January 1 marks the start of a new secular year. But for Catholics, it’s something more. Tucked inside the Christmas liturgical season, it’s the greatest of Marian feasts; the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and a “holy day” of worship.
In Christian belief, Jesus is both truly God and truly man. The Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431 thus defined the mother of Jesus, Mary of Nazareth, as the theotokos, the Greek word for “God-bearer.” The title is used widely in Eastern Christian communities, but the Roman Church has always accepted it as well. Mary is the greatest of saints and disciples. Revered by the apostles and every Christian generation since, this Galilean peasant girl is the Queen of Creation in the glory of Byzantine iconography. A powerful intercessor, she is the mother not just of God’s divine Son, but also of the Church and all faithful Christians.
For Catholics and millions of other Christians, Mary of Nazareth is “woman of the year” every year, not just in 2025. The Catechism of the Catholic Church celebrates her as “the supreme model” of a faith that magnifies the Lord (273). Though she is never equal to her Son, she is uniquely intimate to his mission. And in his 1995 Letter to Women, St. John Paul II described Mary as “the highest expression of the ‘feminine genius’”—a genius, he stressed, that’s shared not only by “great and famous women of the past,” but also by all women, of whatever calling or station, “who reveal the gift of their womanhood by placing themselves at the service of others in their everyday lives.”
Put simply: Every faithful religious sister, every devoted mother and wife, every unmarried woman of character engaged in work that serves the welfare of others, embodies Mary’s genius for those who depend on her. Men and women are not interchangeable. They’re equal in dignity but different in strengths and how those strengths are exercised. In a sane time, that would be obvious. But we no longer live in a sane time, and the words I’ve just written might easily be dismissed as pious platitude.
So let me suggest a few flesh and blood “women of the year” to illustrate what the feminine genius means. There are millions of other worthy women, far too many to list here; we should name and praise them in each of our own lives. But my own admiration in the coming year will include the women below in a special way because of the extraordinary witness they give and the urgency of the work they do—on top of their vocation as wives and mothers.
Mary Hallan FioRito provided exceptional (and largely unacknowledged) staff support in Chicago to the late Cardinals Joseph Bernardin and Francis George for twenty-eight years, including seven as the senior aide to Cardinal George, one of the greatest American bishops of the past century and a mentor and friend in my own ministry. A gifted writer, speaker, radio host, attorney, and ongoing adviser to bishops, Mary has worked tirelessly in defense of the unborn, working mothers, and families. An articulate voice on abortion law and policy, she is the author of commentaries for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and numerous other publishing outlets. In the words of Springfield (IL) Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, who worked closely with Mary during his years in Chicago, “she does so much behind the scenes for the pro-life movement that is known only to her and to the Lord, and, as typical for her, [she] rarely seeks out or takes the credit. . . . No [apostolic] work was ever beneath her, which is why she is loved and admired by those in the grassroots and those in positions of authority.” Mary currently serves as a fellow at Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. She’s also the Cardinal Francis George Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. She’s an exemplar of committed—and effective—Christian service.
Helen Alvare is the Robert A. Levy Professor of Law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where she teaches Law and Religion, Family Law, and Property Law. She has a long and distinguished record of support and counsel for U.S. Catholic bishops, and she continues her active service with various Vatican offices. A veteran public speaker, she’s published extensively in defense of the unborn, the dignity of women, and the nature of family life. Her recent book Religious Freedom After the Sexual Revolution (CUA Press) is a superb work of legal scholarship. It’s essential reading for anyone concerned about the direction of the country and the religious liberty implications of the sexual revolution. In a 2022 interview with The Pillar, Helen noted that “empirical evidence from a wide array of scholars on both the left and the right is coalescing around the conclusion that separating sex from marriage [and] from children is not only not all it was cracked up to be, but particularly destructive for the most vulnerable—for children, for the poor, for those already disadvantaged due to their minority or immigration status.”
Finally, it’s impossible to overstate the urgency and importance of the Person and Identity Project (PIP) run by Mary Hasson and Theresa Farnan. An attorney by training, Mary Hasson is the founder and director of PIP, an initiative that educates and equips parents, dioceses, and other faith-based institutions to promote the truth about the human person, the nature and purpose of human sexuality, and the damaging effects of gender ideology. Theresa Farnan, her PIP colleague, is a moral philosopher specializing in virtue ethics, the philosophy of the person, gender and sexuality, and today’s ethical issues facing the family. Both Mary and Theresa are accomplished public speakers and authors. And their work is essential for the future health of the Church in the United States and the culture at large. Both women (like Mary Hallan FioRito) serve as fellows at Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Every new technology, whatever its positive potential, has a revenge of unintended consequences. The inventor of the birth control pill intended it as a tool to enhance marriages and the intimacy of husbands and wives by spacing children more manageably. The actual result, six decades later, is our current sexual anarchy; an environment where a female Supreme Court justice (Ketanji Brown Jackson) is unable or unwilling to define what a woman is. Like a constantly morphing virus, the sexual revolution has attacked every stable element of human sexual identity, with massive and toxic cultural results. The good news for the Church, in offering a credible response, is the fidelity of Mary and Theresa, the depth of their knowledge base, and their impressive professional skill.
Today’s efforts to “de-masculinize” the Catholic Church, however well-intended, too often overlook the enormous contribution women already make to the life of the Church and the very real leadership and influence they already exercise. That’s a blessing. It’s a source of hope. As we enter this new and Holy Year of Jubilee on the Solemnity of Mary, we should take a moment to acknowledge it, and the women whose Marian service makes it so.
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., is the archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia.
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