How grief and grace sparked a movement for single Catholic women

Philadelphia, Pa., Aug 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Aurora Pomales still remembers the feelings after her grandmother died.

The grief was real and disorienting. After all, it was her grandmother who had taught her how to pray, how to love the Mass, and how to be Catholic, even after she herself had pulled away from the Church.

“I remember waking up and thinking, OK,” Pomales said. “I need to go to confession today. I need to start praying my rosary. I need to start going to Mass.”

That quiet decision marked the beginning of her return to the Catholic faith — a process that would eventually lead her to create a ministry aimed at serving an often-overlooked population: single Catholic women.

Blessed Emilina, the ministry Pomales founded, is named after a little-known 12th-century French saint, Emilina of Boulancourt, who is the patroness of single Catholic laywomen. The ministry was created specifically for women who are single, not married or engaged, not in religious life, but who are nonetheless striving to live fully for Christ.

Pomales’ inspiration came from her lived experience. As a single woman trying to return to the Church, she began looking for community — but everything she found seemed to be for wives, moms, or women preparing for marriage.

“I felt like I didn’t see myself anywhere,” she said. “I was trying to grow closer to God, but it was lonely.”

This was reinforced when she joined an online Catholic group and suggested creating content for single women. The group’s founder replied: “Well, what would content for single women even look like?”

“That’s when it clicked for me,” Pomales said. “I wasn’t just feeling lonely — I felt like no one even wanted to make space for us.”

Rather than walk away, she stepped forward on a mission based on her lived experience.

From heartbreak to healing

Pomales’ return to the Church wasn’t immediate or easy. At the time of her grandmother’s death in 2020, she was in a serious romantic relationship — one that didn’t align with her deepening desire for Christ.

“I thought that was going to be my forever relationship,” she said. “But I felt pulled in two directions: Stay in this relationship that’s pulling me away from the Lord, or leave it and walk with Jesus.”

She chose Christ. But the cost was real.

“While I was happy to be back in the Church, it was very lonely,” Pomales said.

It was the foundation from her grandmother, though, that made it possible to embark on this new path, she said. That foundation and the questions it stirred led her to begin dreaming of something more — something that could serve women like her.

“I knew other women were out there who might not have had that foundation, and if they didn’t feel welcome, they might just walk away,” she said.

The turning point came when the parochial vicar at her parish, St. Helena in Philadelphia, encouraged her to attend the Given Forum, a national leadership conference for young Catholic women.

Soon after, she began developing the blueprint for Blessed Emilina. The saintly woman had once been rejected by a religious order but continued to live a holy, single life of deep prayer and penance. Emilina walked barefoot in the snow, offered her suffering for the Church, and became known for her gift of prophecy.

“I’m obsessed with her now,” Pomales said with a laugh. “She’s kind of everything I want to be. She made the most of her singleness — not as a backup plan, but as a calling.”

The Blessed Emilina group offers retreats, monthly gatherings, local pilgrimages, and simple events like “paint and sip” nights. The ministry is open to single Catholic women of all ages and walks of life.

“Too often, we’re alone, so the idea of Blessed Emilina is to help women realize that your singlehood can be your path to sainthood,” Pomales said.

A quiet witness, a growing movement

Pomales’ sister Jeannine Days said she has watched her younger sibling grow from a quiet, imaginative child into a confident woman unafraid to lead.

“She was always very shy, very smart. And now she’s just blossomed,” Days said. “She’s nurturing, gentle, honest — and passionate. She really loves the Lord, and she wants to bring others to him.”

Days, who has children of her own, said Pomales brings hope not only to the women in her ministry but also to their family as well.

“My daughters look up to her, and the women in Blessed Emilina — you can see the spark that happens between them,” Days said. “That moment when they realize, ‘I’m not alone.’ That’s the Holy Spirit.”

A future for the Church — and for hope

Pomales dreams of taking Blessed Emilina nationwide and even international.

“I think the future of the Church lies in the capable hands of single Catholic women,” she said. “We have time. We have energy. We can serve.”

But more than that, she wants women to know that being single is a not consolation prize.

“There’s so much rhetoric around what a Catholic woman should be — married with lots of children, or in a convent,” she said. “But there are women who don’t fit that, and we need to stop making them feel like they’re failing.”

She remembers one moment early in her journey, scrolling through a Catholic women’s forum, when she saw a post from a single woman in her 30s.

“She wrote, ‘I just need someone to tell me I’m not failing as a Catholic woman.’ And I thought, this is why I’m doing this. That shouldn’t feel like failure.”

Through Blessed Emilina, she wants women to know that their singleness isn’t just valid, it’s sacred — and an opportunity. “This is the time when we can be closest to the Lord, and you have that time to give to your community,” she said.

Pomales also hopes her story of starting a new organization will inspire others to take risks and find their way.

“This experience has taught me that in those moments where you feel like you don’t belong, that’s actually the Lord calling you to make that space for people like you,” she said.

For more information, contact Aurora Pomales at blessedemilina@gmail.com or on Facebook.

This story was first published by Catholic Philly and has been reprinted by CNA with permission. It is part of “Faces of Hope,” a series of stories and videos from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia “highlighting the work of those who make the Catholic Church in Philadelphia the greatest force for good in the region.” 

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/266019/how-grief-and-grace-sparked-a-movement-for-single-catholic-women