Beginning Experience® International Ministry was founded in Texas in 1974 by a vowed sister, Sr. Josephine Stewart, and her divorced friend, Ann Marie "Jo" Lamia after they recognized how healing Jo's experience had been of being heard and letting go of her pain over her unwanted divorce. Sr. Josephine was a teacher, counselor, and artist who was able to envision a better, more peaceful world for those who lost a marriage through divorce, at a time when divorced Catholics were ostracized and received little or no help from the Church. She later saw the benefit her program could also extend to the widowed and permanently separated. At our heart, we are a grief support ministry steeped in Catholic tradition and focused on those grieving the loss of a marriage, regardless of their faith background.
The Ministry's programs have always been offered by teams of peer ministers. The Ministry will also release in 2025 a version of one of our weekly programs to be used in dioceses, parishes, small groups, counseling centers, and potentially other organizations. Although we are small, our teams are located in eight U.S. states, New Zealand, Singapore, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. The teams offer a variety of programs, the original and core of which is "the Weekend," a retreat-like experience wherein peers accompany the newly grieving (or those newly addressing their grief) through listening, reflecting, and sharing. Tens of thousands of men and women have participated in our programs over the past 50 years, often coming back years later to say how it changed the trajectory of their life.
Beginning Experience® International Ministry currently (2025) has its office in San Antonio, Texas with just one part-time paid staff member. Our Board of Directors and committee members are from all over the U.S. and are all volunteers. The Ministry is preparing to pay a part-time executive director starting in the fall of 2025, an ideal position for a person looking for meaningful work that is not full time. The other volunteer co-executive director is currently in California, so remote work is already in our comfort zone. The Ministry office can be moved to the location of one of the executive directors.
