Hello, my name is Meritt Petrone. For the past five years, I have dedicated my life as a missionary to serving the Kingdom of God and His Church through providing spiritual direction and spiritual formation to women throughout the world. Roots and Wings Ministry was founded to help women to be rooted and grounded in the Word of God and give their empowered and courageous "yes" to God's invitations in their life. 

Spiritual direction is a tradition rooted in the Catholic Church and now spreading in popularity to other Christian faith traditions. It is a type of spiritual accompaniment where one is journeyed with on their way to intimacy with Christ and the pursuit of holiness. Typically a spiritual director meets with a person once and month and together they, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, notice how God is working in their life, inviting them to new layers of healing and change, and how He is asking them to respond through service and mission. 

Roots and Wings now provides spiritual direction and formation for over 40 women on a monthly basis from all walks of life. 35 of those women are from various states coast to coast, the others come from places like Norway, Australia, and British Columbia! Some women are discerning religious or consecrated life in the Church, some are busy mom's running businesses, some are missionaries in their parishes and communities, some are grandmothers still giving their "yes" and best to Christ in their later years - all are experiencing the transforming love of Christ. 

As a missionary and consecrated member of the Church, I am dedicated to continuing to serve God's Kingdom as a spiritual director full-time. My daily prayer life of praying the Liturgy of the Hours, participating in Holy Mass, mental prayer, spiritual reading and ongoing formation provides the prayerful support that is given to each woman's heart.

However, many of the women cannot make a donation due to strained finances. I never turn someone away for the inability to donate. 

Your monthly gift of $40-$100 will provide spiritual direction and prayer accompaniment for a precious soul in need and also provides for the physical needs of this missionary! Monthly benefactors are in great need as I am unable to take on other work to support this ministry myself due to a health and housing crisis which is described below in the original help request of this campaign which you may read if you are interested. 

You can learn more about the ministry God has given me to steward at www.rootsandwingsministry.org I am always happen to answer specific questions you may have.

May God bless and keep you! 

Thank you for considering empowering my "yes" to God!

Peace and good, 

Meritt

The background to my financial struggles:

My severe trials began in 2020, when my health drastically began to fail while working in my Parish office. Shortly after getting this job that I loved, my health began to drastically decline. It was discovered that there were three types of toxic mold in the Parish office and due to a chronic illness, that was at the time undiagnosed, my body continued to fail. This led to me losing my job because I was unable to return to the office. Since then, I have been without a salary. I was left too sick to go out and get another job.

I have been diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) which is a debilitating illness that is often brought on by prolonged exposure to mold. MCAS affects every system of the body. The symptoms include migraines, hives, rashes, digestion problems, breathing issues, joint pain, anaphylaxis, and much more. I now have to work from home because my body is in such a constant state of flair (a flair set off by the mold) that people's perfumes, laundry detergent, cleaners, etc can all cause me to experience anaphylactic shock. 

Despite the obstacles of losing my job, the diagnosis, and of the main area I have worked very hard to build a ministry of offering online spiritual direction, retreats, and Rule of Life creating which provides some income through donation but nowhere near pays my monthly bills. 

My health has improved somewhat, but I still live in a rental house that sadly has serious mold issues and a toxic heating oil spill which happened in 2024, both of which slow down my progress. I am unable to move due to finances. 

I have simple dreams in life: To live in a home that is safe and clean so that I can continue to heal and serve God, the Church, and His beautiful children. 

In order to help this dream happen, I need freedom from the debt that has incurred over the past 5 years while I have been without sufficient and consistent pay. This debt is a mixture of tuition from my Spiritual Direction training certification, medical debt (the largest chunk), ministry expenses, and personal expenses. I am not worthy of this financial freedom but I do know what a difference it would make. Without this debt, my life would change in monumental ways. I would be able to move to a safe home sooner and therefore, my health would begin to improve. An increase in health would mean an increase in ability to serve. I would be able to offer more services at low cost or free to more people in need. I would be able to pay more of my bills because my donations would not all go to debt. I would be alleviated from the daily weight and stress of carrying debt and from the constant battling of serious symptoms. It would mean freedom in so many ways. I am happy to answer any specific questions. 

All I long for is the means to continue serving the Lord. I will not stop even if nothing changes, I have given the Lord my forever "Yes!" But it would be so wonderful to serve from a place of freedom and health. I cannot do this alone. It takes a village!