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Your Catholic Neighbor: Betsy Rodiles
Joyce Coronel/CATHOLIC SUN
Betsy Rodiles, a Corpus Christi parishioner, helped organize the Phoenix chapter of Pure Fashion for teenage girls.
Changing the culture, one outfit at a time
Editor’s note: Just weeks after this interview, Betsy Rodiles passed away. Please follow this link to read a reflection from Joyce Coronel.
By Joyce Coronel, The Catholic Sun
March 20, 2008
When Betsy Rodiles attended a fundraiser for 1st Way Pregnancy Center a couple of years ago, she didn’t know her life was about to take on a whole new dimension.
“The minute I walked in the door, I was so comfortable there and I really felt I was going to continue to volunteer there,” she said. “It was an opportunity to work with these young girls and help them find the right direction.”
The Corpus Christi parishioner graduated from Arizona State University in 1983 after completing a degree in health science education, but had spent 20 years working for an advertising agency. As a volunteer counselor at 1st Way, Rodiles talks to women who are pregnant or who think they are pregnant and helps them with resources, trying to solve whatever situation they’re faced with so they can continue their pregnancy.
She vividly recalled a young woman who came to the clinic for one of the free layettes given to clients. “She was a 14-year-old girl who came in with her newborn. At the time, my daughter was 14. I’m sitting there looking at this young child with a baby face, holding her newborn and thinking about the life she has in front of her versus the life my daughter has in front of her,” she said. “That client touched me more than anyone.”
Rodiles’ daughter sometimes accompanies her to the clinic and was inspired to start her own ministry, the “God’s Girls” newsletter that she publishes each month. It was that publication that led Rodiles to discover a national organization called Pure Fashion. She and four other mothers decided to found a Phoenix chapter.
The organization, backed by Regnum Christi, a lay ecclesial movement affiliated with the Legionaries of Christ, is at the forefront of the modesty movement in women’s fashion. With catchy slogans like “pretty, not provocative,” “changing the culture, one outfit at a time,” and “values and virtue are always in vogue,” Pure Fashion seeks to enhance young women’s self-confidence through a process of character formation.
“The modesty movement is sweeping the country,” Rodiles said. “We’ve hit rock bottom in terms of the way girls are dressing now and we’ve got nowhere to go but up.”
With 30 girls enrolled in the program, including her own daughter, the group meets monthly and focuses on helping young women develop into confident, poised young ladies who are leaders in their communities and schools. A Lenten retreat at the Mount Claret Retreat Center dealt with the fact that how girls present themselves has quite an impact on boys.
Rodiles says that with presentations on etiquette and public speaking — as well as hair, makeup and modest clothing — the girls have fun as well as learn to think about the choices they make, the clothing they buy and the way in which they present themselves to others.
The etiquette program featured a mother-daughter tea at the Ritz-Carlton. The highlight of the group’s program culminates with a fashion show on April 20 starring the girls themselves with clothing donated by Dillard’s.
Pure Fashion’s Web site, PureFashion.com, is an attractive presentation of the guiding philosophy and objectives of the group and girls can sign on and apply for membership in the group. There is an application fee to cover expenses like the etiquette training and retreat, but Rodiles said, “If somebody is uncertain about being able to come up with the fee, we wouldn’t turn them away.”
How does your faith affect your work?
At 1st Way, we pray before the doors open every morning. With each girl that we counsel, we try to plant a seed about what role God can play in their life. Some of them are already spiritual, but a lot of them are not. So introducing them to prayer and attending church, especially with the decisions they’re faced with. By us encouraging them to turn to prayer, we know that will give them strength down the road.
What’s your favorite quote?
“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.” My dad says it all the time and his mother always said it, too. That sums the day up for me in the morning.
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