Our Lady of the Broken

Kevin Matthews visited Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Hope Mills, NC on December 13, 2025.

We share this story with you from Mother of the Eucharist Praesidium.

Recently, Pope Leo XIV blessed the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary known as “Broken Mary”, who

was brought to Good Shepherd Parish in Hope Mills, NC in December 2025 by the former Chicago

radio host and comedian, Kevin Matthews. While visiting the Vatican, the Pope granted Kevin an

audience, and after listening to Kevin’s trials and tribulations with the Blessed Virgin Mary, bestowed

on the title “Our Lady of the Broken”. The Pope said,” How many people- perhaps we ourselves- feel

like we are worthless or broken. It is as if their light has been hidden. Jesus, however, proclaims a

God who will never

throw us away, a Father who cares for our names and uniqueness.”

If you read Kevin’s books, “Broken Mary” and it’s follow-up, “Mary’s Roadie”, you will be renewed by

the testimony of another child of Mary being saved by God’s grace and her loving care. Miracles

abound throughout his continuing story. His story is our story, because we are all broken, but we are

loved by God, the main message shared by Kevin. Perhaps it would do us some good to take a

spiritual look at our own past and find the miracles there that led us to where we are today.

The visit by Broken Mary and Kevin to our parish was a miracle in itself. She came to us during the

Advent season of joy and expectation, and during the Jubilee Year of Hope- surely no coincidence

that the full title of Kevin’s first book is “Broken Mary: A Journey of Hope”. Broken Mary is making her

journey throughout the United States, as she once did through the streets of Chicago in a procession

of thousands of people looking for hope and peace.

Kevin shared with us his story of conversion and mission. If you read his books, you will believe that

in life, there really are no coincidences. My own connection to Kevin began back in 2021. I had

recently lost my job and I was scared. Within three months, the world locked down during the

pandemic and churches closed. I made my own little altar at home and spent my days in prayer

before my altar as my daughter attended school on the couch behind me. This propelled me into a

deeper conversion than I had ever experienced before.

Later, I was blessed with becoming the housekeeper at my parish. With my husband Mike, I decided

to leave behind my lucrative career and the corporate world for good. It was truly a blessing as God

stripped me and humbled me, and I loved my little work of dusting cobwebs and scrubbing toilets for

my brothers and sisters in Christ. One day, as I was mopping the floors, I saw a book on a table. It

was titled “Broken Mary”. As I have always loved all things Mary, I picked it up and took it home. After

reading Kevin’s story, I knew I HAD to meet him and see this statue! In many ways, his story was my

own. I found his website and entered a message to Keven and clicked “send”. I never heard back.

Then one day in 2024, three years later, I received a Facebook Messenger message from Kevin to

me: “Hello, Barbara. How may I help you?” I wondered how in the world that happened? I had not

used Facebook Messenger in many years, and I looked back through my messages, confirming that I

had never sent a message to him through Messenger. He had included his contact details and I

responded right away. When we connected, his first question was, “How did you find out about me?”

Our little praesidium Mother of the Eucharist could not afford the normal expenses to bring Kevin and

Broken Mary to us. We had never taken on a project this large. We could not rely on experience to

teach us. Only God’s grace, and his little miracles, would make it happen. And after waiting for years,

once we connected, it happened within a matter of months.

We hosted Kevin the night before our Advent retreat in our Youth Group room. We watched the movie

“Broken Mary” and ate wonderful food together. We are comfortable in calling Kevin our friend.

On the day of the retreat, it was a remarkable experience to bring certain people close to Broken

Mary, to touch her, to pray with her, to be silent with her for a few moments. As legionaries, we have

become close to so many parishioners. Through their trust in Mary and our humble service, so many

share with us their sorrows, fears and struggles. They share their brokenness. I brought many of

them one by one to Broken Mary. Some beheld her in awe, some smiled at with tear-filled eyes, and

others knelt in front of her and simply sobbed. Their healing had begun.

Our Blessed Mother wanted to meet us here at Good Shepherd. Every event and every encounter in

our lives are pieces of a puzzle and it is up to us to see them as opportunities to make a beautiful

tapestry. In this Body of Christ, we are all connected. Mary wants nothing more than to bring her Son

Jesus to us. As Seat of Wisdom, she wants to teach us that Jesus was not only present at his

Incarnation and Nativity; He is not only present in the Eucharist, and He will not only be present at His

Second Coming. He is present with us every moment of every day. Do not look for him elsewhere, as

the angels suggested at His Ascension. Look for him NOW, within yourself and within every soul you

meet. Care for them with the care Mary gave her Son.

It is no surprise to me that shortly after our encounter, Pope Leo IVX received Broken Mary, blessed

her and inaugurated to the world Our Lady of the Broken. The journey has just begun, and after

Kevin, and all of us, leave this world, her journey will continue. She offers us to her Son. She presents

to him our needs. “They have no wine.” Jesus will never deny his mother, because though we are all

broken, we are loved all the more by God. Let your journey be a journey of trust – a journey of hope.

As legionaries, we are on mission to share that hope with others and, as living copies of Mary, to lead

them to Jesus.