Why the focus on mothers and not parents, which would then include fathers as well?

While we would never wish to belittle or downplay the importance of a father’s role in raising his children, we feel that the question regarding a mother’s role in our modern society is so fundamental and so important that it is enough of a focus for us! We seek to honor the clear differences between the roles mothers and fathers play in raising children and our work mainly concerns the former. This is in part because of our interest in that very special relationship a mother has with her child which is based on the etheric link between them during pregnancy and in the first years of life. This is the Madonna’s Cloak and it is this link which metamorphosis in the latter stages of childhood which we wish to understand, honor and emphasize in our work. We hope that many men as well as women who choose not to have children will support our work.

Are you a Christian or Catholic group?

The Madonna Cloak Project recognizes that human beings are spiritual beings and that a materialistic understanding of motherhood, childhood and the development of the human being has grave limitations. Rudolf Steiner’s work tells us that the Christ Being has a central role in the unfolding evolution of the human being, regardless of religious orientation. As Steiner’s work is the core foundation of the Madonna Cloak Project, a relationship to the Christ will be a part of our work. However, the Madonna Cloak Project is not a religious organization per se and we hope that people of many faiths will support and enrich our work. Some people think we are Catholic because of our relationship to Mary, the Madonna, the Mother of Jesus. However, again, we hope that many people, regardless of their faith background, will be able to have a positive relationship to the spiritual being who we feel stands behind the very special relationship between mother and child and that this has little or nothing to do with religious doctrine.

Do I have to be an anthroposophist to join the Madonna Cloak Project?

Absolutely not! But you need to have good will toward anthroposophy and its use as a spiritual tool, useful in understanding the development of the human being. We hope that people from many philosophical, spiritual, cultural and political backgrounds will find the work of the Madonna Cloak Project to be inspiring and will contribute their knowledge and experience. However, we are not interested in engaging with those people who have an ax to grind about Waldorf education, anthroposophy or Rudolf Steiner and respectfully ask those folks to go elsewhere! The assumption in our work and our membership procedure (which we have not developed yet - Summer 2009) is that people will join us or support us who are comfortable with our Mission Statement and with the fundamental basis of the Madonna Cloak Project.