ATLANTA—The speaker for the November Magnificat meal will be Diane Bates, of Grapevine, Texas, who will relate how she has been led by God’s “lesson plans” from an intense career in research chemistry to a dependence on daily grace for the challenges of serving her family and in ministry.

The Magnificat meal will be held on Saturday, Nov. 11, at Holy Cross Church, 3773 Chamblee Tucker Road, Atlanta, from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. All women are invited to attend and to come with friends or on their own to enjoy this breakfast and time of shared faith. Magnificat is an international Catholic women’s ministry. The Atlanta chapter celebrated 25 years of ministry this May.

Diane Bates

Diane Bates is the wife of Deacon Tom Bates and the mother of three children. She tells the tender love story of how, through the intercession of Our Lady, God changes her through several lesson plans, especially when she learns that her youngest son is autistic. These lessons lead her from a successful 17-year career in chemistry research, where she holds a Ph.D., to focusing on her family and the Lord. She is guided away from a life driven by pressure and being in control and into a walk of faith. She will speak of how, in her life, difficult and painful events were, in retrospect, passages where the Lord changed her and her family for the good.

Bates was a founding member of the Magnificat chapter in Grapevine, Texas, and is now assistant coordinator for the Magnificat Central Service Team that oversees the ministry’s 87 chapters worldwide. She has also served as a diocesan leader in Schoenstatt, a Marian apostolic movement in the Catholic Church. Her testimony has aired on EWTN radio and Women of Grace television and radio. It is included in the book, “Magnificat Proclaims.”

Hear how God transformed Bates with each lesson plan and continues to transform her into his new creation.

In addition to the testimony of the guest speaker, the Magnificat meal includes a catered breakfast, praise and worship led by the Magnificat music ministry, and intercessory prayer. It is a welcoming place with a hostess at each table and open seating. The sacrament of reconciliation and the opportunity for individual prayer are available afterward.

Reservations are $15 and are made in advance. To register, please send your name, address, parish, if applicable, contact information and a check made payable to Magnificat Joyful Visitation to Debbie DuPont, 315 Rose Court, SW, Lilburn, GA 30047. Reservations must be postmarked by Nov. 5. No tickets will be returned. Check-in will be at the door for those with reservations only.

The doors open early and guests are encouraged to arrive by 9 a.m. Holy Cross Church is located less than a mile from the Chamblee Tucker Road exit on Interstate 285.

Priests and religious are invited to attend free of charge, but reservations are requested to plan for the meal. Since the morning is designed to speak to the hearts of women free of distractions, it is respectfully requested that young children not be in attendance.