he visited my hometown, Philadelphia, PA. For his visit, the cathedral built a “Knotted Grotto” (https://www.instagram.com/p/
I am going to cheat a little on this one and name a few more. I am very lucky to have lived in Philadelphia until I was 19, and now I live right outside of it. When I was about 15, my dad took us to the Miraculous Medal Shrine in the Germantown section of Philly. This shrine is beautiful and offers many altars and smaller shrines to kneel and pray. What I loved, at that point in my life, was the pads of paper there with intentions you could check off and leave on the altar. One intention was “Catholic boyfriend” and at the time, I really wanted a boyfriend. I checked it off and left it there. I loved that that was even written. I loved leaving that physical note to God. I found myself going there on my own as I grew older and finding comfort that when I physically left, my prayer intention was still there. I loved that they prayed the novena every hour on Monday and before beginning the novena, the priest would read “favors granted” to the congregation. People would write what prayers were answered and leave those on the altar, too. That gave me hope and I often need that!
The last place I’ll mention is the National Shrine to St. Katharine Drexel. Sadly, this shrine closed this past year. St. Katharine Drexel served the Black and Native American communities in the United States when most of the country neglected those groups. Katharine Drexel was a member of one of the wealthiest American families in the mid-20th century. She gave that up to become a nun and founded her own order–The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. The shrine was on the grounds of the Motherhouse. Seeing where she lived, worked, prayed and was buried was really a beautiful experience. Before it closed, the Sisters hosted an event where the people who benefited from her miracles spoke. These were the miracles that allowed her canonization. I attended the event as part of a shrine tour I did for my blog one summer and wrote about here if you are interested! http://
Where do I hope to visit? Italy! I want to visit Assisi, Siena and perhaps Rome – although Assisi is …