Younger families at Saint Helen may know Margaret Manning from our CFC Family Ministry, which she and her husband Patrick attend regularly, bringing their three children Josie (nearly 3), Luca – age 5, and Emily – age 8. CFC builds community for families to connect with one another, the less fortunate, and with God. Often, you’ll see Marcos, an international student who has lived with them for three years, joining in parish activities too.
Others, of a more diverse age group, may be familiar with Margaret’s stand-up comedy routine, warming up the Saint Helen audience for last Fall’s night of comedy.
Readers of, “America,” the Jesuit Review, know Margaret’s touching and profound reflection of her and her husband Patrick’s own experience with miscarriage.
Still others know Margaret as the Chaplain at the Center for Hope Hospice & Palliative Care in Scotch Plains, where she offers emotional and spiritual support for families and patients.
How can one person embody such diverse gifts…Love, Joy, Faith, Mercy? To question may be to doubt that God can create a distinct plan for each of our lives, rather than focusing on how we fulfill or express the gifts that have been given to each of us.
Margaret traces the patience and calming presence she brings to the elderly at the Center for Hope to her formative years when her grandmother lived with her parents and five siblings. Like others who are graced with that family structure, living in a multi-generational family unit diminishes the gap between years and experiences.
Margaret describes that her relationships with her peers, particularly at Stonehill College, were very formative for her faith. She met her husband Patrick while in grad school at Notre Dame, where she earned her Master of Divinity degree, and together they subsequently moved to Boston where Patrick earned his Ph.D. at Boston College. Margaret has served in a variety of Catholic ministries – at parishes, educational settings, and in the community. Most recently she was a pastoral associate at Church of the Little Flower in Berkeley Heights.
Still, she kept hearing about Saint Helen’s vibrant faith community. While on maternity leave, they visited Saint Helen and, like so many others, the Mannings decided that this was a parish they wished to explore further and, eventually, make their home after leaving Little Flower.
Margaret has witnessed how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Empowered by this mantra, she is able to bring God’s love to all she ministers to. While many may see hospice work as something foreboding, Margaret views it as a ministry of “joy, grace, and privilege.” She witnesses the beauty of each life that crosses her path and knows that “every day I can make an impact on someone’s life.”
Serving as a liaison with families and the Center, sometimes she is a communication conduit between family members or with a patient; at other times she fulfills her role by listening deeply to a patient, family member, or friend; often she conveys peace and strength through her physical presence by holding hands with a patient.
There is a holiness to Margaret’s ministry and life, as God continues to rain down His extraordinary grace in the ordinary moments.
