The Catholic Women’s Network is making a final call for women seeking guidance, support, and wisdom to join its transformative Emmaus Program, a groundbreaking initiative for women’s mentorship.
“This is our last week. We’re making a final push for mentees, and applications are closing on Friday the 31st of January. It’s exciting,” said Helena Roumanus, project officer with the Catholic Women’s Network within the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation.
The Emmaus program is for women aged 18 and above, in a “season of need”—whether they’re young professionals starting their careers, church leaders facing burnout, or mothers feeling isolated at home.
“We have been surprised by the age demographics of women seeking mentors,” said Helena.
“We’ve had women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, which I think is amazing. It shows that it doesn’t matter what season of life you’re in. Accompaniment is always required.”
Mentors and mentees will embark on an eight-month journey, meeting once a month for coffee, a walk, or any form of connection that suits their schedules. This approach allows for meaningful relationships to develop in a way that accommodates busy lifestyles.
One of the program’s strengths lies in its mentor pool. Contrary to initial expectations that mature women would be too busy to make the necessary time commitment. the response from potential mentors has been overwhelming.
“It was so good to have these women respond, even in the busy-ness of their lives, to that invitation to give of themselves as mentors,” said Helena.
“Women and a lot of the mentors we spoke to, responded because they knew it was a need that also they needed when they were younger,” said Helena.
The mentor group includes a mix of working professionals, single women, and mothers, offering a wealth of diverse experiences to draw from.
After a successful year in 2024, the Catholic Women’s Network are excited about the potential impact of these mentorship relationships, seeing them as opportunities for growth in faith, personal development, and community connection.
“I think for that woman who are starting the new year and thinking about their goals, which is what we all do with this time of year, then this is a great opportunity,” Helena said.
Mentees from last year’s program spoke glowingly about their experience.
“I wanted to work on an area of personal courage,” said Olivia Roderigo.
“I’m a bit of a people pleaser and my mentor and I have similar personalities. But with her experience, she was able to give me advice and just tweak something in me to navigate some crucial conversations when I need to be brave and stand up for myself,” she said.
Also mentored last year was Haysha Weerakkody. “I was going through a difficult time earlier in the year at the same time my mentor was going through a big change in her life and we went through it together,” she said.
“It gave me some guidance and it was great to share these changes. Accompaniment is whatever you need it to be, it can just be two people walking alongside each other.”
Helena recalls a recent conversation with a local priest which spoke to the unique and transformative opportunity of mentorship by women for women.
“He was really encouraged by and supportive of it because he could see the need for women to women mentoring. He sees it a lot in his role as spiritual director that there is something that you get in terms of spiritual direction between a priest and a lay woman, but there’s something that he can’t offer as a man.
“There’s something that some of these women need from another woman.”
Interested individuals are encouraged to apply before the January 31st deadline to be part of this transformative experience.
To register go to: https://catholicwomensnetwork.org/emmaus/