Our May 2025 Book Club selection is a book honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary! Kelsey Gillespy, in her new book, Real Life with Mary: Growing in Virtue to Magnify the Lord, encourages moms to grow in friendship with Mary and learn from her how to walk the daily path to holiness.

This book is written for all of us! Kelsey observed during this session that the book is a call to discipleship, a call to fellowship, and a call to sainthood. She acknowledged that when we look at the saints we see all the glamor, and it can seem like sainthood is distant — but over time, God can bring us to sainthood too.

Kelsey and Allison discuss how Mary is close to us because of the grace of God, and that grace can bring us closer to God. Learn more about Mary as a powerful example and mentor as well as someone who's going to nurture us, love us, and want the best for us in our Week 1 Book Club episode.

Maria and Allison have a heartfelt conversation about summer memories and dive into the archives for summer ideas for the family, including some mom hacks for young children.

Links for this episode:

• Read all articles by Allison Gingras
• Allison's new book, Jesus Heals
• Read all articles by Maria Morera Johnson
• Maria's new book, A Beautiful Second Act

Maria Morera Johnson and Inés Huber Mersch discuss ways they integrate tangible expressions of faith in their homes.

Inés Huber Mersch is a faithful Catholic wife, mother, and grandmother residing in Mobile, Alabama. Her strong attraction to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament led to her being invited to participate in the steering committee that brought Perpetual Adoration to the Archdiocese of Mobile and continues as one of the schedulers. She has also been a guest writer at Catholic Mom.

Links in Episode:

- Broken By Me by Inés Mersch
- Catholic Momcast 324: Detachment

Maria Morera Johnson interviews Rosemary McGuire Berry, author of Piety and Personality: The Temperaments of the Saints (TAN Books).

Rosemary McGuire Berry is a lifelong Catholic reader, storyteller, writer and traveler who homeschools the younger of her two daughters. When she’s not leading international pilgrimages with her husband and family to visit shrines and saints, she resides with her family in Colorado.

• TAN Books: Piety and Personality: The Temperaments of the Saints.
• Author website: Paths to His Heart: Traveling with the Saints
• Free Handout about the Saints & their Temperaments here!
• Catholic Posts on Instagram: @rosemary.writer
• Weekly articles on Substack - Tea, Talk & Tattered Pages

Maria Morera Johnson interviews CatholicMom.com contributor Roxane B. Salonen, award-winning children’s author and freelance writer, and a radio host, speaker, and podcaster.

Roxane B. Salonen, Fargo, North Dakota (“You betcha!”), is a wife and mother of a literal, mostly-grown handful, an award-winning children’s author and freelance writer, and a radio host, speaker, and podcaster (“Matters of Soul Importance”). Roxane co-authored “What Would Monica Do?” to bring hope to those bearing an all-too-common cross. Her diocesan column, “Sidewalk Stories,” shares insights from her prolife sidewalk ministry. Visit roxanesalonen.com.

• Read all articles by Roxane Salonen
• Matters of Soul Importance Podcast
• Sidewalk Stories column
• roxanesalonen.com

Maria Morera Johnson and Heidi Hess Saxton talk about their love of the Blessed Mother.

Heidi Saxton is co-host of the CatholicMom.com Prayercast, and author of Stories of the Eucharist (OSV) and The Ave Prayer Book for Catholic Mothers (Ave). She is also senior acquisitions editor for Ave Maria Press. She and her husband Craig divide their time between northern Michigan and West Palm Beach, Florida. You can read about her adventures on Life on the Road Less Traveled.

Maria Morera Johnson, author of A Beautiful Second Act:, My Badass Book of Saints, Super Girls and Halo, and Our Lady of Charity: How a Cuban Devotion to Mary Helped Me Grow in Faith and Love writes about all the things that she loves. A cradle Catholic, she struggles with living in the world but not being of it, and blogs about those successes and failures, too.

Read all articles by Heidi Hess Saxton

Read all articles by Maria Morera Johnson

Maria Morera Johnson interviews CatholicMom.com contributor Allison Auth, author of Baby and Beyond: Overcoming Those Post-Childbirth Woes (Sophia Institute Press).

Allison Auth lives with her woodworker husband and 5 children in the Denver area, where she homeschools her kids. She is the author of Baby and Beyond: Overcoming Those Post-Childbirth Woes (Sophia Institute Press) and contributes regularly to the Denver Catholic. She is active in her parish and homeschooling communities. Learn more about her work at AllisonAuth.com.

Read all articles by Allison Auth
AllisonAuth.com.
Baby and Beyond: Overcoming Those Post-Childbirth Woes (Sophia Institute Press)

Maria Morera Johnson and Allison Gingras discuss how worry shows up in every season of motherhood, from sleepless nights with newborns to the silent prayers for grown kids, and how to find peace and purpose through it all.

Maria and Allison discuss how worry is a constant companion in motherhood. In this heartfelt episode, we explore how anxiety shifts across each season of raising children and how faith, community, and practical wisdom can help us anchor our hearts in peace. Tune in for this reminder that you're never alone on this journey.

• Read all articles by Allison Gingras
• Read all articles by Maria Morera Johnson