Johnnette Benkovic Williams gives her presentation on “Healing the Wounds of the Heart; Journey to Joy” at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola May 30, 2026.
Photo and article credit: ALEEN STANTON | Florida Catholic
PALM BEACH GARDENS | Women from throughout the Diocese of Palm Beach and beyond attended a day of renewal and restoration May 30 at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola, with EWTN “Women of Grace” television and radio personality Johnnette Benkovic Williams as the featured speaker.
The theme of the conference was “Healing the Wounds of the Heart: Journey to Joy.” There were opportunities for Eucharistic adoration, the sacrament of reconciliation and Mass, presided by Msgr. Tom Skindeleski with Father Gavin Badway and Father Patrick Akinjo concelebrating.
“This is life-changing and I just want to help other people get the same graces I did,” said Maxine Vipond, facilitator of the Women of Grace study program at the cathedral.
With warmth, humor and deep Catholic spirituality, Williams’ presentation encouraged women to enter more fully into the life of Jesus by attaining healing of their “wounds of the heart,” through “forgiveness” and “fiat,” saying yes to God, freeing them to receive God’s graces.
The talks were divided into four sections: Let the Healing Begin, The Wounded Heart, Rescue and Recovery, and Tools of Transformation. The topics began by first recognizing emotional and spiritual wounds, progressing with how to attain healing and transformation in Christ.
“A wound of the heart is an affliction of the heart due to a life circumstance or relationship that has caused us great interior pain and emotional suffering,” she said. “Left unattended, it has a lasting and deleterious effect,” adding that “the longer we ignore it, the worse it affects us.”
Explaining how wounds of the heart impact women, Williams said, “They distort the way we see the world and ourselves in the world. We act out of the wound. They distort — this is very important stuff — this is a serious wound of the heart.” She explained that, in order to receive healing, “These wounds need to be mitigated.” When they begin to heal, “we can see better in a less distorted fashion, and now we’re completely set free, which is always by God’s grace,” and “that grace has to be received.” When we “cooperate with his grace,” it is “actually like this, like the song, ‘I can see clearly now, the rain is gone …’”
Josephine Randazzo, a parishioner of St. Patrick in Palm Beach Gardens, said, “She is extremely inspirational by her own story and her own life, and she inspires other women by her enthusiasm, devotion and her closeness to God.”
A highlight of the conference was the testimony of Lorie Doyle, who belonged to a Women of Grace foundational study at St. Joan of Arc in Boca Raton. She told everyone, “I received a miracle. I am a diabetic, and for most of my adult life I was relying on an insulin pump.”
She explained that, while at her doctor’s office, “my doctor took a look at me and said, ‘This doesn’t happen. I am taking you off the insulin pump.’ I was shocked. He witnessed a miracle and so did I.”
“Women of Grace is a Catholic apostolate established in 2003 with a mission of transforming the world one woman at a time by affirming women in their dignity and vocation as daughters of God and in their gift of authentic femininity through ongoing spiritual formation,” according to its website.
Debra Razzo, Nora Clynes and Shelley Morelli belong to the St. John the Evangelist Women of Grace study program in Boca Raton. Morelli explained why she joined the sisterhood of Women of Grace: “We don’t have enough opportunity to bond with our sisters of the same faith, and you get to learn your faith with a group of women that are looking to do the same thing, to deepen our faith in our relationship with Christ.”
Attending the conference was a large group of women who belong to a Women of Grace study program at Belen Jesuit Prep in Miami, where their sons attend school. “This is very inspiring, and I love Johnnette’s energy,” said Jennifer Pena. Her daughter, Alina Pena, said, “Johnnette uses her wounds to give God greater glory,” adding that “Catholic youth are having a revival of their faith and young people are hungry for God.”
Maria Ferrer of the Women of Grace study program at St. David Parish in Davie, said, “it helped me get over things, and I joined with an open heart and a surrender to God.”
Photo and article credit: ALEEN STANTON | FCn
