How Aurora Pomales Helps Women Embrace their Singlehood: Aurora Pomales GIVEN ’24 Alumna
“An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit.”
– 1 Corinthians 7: 34
Oftentimes, men and women can struggle with their stage of life and understanding their place in the Church. GIVEN ’24 alumna Aurora Pomales understands this internal dilemma when it comes to singlehood. She shares, “Being a single woman myself and not feeling welcome in the Church motivated me to create this ministry.” Through this ache, the Holy Spirit inspired Aurora to create the Blessed Emilina Ministry, a community for single Catholic women while attending the GIVEN 2024 Forum.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Aurora shares that she is a cradle Catholic from a devout Catholic Puerto Rican family and went through twelve years in the Catholic education system. However, Aurora admits that she fell away from her faith in her early twenties. Later, tragedy struck in 2020, when her late grandmother passed away. Aurora remembers her grandmother as a great role model of the faith to her, and her death rekindled Aurora’s desire to return to the Church.
A pivotal moment during this time of grief came when she felt that she had to make a decision to follow her grandmother’s example or continue a romantic relationship that was not supportive of her faith. In an interview for CatholicPhilly.Com, Aurora explained:
“I thought that was going to be my forever relationship,” she said. “But I felt pulled in two directions: stay in this relationship that’s pulling me away from the Lord, or leave it and walk with Jesus.”
Although Aurora knew she made the right decision to leave the relationship, she felt uncertain of place in the Church as a single woman. She continues, “While I was happy to be back in the Church, it was very lonely.” This tug at Aurora’s heart led to the start of a new idea.
Aurora knew that she planned to apply to the 2024 GIVEN Forum and already start to think of her Action Plan:
“My first desire for my action plan was to do something to support fallen-away Catholics. However, as I was trying to finalize my action plan, the Lord pulled me in a totally different direction and I started to think about the early beginnings for a ministry for single Catholic women.”
Launched in February 2025, The Blessed Emilina Ministry is named after St. Emilina, the patron saint of single lay women. The Blessed Emilina Ministry offers monthly events for the group such as a local pilgrimage to the Miraculous Medal Shrine in Philadelphia, a mass and brunch to celebrate the feast day of St. Emilina, and a “Friendsgiving” picnic and rosary.
With her new job with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as a Parish Missionary, Aurora is also able to focus on bringing fallen-away Catholics back to the Church. Aurora says:
“I have just started a new position as a Parish Missionary with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia! Missionary work has been on my heart for years, and I was blessed to begin that work with my ministry Blessed Emilina thanks to GIVEN. While I still do work with Blessed Emilina, I am now fully devoted to serving the Church. My mission is to bring fallen away Catholics back to the Church – which was my original idea for my GIVEN action plan!”
Although Blessed Emilia is a young ministry, Aurora has already seen fruits from this experience. Aurora explains, “Women will often tell me that they wish this group was available when they were younger. Blessed Emilina doesn’t have an age limit and many of our participants are women in their 40s and 50s who have never been married.” If you are a single lay Catholic woman in the Philadelphia area, visit the Blessed Emilina website for more details. St. Emilina, pray for us!