July 23, 2025 // Diocese

Fidelis ‘Is an Anchor in My Life’

Clare Hildebrandt

Reporter

Recently, I was enjoying lunch at a picnic when an older gentleman asked about my relation to the host family. “Now, you must be a friend of the youngsters here,” he said. “Oh no,” I responded, “I’m a friend of Mrs. Doe.” A perplexed look crossed his face. He was clearly trying to square the fact that a woman in her 20s was friends with one at least 20 years her senior.

“How did you two meet?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“A church group called Fidelis,” I said. “We were both mentors in the club.”

This friendship, one in which I can seek the advice and spiritual guidance of a woman more experienced than myself, illustrates the goal of Fidelis as a whole. It aims to foster a multi-generational sisterhood of women seeking to grow closer to the Lord.

Fidelis, an organization that invites girls in grades six through 12 to participate in weekly prayer and fellowship, operates through chapters in parishes throughout the country. The group seeks to form girls in virtue through greater knowledge of the Church’s dogma and doctrine. Most chapters meet weekly and host girls and women for dinner, small groups, and games.

Earlier this summer, the girls and mentors of the Fidelis chapter at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton packed their bags
to spend five days at Camp Indicoso, a campsite in southern Indiana that hosts various church groups for summer camps.

Put on by the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Fidelis mentors, the summer camp, which took place in late June, included a mix of outdoor activities, prayer, and reflection time.

The clergy from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton – Father Terry Coonan, Father Jake Schneider, and Deacon Sam Martinez – also attended to take part in the fun and games with the girls.

Father Coonan geared up for the giant swing, a contraption that raises you up high into the air just to be abruptly released and sent flying down in a harness.

Father Schneider learned some ballet moves from a group of Fidelis girls. He quickly picked up on pirouettes and plies, and Deacon Martinez joined the group for crafts with colored string.

The presence of the spiritual leaders brought joy to the summer camp, to the point of inviting the priests to their dance party.

“I’ve really never taken part in a dance party before,” Father Coonan said in his homily at Mass. “When guys bond, we don’t typically have dance parties. But you all can so easily connect by dancing together. It is a really wonderful thing,” he said. 

Deacon Martinez, who was ordained a transitional deacon in May, took delight in being a spiritual father to the group. 

“Not every person grows up in a stable household or has a stable fatherly relationship,” Deacon Martinez said. “I love being able to accompany them and get to know the girls.”

Both spiritual fatherhood and spiritual motherhood became themes during the camp, with the mentors joining the girls for most activities.

I joined the girls during outdoor games. At one point, we learned some popular line dances, which ended with giggles and some people tripping over their own feet.

After spending the past year as a mentor in the group, I’ve found the beauty of Fidelis to be these moments of authentic connection – and so have a wide variety of women.

‘Now You Have This Memory Together’

“It was cool to be with a big group of girls, not just a few,” said Andrea Landrigan, a young adult Fidelis mentor and elementary school teacher. “A lot of these girls have never been away from home, and now you have this memory together of camp. You really start to connect.”

Landrigan said she enjoyed the outdoor physical activities, including the high-ropes course and swimming. She also said it was nice to see the young girls have time away from their phones and to be able to make real connections with their peers.

Making good friends is difficult for many middle and high school girls. Fidelis offers an environment of shared values, which often makes the process a bit easier, Landrigan said.

“[At Fidelis, and the Fidelis summer camp,] we have girls who have the same foundation of faith, so they already have something in common, which makes it a lot easier to make friends.”

‘Help Everyone Grow in Faith and Friendship’

Felicity Fernandes and Juliana Parra, who have been members of Fidelis for seven years and are both recent high school graduates, agree with Landrigan. They attribute much growth in both their relationships with God and friends to the group.

“I mean, without Fidelis I wouldn’t be here in my faith right now,” Parra said. “I started in the group when I was at an angry point in my life. I didn’t want to be a part of it and I was not strong in my faith at all. Really, I had no relationship with Jesus, basically no friends, and felt super isolated. And I feel like throughout those seven years, all of that has completely changed. This is all thanks to Fidelis,” she explained.

Parra continued: “Fidelis is a completely different environment. … I had never been in a place where you feel peer pressured to be kind to others. The norm is to be kind and loving to everyone around you and help everyone grow in their faith and in friendship,” she said.

Fernandes added: “Fidelis is a constant. … When I fall or struggle, I know I have an anchor that will always be there to help me get back up and get back into my faith.”

Fernandes also particularly enjoyed the presence of the clergy at camp, saying, “It was just so powerful.”

“After I got home from the camp, I went to Mass and saw Deacon Sam,” Fernandes continued. “We talked afterwards about the retreat and about spiritual fatherhood and motherhood, and he was telling me about how he sees his role as a spiritual father in the Church. It was just so cool.”

‘The Sisterhood’

Michele Fox, one of the mentors at St. Elizabeth’s chapter of Fidelis, who is a mother and grandmother, also enjoyed the presence of the priests at the camp, particularly when they would celebrate Mass.

“The Mass in the tiny chapel was my favorite part,” Fox said. “We all squeezed into this tiny chapel, and in a lot of ways, it felt like going to Mass with your family. The mentors and the girls were all there along with the priests. It was so great to be there with the sisterhood and hear the girls sing and read at Mass,” she said.

“I hope this will help the girls in their lives in the future,” Fox added. “I hope this will help them be active parishioners someday and connect with their Catholic base. If they run into something difficult in life, they know we are here for them. They know we mentors are there to support them.”

Clare Hildebrandt is a staff writer for Today’s Catholic.