Hello, my name is Caroline Kane. Quick background on me. I am 50 year old, Stay at Home Mom of 5! Andrew (first year math teacher and baseball coach), Katie (23) NYC girl heading to Columbia Grad School, Matthew (20) Sophomore at The College of the Holy Cross and football player, Julia (16), Junior and William (14) 8th grader, and married to my hubby Sean of 27 years. We live in Windermere FL and looking forward to my husband retiring next year! We have been blessed with a full marriage of kids and sports and travel.
Raised Baptist in a loving Christian home, went through RCIA in 1996 after I was married. We have raised our kids in the church (all 5 altar servers, religious ed, daughter Katie went to Catholic high school). I have been a RCIA team member, PREP teacher, Eucharistic minister and lector. But I was always missing something. As a protestant convert, I really had a hard time with the Catholic view of Mary. I saw her as part of the nativity and a beautiful woman, but that was it. Mary was really a struggle for me and I felt badly about it. I prayed and asked God to open my heart to her and didn’t really get anything for alot of years .. and then I came across the Many Hail Marys at a Time ministry.
One morning I found Kristin and Jill praying the rosary live on Instagram and was curious. I had only prayed the rosary a few times even though I had been Catholic for 20+ years! I began to watch the morning rosary, then really looked forward to it, and then couldn’t miss it! I started to feel overwhelming peace in my days, and I had an aha moment when I realized that the rosary was just “The Bible on a String” and that it was a prayer about Jesus’ life. I was drawn to the rosary and there is where God unfolded his answer to my prayer. I was becoming friends with Mary, I was asking for her intercession, I was depending on her as a mother. It was a beautiful awakening for me spiritually and a true gift!
Fast forward about a year. Jill and Kristin’s ministry was growing in size. Many Hail Marys was such an integral part of so many lives (including mine). I reached out to Kristin one day and told her if she needed help with logistics, administration or organization, I would love to help. I am a logistics engineer so those skills were in my wheelhouse. I began working with MHM in Feb 2020 and have been blessed by this community, all the incredible guests, but more by Momma Mary who had been with me all along.
Isn’t that God’s sense of humor that a protestant that always thought “Those Catholics worship Mary” is now an integral part of a rosary ministry. I now pray at least one if not multiple rosaries, lead a small, local rosary group, and sometimes even appear in front of the camera on MHM (not my wheelhouse!). Although managing the guests, the DMs, and the social media may not seem like a huge fiat for the Kingdom, I feel that these little acts of service bringing amazing guests in front of sometimes 10K people daily, can make a great impact on helping people get to Heaven.
Saints were also a foreign concept to me of late. I have been reading about Padre Pio, Edith Stein and Fulton Sheen. I am beginning to understand how you can make friends with the Saints and how they can really help you through all the trials and triumphs in your life. Since I have been reading about the saints, I see they were just regular people like all of us, doing small things with a great love for God. I am still praying for this “best friend Saint” that I hear so many people mention.
My favorite prayer (that I recite so many times daily) is the St. Michael prayer. I pray it over my children before school, before I drive, and whenever I am feeling anxious or weak. It is almost like God’s armor that keeps me safe and protected.
