BARRINGTON — When Gail Palazzolo saw a reference to the Well-Read Mom website in the Ignatius Press catalogue, she was initially intrigued, but it took a few times before she looked into it. Around the same time, her parish of St. Luke in Barrington was seeking new ways to engage parishioners. Her husband had already been involved in a Bible-based men’s organization, but “I was interested in doing something a bit different for my parish,” Palazzolo said.
Born in Marcie Stokman’s Minnesota living room in 2012, Well-Read Mom has spread across the U.S. and into other countries. Along with her adult daughter, Beth, Stokman began the group with 20 women who shared a desire to challenge themselves intellectually through quality reading.
After looking for nearby groups on the Well-Read Mom website, Palazzolo learned of another woman in the parish participating in the program on her own. As St. Luke has become a wellspring for young families in the last several years, Palazzolo saw an opportunity to engage younger mothers in parish life. She met with the other parishioner, then contacted Well-Read Mom to inquire about starting a parish group. When she pitched the idea to Father Timothy Reilly, pastor of St. Luke, he readily agreed.
Literature chosen at the book club level is meant not so much to entertain as to enrich the mind of the reader. These books are approached through a Catholic lens.
“Some of them are very challenging and require really dedicated time to sit down and read,” Palazzolo said. For example, Vergil’s “Aeneid” is on this year’s list.
Individual chapters like the one at St. Luke simply follow the main organization’s structure and reading list. Each year is organized into a theme, this year being the Year of the Father.
At the second meeting, Palazzolo noted that during discussion, most of the women present said they would not have chosen the book on their own, but “most of us really liked it. It was challenging and talked about the different aspects of the role of fathers and sons. … It was ripe for discussion,” she said.
The group at St. Luke kicked off in November and the number of attendees has varied somewhat, but hovers around 15. These women are living in various stages of life–stay-at-home moms, retirees, working mothers–with children of different ages. They have different tastes in reading. Most would never know each other had they not come together in this circumstance. Some are not even parishioners, yet all have dedicated themselves to a higher level of leisure in reading as a source of fulfillment.
One of these members is Ann McGlone.
As a newcomer to Rhode Island, McGlone appreciated that the group she belonged to in Maryland would also be active in Barrington. Not only could she meet other women in her parish and “share rich conversations with them,” but she could enrich her mind and spirit at the same time.
“When I am in the thick of life with three young children, I find that my greatest inspiration comes from particular scenes or characters in the novels we have read,” McGlone said. “No treatise on the importance of poverty or faith will help me offer up the challenges of a sleepless night with an infant quite as well as the image of St. Francis of Assisi, rejoicing in gratitude for the privilege to starve like Christ, or that of Virgil’s Aeneas, shouldering his father and his son to fulfill the difficult calling given him by his gods.”
As a younger mother, McGlone benefits from the more experienced ladies in the group and the deep conversations they share.
“I particularly appreciate that veteran mothers can share their wisdom with young moms like me and that our discussions tend to center on the human questions of life, rather than sleep training or diapers!” she said.
Finding time in a mother’s busy schedule to read is incredibly difficult. Palazzolo admitted that she had rarely devoted herself to reading and explained that Well-Read Mom strongly emphasizes the importance of reading. She compared it to a commandment.
“You need to give yourself permission to take time and read for the benefit of yourself as a mother, as a wife, as a sister, as an aunt. It’s good for your family and it’s good for society.”
To help moms stay on track with their reading goals, the website provides members with resources like reading plans and discussion questions. Some members may not finish every selection, but the purpose lies in attempting to read and glean gems of wisdom from each.
“The goal is to be supportive and to help people take the time, to invest the time in themselves” by tackling challenging books like the “Aeneid,” Palazzolo said.
Halfway through the Year of the Father, she spoke about how the chosen readings have revealed different aspects of both earthly fathers and the Heavenly Father.
Palazzolo has never led a book club before. Starting a Well-Read Mom chapter “was just something that I wanted to do. I’m at a place where I’m able to read different kinds of books — this is a different kind of reading than I’ve been doing.”
She has certainly read plenty of books but bemoans the difficulty in finding “things worthy to read.” The ones chosen by Well-Read Mom, however, she considers as worthy reads that fit the theme.
“I love this program,” Palazzolo remarked. “It’s just the right amount of structure to encourage deep reading of good literature that all of us have said we would otherwise miss selecting and persevering on our own.”
