Bringing the world to Malvern Retreat House
By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer
In the past two years, the Malvern Retreat House has had a record increase
in its retreat participants, who go there to pray and reflect from almost
every continent, making it a world-recognized destination for spiritual
healing.
In a large part, that increase is thanks to Anne McGlone, Malvern’s
director of marketing and public relations.
Since she began workingas a consultant at the Retreat House in 2005, more
than 75 new groups have gone on retreat at Malvern, and renowned speakers
have presented workshops, including radio-and-television host Johnnette
Benkovic of “Living His Life Abundantly,” Father Pablo Straub
of EWTN, and the popular television host Father Mitch Pacwa.
And from April 13 to April 15, the second annual Divine Mercy retreat
will be hosted by Father Straub. When McGlone started the retreat last
year, more than 200 retreatants attended.
The new energy at Malvern is both a reflection and the cause of her enthusiasm
for her work.
“Malvern is the culmination” said McGlone, a parishioner of
St. Francis of Assisi in Springfield who spent 35 years in the corporate
world, and 30 years as a behind-the-scenes consultant for major international
and American apostolates and ministries.
“Malvern is the crossroads where the corporate meets the apostolate
world …,” she said. “God has groomed me for this.”
For her, Malvern is more than a facility that houses retreats. “It’s
a place where lives change and we see miracles every day,” she said.
“That’s simply because we have had people praying on this
ground for the past 95 years.”
Even her arrival at Malvern could be considered a small miracle.
McGlone was working in a high managerial position for a Fortune 500 company
when her mother fell ill and needed hospice care. She wanted to quit work
and be with her mother, but her husband was facing corporate downsizing,
so she needed to help financially.
“I prayed that God would provide the financial means, and took a
leap of faith to care for my mother,” McGlone said. She left her
corporate life and founded a consulting firm.
Two weeks before her mother’s death, God answered her prayers. She
saw an advertisement in The Catholic Standard & Times for the position
of director of marketing at Malvern. She and her new consulting business
partner, Chuck Piola, approached James Fitzsimmons, Malvern’s president,
about doing consulting work for Malvern.
As a consultant, McGlone could work part-time and still care for her mother.
Then, within two weeks, God called her mother home.
“She died on her 86th birthday, Feb. 12th, 2005,” McGlone
said. “In fact, the day before she died, I was scheduled for
one of my first meetings at Malvern.
“I had been up all night with her and looked horrible,” McGlone
added. “She took my hand, and said, ‘You must go. The Lord
wants you there. ...” Her last words to us were, ‘Thy will
be done.’
“Can you imagine your mother leaving that stamp on your heart?”
McGlone said. “Her death alone brought many people back to the Church.”
She believes it was her mother’s daily prayer and recitation of
the rosary that brought her back to the faith at the age of 26, and that
it was her mother’s prayers that guided her to Malvern.
At the beginning of the year, Malvern asked McGlone to become a full-time
staff member. Now she has more time to help bring its gift to others.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo can be reached at npozo@adphila.org or
(215) 965-4614.