In Catholic author Angela Connelly’s newly published book The Crowded Table; The Brave and Beautiful Choice to Mother Many, to which I contributed a chapter, she writes that “each of us is uniquely summoned to be the broken-open seed that gives life … spiritually, emotionally, biologically.”
Connelly then dedicates her book to all women throughout time who have chosen to answer this summons through motherhood, and to answer it through motherhood again and again.
Though birth rates are declining across the globe, some women today are bucking the trend and making the choice to “mother many.” Their choice is unconventional and, at times, disparaged.
Connelly recalls the comments of President Emmanuel Macron of France during a Gates Foundation event in 2018. “I always say,” Macron pontificated, “present me the woman who decided, being perfectly educated, to have seven, eight, or nine children.”
In response to Macron’s insinuation that mothers of large families must necessarily be ignorant, Connelly has compiled the stories of 52 educated women who chose to make themselves open to God’s plan for their lives, even when this plan included a large and “crowded table.”
What comes across from these testimonies is the great gift of motherhood and all that it brings to the world.
The reader discovers that the choice to “mother many” unlocks many mysteries: Love grows when you divide it. We can accomplish anything once we realize we are “not enough.” There is great joy and fulfillment to be found within the very messiness of a “crowded table.”
Those who have taken the leap of faith to welcome many children will read this book and find their choice confirmed. Those who are fearful of the responsibility of raising other humans will find themselves taking heart; there is no such thing as a perfect family, a perfect parent, a perfect child. Perfection is something we attain together through the wonderful journey of “walking each other home,” as Connelly puts it.
“We have this treasure in earthen vessels,” St. Paul explains in his second letter to the Corinthians, “to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.”
Women who choose to “mother many” do not forget that they are breakable “earthen vessels.” Their children remind them daily!
Their continued and courageous “yes” to God’s plan in spite of it gives God a unique opportunity to show these women “that there is something Beyond, something more sacrificial but more satisfying than awards and applause and financial compensation, something that brings greater happiness than any THING there is,” says Connelly.
By welcoming many children into their lives, Connelly, and her collection of 52 women have discovered this “something Beyond”. In this beautifully designed and executed book, they share their treasure with the world.
The Crowded Table; The Brave and Beautiful Choice to Mother Many is available on Amazon. Monica Perry’s chapter is included is #19 of the 52.