Pilgrims of Hope, Episode 9: Walking with Deacons of Hope

Conversations about Finding and Sharing Hope: A video series for the Jubilee Year 2025

Hosted by Fr. Ron Will

Welcome to episode nine in this series, Traveling with Pilgrims of Hope. Pope Francis declared 2025 a jubilee year with the theme, the Year of Hope. This series introduces us to individuals who have experienced hope and who are striving to bring hope to others.

Today we talk with Deacon Kevin Cummings from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. He and a fellow deacon founded the organization Deacons of Hope, a parish-based, nonprofit, pro-life ministry for permanent deacons. As a pro-life ministry, Deacons of Hope serves not only the unborn, but also people who are poor, imprisoned, marginalized, oppressed, sick or aged regardless of sex, race, nationality or creed.

One of the group’s ministry sites is St. Mary’s Home for Mothers in Liberty, Missouri. St. Mary’s Home provides shelter for up to 19 homeless, pregnant women and their children along with ancillary services. Women can stay up to two years.

Following are highlights from the conversation between Fr. Ron and Deacon Kevin, edited for clarity. Watch the video for the full interview.

Fr. Ron Will: Thank you, Deacon Kevin, for taking time to visit with us today. I’d like you to begin by giving us an overview of your ministry. How did you get started in it, and why do you keep doing it?

Deacon Kevin Cummings: About five years ago, a friend, who was ordained a deacon with me, we talking and we asked each other, are we doing what we thought we’d be doing as an ordained minister? And both of us said, not really. We were doing all of our church duties and faculties, [but we talked about wanting to do more,] we spoke about wanting to help women. And the women we most wanted to help were those women who either were contemplating an abortion or were in a crisis pregnancy. When [these women] would go to pregnancy resource centers to seek help or counseling, they could help them with everything. They could help them with food. They could help them with bus tickets and and other things. But when [these women] said they were homeless, that’s when they fell through the cracks. The resource centers didn’t have anything for them. We decided right then and there, this is what we should be doing. We should make a residence available to women in crisis pregnancies where they can have hope, where they can choose to save their infant.

[When we opened St. Mary’s Home], the director told me that these women only need three things from us. Number one, they need to be connected. They need to be connected to a site like this because they have no network. They have no family life or anything like that. Number two, they have a purpose. They have to regain their purpose in life. What were they thinking of doing the night before they found out they were pregnant? What was their life dreams? And then finally, we have to give them hope. Those are the three things that everyone in this world needs.

[Deacon Kevin next explains the services St. Mary Home offers. Each woman has a private room “like the nicest bed and breakfast you’ve ever gone to.” Case managers assess their background and challenges to create a personalized plan addressing health, education, and psychosocial needs. The support team, including therapists, nurses, counselors, and staff, collaboratively supports the women and children in the residential program.]

Deacon Kevin Cummings: And each woman is assigned an angel, a trained advisor from our facility who act as a mentor or guide for the woman. These angels are mothers or grandmothers who have had their children. And some of them have had a difficult life too. They may have had an abortion. They may have had a daughter who did. And this time around, when they hear [about St. Mary Home] in the pews at churches or the respect life committees at churches, they want to do something. And this time around they can, they can do something. They can be a very big part of this.

Fr. Ron Will: These volunteers are trained by professionals, so the kind of words and the kind of activities they offer are really most helpful.

Deacon Kevin Cummings: Absolutely. They are trained by counseling and psychology specialists. So they are prepared to know what to say and not to overdo it. As I was telling you earlier, post-traumatic stress disorder is only one of the ailments that the women have. Many of them come from very, very difficult backgrounds at home and on the streets. They are very hardened by what they’ve experienced. The only thing that cuts through it at all times is love, love is everything.

We have about 300 to 400 volunteers [besides the angels]. They help us in the facility. They come to hold the babies while the moms are at an appointment or taking a class. They help the moms get to appointments or jobs or classes. The [volunteers] are extremely welcoming. Basically, they just let [the women] know, “Hey, you can do this. You can do this. Others have done it, and you can do it too.” Since last year, we’ve had over 35 infants born to our facility in Liberty. So we’re very proud of that.

What we do is we show them tangibly where hope lives, where they can go from here. We show them with not only our support, but the support of the volunteers and the support in every way to make this happen. We try to leave no window closed for them. In other words, we open all the windows, we let all of them in. And the bottom line is when they’re done, they are prepared to move on back into their community and succeed.

[After they have left us,] if they have a bad day or something goes wrong, they can always call on us. We are their family. We are the ones who will be there no matter what. And we’re there for them if they have a failure. And we, we, we enjoy that. We enjoy meeting up with them again, and them coming back to us. Some of them are still being treated on therapy that have been gone for a year or more.

Fr. Ron Will: How does this ministry relate to your ministry as an ordained deacon?

Deacon Kevin Cummings: It’s like when the apostles began the deaconate with St. Stephen, and they decided, well, we’re all busy evangelizing and preaching. We need someone to take care of the church purse, so to speak, and actually feed the widows and the orphans. Well, that’s who we’re seeing. Today’s widows are the mothers without a husband or home. And today’s orphans are the unborn.

We’re basically going to the widows and the orphans 2,000 years later and saying, you are not alone. You have people who love you, and people who say you are precious in the eyes of God. You are precious in our eyes. We are here to help you, and we’ll do all that we can.

All of the videos in this series can be found here: Traveling with Pilgrims of Hope

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[Fr. Ron Will, a Precious Blood priest and spiritual director, is a graduate of Catholic Theological Union and Creighton University’s School of Christian Spirituality. He has a special interest in helping form intentional disciples of Jesus, encouraging others to go spiritually deep-sea diving to explore a deeper relationship with God, and walking with people as they dive into the ocean of God’s mystery actually experiencing God rather than simply dipping one’s toe into the water.]

Photo Credit: ID 321463961 | Anchor © Yulia Ryabokon | Dreamstime.com

Music Credit: “We Are Marching” (Siyahamba). Performed by First Christian Church of Tacoma. Text: South African. Tune: South African. © 1984, Utryck, Walton Music Corporation, agent. Used with permission under onelicense.net, #A-725830

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