Marge Steinhage Fenelon is an award-winning author and journalist, internationally-known speaker, and Christian Life Coach who has written several books on Catholic spirituality and Marian devotion. Audiences love Marge’s authenticity, warmth, and unique ability to blend faith and life. They appreciate her way of putting complicated Catholic teachings into simple concepts that can be easily grasped and immediately applied to daily life. Her Marian devotion shines through in her presentations as she guides others into a deepening relationship with our Blessed Mother, Mary and her Son, our Lord Jesus. Marge always brings joy to her audiences and has presented to an array of audiences at a variety of events, including conferences, retreats, and workshops both in person and online.
About Marge
Marge is a recipient of the Egan Journalism Fellowship, which recognizes exceptional journalists with demonstrated excellence in reporting for Catholic media. She’s written for a variety of Catholic media including National Catholic Register, Our Sunday Visitor, CatholicMom, and Catholic Digest. She’s a frequent contributor to Relevant Radio’s “Morning Air Show” and is a popular guest on many other Catholic radio and television shows. Marge’s book, Our Lady, Undoer of Knots: A Living Novena was awarded an Association of Catholic Publishers Award for Excellence in Publishing and her book, My Queen, My Mother: A Marian Pilgrimage Across America was awarded a Catholic Press Association Award. Her most recent book is Defend Us in Battle: The Promises of St. Michael and the Heavenly Angels.
Marge’s background includes degrees and experience in Journalism and Public Relations. She’s written for a range of Catholic and secular publications, including Our Sunday Visitor, National Catholic Register, Catholic News Service, and Catholic Digest. She also holds a Certificate in Spiritual Mentoring from Cardinal Stritch University and a Certificate in Marian Studies from the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton. She’s an instructor for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Permanent Deacon Wives Program. In May 2014 she traveled with the Catholic Press Association to the Holy Land as part of Pope Francis’ pilgrimage there. In September 2014 she completed The Church Up Close, an intensive training course for foreign journalists in Rome conducted by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. She is the recipient of the 2015 Egan Fellowship and traveled to the Philippines to report on the ongoing relief and reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan. She was accepted to the 2015 Jordan Tourism Board Religious Blogger and Journalist Tour, through which she traveled Jordan, writing about the historical and religious sites there. In 2018, Marge and her husband attended the World Meeting of Educators in Costa Rica, representing the United States. She’s a life-long Catholic.
Her books include When’s God Gonna Show up? (Liguori, 2009); When’s God Gonna Call Me Back? (Liguori, 2010); Strengthening Your Family: A Catholic Approach to Holiness at Home (Our Sunday Visitor, 2011); Imitating Mary: Ten Marian Virtues for the Modern Mom (Ave Maria Press, 2013); and Our Lady, Undoer of Knots: A Living Novena (Ave Maria Press, 2015) Her most recent book is Forgiving Mother: A Marian Novena of Healing and Peace (Servant Books, 2017), Ten Promises of Jesus that Will Turn Your Sorrow into Joy, (Twenty-Third Publications, 2018) and My Queen, My Mother: A Marian Pilgrimage Across America (Ave Maria Press, 2019).
Her favorite topic is Mary, but Marge is well-versed in a wide range of other topics, too. Event organizers are most grateful for her uncanny ability to reach audiences where they’re at and then guide them to a greater understanding of, and love for, our Lord and his Mother in a joyful, everyday spirituality.
Watch Marge’s Presentation on Mary’s Places of Grace
Suggested Topics For Talks:
Transforming Hearts: The Meaning and Message of Mary’s Places of Grace Throughout the world, Mary calls to us from her places of grace – shrines, chapels, churches, and holy, historical sites dedicated to her. Some of them are far away, and some of them are very close, perhaps just around the corner. Using examples from her own Marian pilgrimage across America, Marge explains the importance of Mary’s places of grace and how they can transform hearts.
Turning Your Sorrow into Joy: Jesus’ Promise to You We all need a solid dose of hope in troubled times. Jesus – the Way, the Truth, and the Life – has given us that hope by promising that our sorrow will indeed be turned to joy. Learn how in this lively and uplifting presentation.
Real Forgiveness is R.A.R.E There are four steps to reaching real forgiveness. In this presentation, Marge outlines the steps and gives practical, heartfelt guidance for implementing them.
How to Really Love Your Mother Five practical and inspiring ways to get to know our Mother Mary and foster a greater love for her and her Son.
How Mary Heals the Broken Heart It’s hard to heal from the wounds inflicted on us by others. And to be honest, sometimes we don’t actually want to heal. Instead, we prefer to hide our pain and hope it goes away on its own. But it won’t go away on it’s own. Based on her own experiences of having been raised by a troubled mother, Marge explains how Mary heals our broken hearts and helps us to reach forgiveness, healing, and peace.
Waiting with Mary: A Mini-Pilgrimage to the First Advent Ever! We celebrate Advent every year, but have we ever celebrated with Mary? Come with Marge on a virtual pilgrimage to the Holy Land and meditate on the first Advent as our Lord’s Mother might have experienced it.
Three Things We Can Learn from the Little Flower St. Therese of Lisieux, known as the Little Flower, taught volumes by her Little Way of holiness. Because of this, she was made a Doctor of the Church. In this presentation, we focus on three things we can learn from her and how to implement them in our own paths to holiness.
When’s God Gonna Show Up?: Spotting the Divine in Daily Life (single presentation, mini- retreat, or full-day workshop) – Do you ever get those “tingle down the spine” moments when you know that there’s something going on that can’t be explained by human means? That’s God showing up in your life, waiting for you to notice him. Learn how to spot those moments and grow from them.
Strengthening Your Family: Building Stronger, Holier Families – Believe it or not, holiness is attainable, even in the midst of our crazy, secular-infested lives. Marge defines the five components necessary for strengthening our families and how to implement them to strengthen your family.
Spirituality of Womanhood: Living our Faith with Mary as Model – The Church asks us to imitate Mary, but how can we do that? She was perfect, and we’re so, well, imperfect. Imitation of Mary requires us first to study her life and then to incorporate the virtues she possessed into our own personalities and circumstances. In this talk, Marge will show the way.
Fortifying Your Marriage: Wisdom from the Church – Whether you’re newly married or nearing your 50th Anniversary, you’ll always need to work on fortifying your marriage. Turning to the Catechism, Scripture, the saints, and real-life examples, Marge offers insight and inspiration for revitalizing your marriage.
Complimentarity and Communion: The Marian and Petrine Principles of the Church – What exactly are the roles of women and men in the Church? Marge explores what the Church teaches about this in the documents of Vatican Council II and the Catechism.
Triple Header Women’s Retreat: Spirituality of Womanhood, Fortifying Your Marriage, and Strengthening Your Family come together to uplift and motivate in a way that gets right to the heart of our roles as Catholic women, wives, and mothers.
Just For Fun
Invite Marge to Speak at Your Parish or Event
Marge loves people, and loves to inspire them to dig further into their faith and love of God. She has spoken to small parish groups, organization events, and at conferences with thousands of attendees. She is always well-received and has a gift for touching the hearts of her audiences with warmth, substance, and a bit of humor.
Download Letter of Good Standing from Archbishop Jerome Listecki
Download Letter of Good Standing from Fr. Peter Berger
Testimonies
What you said today is exactly what I needed to hear. You have no idea what you’ve done for me. Thank you.
~Participant, Oklahoma Catholic Women’s Conference
I enjoyed the sharing and learning about something I never thought about or really knew existed. Over the years I have…wanted to have that experience but never knew what to do to achieve it. Thank you so much for showing me where to start. I believe that even though I’ve been waiting many years, my “when’s God gonna show up” experiences began today.
~When’s God Gonna Show Up? Workshop participant
I have long admired Marge as a gifted writer and storyteller.
~Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York
It is with great appreciation that we send this note to you for speaking at our [parish] events at St. Jerome’s Church. “When’s God Gonna Show Up?” and “She’s My Mother, and She’s Your Mother, Too!” touched so many in our parish! Thank you for touching our lives with yours. May God bless you always.
~Women’s Ministry Co-ordinator
[Marge] dedicates much time to the apostolate of the written and spoken word. I have no hesitation in recommending her as a Catholic speaker. She is orthodox, intelligent, articulate, humorous, and has lots of common sense.
~Fr. Cliff Ermatinger, author of St Augustine Answers 101 Questions on Prayer (Sophia Institute Press), St Therese of Lisieux – Spouse and Victim (Institute of Carmelite Studies), and other books on spirituality.
Marge, Thank you again. We are so glad you came to speak at our SAS mom’s retreat! I just keep hearing more stories every day about how the retreat changed our moms’ perspectives, journeys, and lives. God is good! Thank you for sharing your message, your time, and yourself with us.
Morgan Gist MacDonald, Spirituality Chair, St. Anne’s Society, Houston Texas