Greetings from Mater Filius Colorado Springs! We hope this letter finds you well and that you and your families are enjoying a blessed Easter season. Tom and I are so grateful to be entrusted with such an important mission, and we would like to thank the entire community, as well as our small but mighty staff and our incredible team of volunteers, for all the support we continue to receive. Our brief time as Executive Directors has brought us so many blessings!
Here are a few of the highlights:
Shortly after opening our doors, Bishop James Golka presided over the dedication of our beautiful new chapel and alter, which is on-site and part of our home.
In September 2024, we were honored to host a visit by the founders of Mater Filius, Miriam and Jose Manuel Tejeda, and our National Executive Directors, Jim and Julie Mainelli. While the very first Mater Filius home was opened by the Tejedas in Mexico City in 2003, the Mainellis brought Mater Filius to the US in 2012 and opened their first home in Omaha, NE in 2013. The organization has since grown to five houses in the United States and 23 homes worldwide. As an organization, we have a small number of paid positions, but our mission is run almost exclusively by volunteers.
In February 2025, our volunteer team recommitted to another year of service at our Annual Volunteer Commissioning Mass. The generous giving of these volunteers’ time and talent, along with your faithful financial support allows us to provide a place of hope, refuge, and redirection for women facing unplanned pregnancies.
Finally, this past March 2025, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of opening the doors of Mater Filius Colorado Springs. In our first year, we have served a total of 27 pregnant women and eight toddlers, and welcomed nine new babies into the world. Our home is a very busy place and our team does an amazing job of serving these families with love, joy, and respect, as together we Defend Life with Love! We are excited to touch even more lives in the future and thank you for your role – whether through your ongoing financial support, your prayers, or sharing our work with others in your orbits. We couldn’t do this without you!
With gratitude, Tom and Jeanne Barta
Our Child Enrichment Program
Mater Filius’ Child Enrichment Program (CEP) is a game-changer when it comes to Defending Life with Love. Being able to help mothers in this way was a deciding factor in the local founders’ decision to adopt the Mater Filius model for our Colorado Springs maternity home project.
It was critical that the home be accessible not just to pregnant mothers, but to pregnant mothers who also had other young children already in tow. Since Mater Filius is a working program that requires resident mothers to either find work or pursue educational goals, a plan for caring for the children and babies living in our home was a necessity.
The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Montessori Program used by our CEP encourages the development of the child’s relationship with God, while simultaneously providing all the educational fundamentals of preschool, so these children are ready for kindergarten at age five. Our CEP staff has witnessed some beautiful seeds being planted in the hearts and minds of these children. “One day as we were visiting the Adoration Chapel at St. Gabriel’s, one of our 3-year-olds – inspired by the Holy Spirit – burst into song, singing “Alleluia” and then began talking quietly with Jesus,” shares Michele Mason, the director of the CEP. Such heartwarming instances to witness!
After our mothers graduate from MFCS, they are encouraged to continue bringing their children to the CEP until age five – free of charge – while they work or attend school. Allowing them to keep most of their paycheck for all the demands that life presents, rather than having to put a significant portion of it towards childcare, gives these women a fighting chance at improving their overall economic state and future for their family.
Staff Member Spotlight – Liesse Lynch
Liesse Lynch has been an integral part of the Mater Filius Colorado Springs staff since the doors first opened in March 2024. After serving as one of our first Daytime Imas (or house mothers), Liesse subsequently took on the Overnight Ima position, living and providing coverage in the home from 8:00pm – 8:00am each night. She also provides much of the daily driving for the mothers who need transportation to doctor appointments, job interviews, and/or work shifts.
Marrying young, at just twenty-one years of age, Liesse and her husband had eight children; one daughter and seven sons. Liesse largely raised their children alone, “with the help of God and His provision for my family, living totally dependent on Him for all the necessities.” To provide for her family through many lean years, Liesse started her own sleep consulting business for infants and young children, and began nannying other children as well – to this day, she has nannied over 42 children. Years later, Liesse decided that she would like to find a maternity home when she moved to Colorado, where a few of her now adult children had relocated. Liesse says her “dream from as far back as I can remember was to take care of children”, and she felt that her lived experiences with her family and professional life gave her much to share with women who find themselves unsupported in an unplanned pregnancy.
Liesse shares that she is “very committed to the mission of Mater Filius” and “doing whatever God asks of me, for as long as He asks it of me! God’s will be done!” We are very grateful for Liesse and all she does!
Team of MFCS Directors
Back row, left to right: Jeanenne Schimmel, Michelle Mason, Jeanne Barta, Janet Campbell, Kathy Shearon.
Front row: Deborah Washington