Mike Phelan and Tom Morroni bring 'Our Lady of the Tahoe' all across the archdiocese, fostering devotion to Our Lady in northern Colorado
Through a chance meeting at a Prayer in the Square event, a beautiful friendship – and ministry – was born. Having come together in prayer for our nation, communities and families at the regular event, Mike Phelan and Tom Morroni partnered together to encourage deeper prayer in parishes and communities across Northern Colorado, especially through the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima. For Morroni, their ministry has roots in his Catholic education and upbringing. "I was in a club with a Marian devotion in high school, so it all started because I had faithful teachers. I think it's important that people understand that Our Lady was born without sin and that she retained her virginity throughout her life because that is a really difficult mystery of our faith to fully understand," he said. Phelan came to the Marian devotion by a different route, filled with twists and turns. While he was raised in a very strong Catholic family, some of his life experiences, like his time in the Vietnam War and, later, on the police force, caused him to question his faith, and for a time, he stopped practicing the faith altogether. "Both Vietnam and the police department had some very negative effects on me, and I fell away from my faith," he said, reflecting on his journey back to the faith. "One day, I was no longer a policeman, and I went across the street into a Catholic church. One of my former coworkers was serving as an usher, and they were short on volunteers, so he gave me a basket and told me to take on one of the sides of the church. That started my journey back to the faith," Phelan continued. "Since then, I've struggled just like everyone else does, but I ended up around really good friends, and that has been a radical change for me," he concluded. The two spearhead the Behold Your Mother ministry, which travels a uniquely beautiful statue of Our Lady of Fatima to parishes all over the archdiocese, from the Eastern Plains to the Western Slope, so that the faithful can come to know the Blessed Mother and the message she gave to Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia at Fatima. A former engineer, Morroni devised a system to keep Our Lady safe as she makes her way across thousands of mountainous miles. Carved out of a single block of wood, the statue is adorned with incredible details, including teeth and creases on both sides of the hands. In fact, this statue was carved by a direct descendant of one of the original statue’s sculptors, José Ferreira Thedim. Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila blessed the statue shortly after it arrived in the archdiocese and it has since been brought to countless faithful across Northern Colorado. Affectionately known as "Our Lady of the Tahoe" because of the Chevy truck Morroni and Phelan use to transport the statue, the men have transported Our Lady to almost every parish in the archdiocese. In addition to traveling from parishes, Mary has also made her way to the Sisters of Life convent and a handful of Catholic schools. The main goal of the Behold Your Mother ministry is to encourage families to pray together, even for only a few minutes a night. The pair even order olive wood rosaries to provide parishes as a gift so that parishioners can take seriously Our Lady of Fatima’s call to pray the rosary and draw near to her Son, Jesus. "If they can take five minutes to pray one decade each night, after a week they'll have prayed one rosary, and after month they'll have prayed through all of the mysteries. So five minutes a day really adds up," Phelan said. In recognition of their devoted service to the archdiocesan community, Mike and Tom have been recognized as this month’s Disciples of the Month. Through their profound devotion to our Blessed Mother, they have brought abundant blessings to the archdiocese and to the parishes, schools and ministries they visit. Congratulations, Mike and Tom, for being the Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal Disciples of the Month! +++ Do you know someone who is an exceptional steward? Nominate them here, and they could become the next Disciple of the Month!
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