The Latin meaning of the name of June is “young”. There is also the theory that June was named after the Roman goddess Juno known as the goddess of marriage. This could be why so many weddings take place in the month of June!

June can be known as a new beginning in so many ways. May our country and the world embrace this opportunity to have a new beginning. May the pain of these exquisite times turn into a purpose of good for now and forever.

As for the St. Gianna Center, June is the beginning of a journey for 2 new intern practitioners. This is very exciting. These 2 young women are embarking on an arduous journey. They attended an 8-day total immersion course from May 14th-21st, 2020.  There were many handicaps involved for them and yet they willingly embraced all of them. Due to the Coronavirus, we were not able to confirm our ability to conduct the class until early May. Even so, they were willing to make the necessary arrangements to attend. Our interns can usually have the required textbooks a month before the class begins. These 2 women received their textbooks on the first day of class!

Since our churches were closed, our Center was not able to embrace the generosity of Fr. Kovanis and his beautiful facility at Prince of Peace Catholic Church. Past classes were held at the Center of Prince of Peace and there was no financial charge to us. The Parishioners of Prince of Peace would bring us the most delicious homemade meals which saved St. Gianna Center and the interns that expense not to mention feeding our bodies and our souls!

These education classes usually help the St. Gianna Center to make a little money. This class, due to the circumstances, became a financial loss for us.

Both women, one from Texas and one from Florida, absorbed tremendous amounts of knowledge and handily passed their midterm and final exams! Now they are in a 6-month student practicum. They have assignments to complete and they will have to teach at least 6 clients under my direct supervision before we come together again for Education Phase II (EP II) which we hope to conduct in November. We also hope to be able to conduct them at Prince of Peace. This will be a 6-day total immersion in which they will be taught the advance case management component of becoming a Creighton Model practitioner. They will have to pass a visual and theoretical final exam. Following EP II, they will have more assignments and responsibilities to satisfy.

Once they have 12 new clients, I will go to their location to conduct an onsite visit. During that visit, they do an introductory session and a followup, with an audience, and I go through the files for their every client. When this component is satisfied, they are required to have a total of 18 clients to take the final exam. This exam is a 6-hour proctored national exam. When they successfully complete this exam, they are considered graduates of the St. Gianna Center and they have earned the title of practitioner! I am sure that you agree that this is quite a feat! Add to that the fact that our interns pay a tuition to have the ability to do this work! This is why we can offer such quality teaching and teachers of the Creighton Model. Our clients deserve this quality. Please pray for these new interns. Pray, too, for potential future Interns.

We have many inquiries about becoming Interns with our Center. Unfortunately, so many who are interested are unable to pay the tuition. We would love to offer them a scholarship, but are not in the financial position to do so. If you are someone who could donate toward a tuition scholarship, we would be more than grateful, as would be the intern. The world would be blessed with more practitioners who would teach more couples/women this information about the blessing of fertility and fertility care! Your generosity would become an existential blessing!

Thank you for all that you do to support us and our work. You remain an important part of our prayers! Be safe and take good care.