Mary Sumner 			August 9
Founder of the Mothers’ Union
Mary Heywood was born on the last day of 1828. She was educated at home and married George Sumner in 1848. After a year in Crawley they moved to the rectory at Alresford, Hampshire. They had three children and entered fully into village life. Her own happy family life was significant for her idea of a Mothers’ Union. The nineteenth century was an era of societies, and the Sumners began several organisations in Alresford for the improvement of society. In 1876 Mary gathered together young women from the village for weekly classes in the rectory. She was determined to gather women from different social backgrounds, many of whom were unaware of the significance of baptism and were experiencing difficulties in teaching their children the Christian faith. Those attending the first meeting were invited to sign a card outlining a commitment to Christian parenthood.
Within the next ten years, branches of the Mothers’ Union were springing up throughout the Winchester Diocese. Prayer cards were written, and teaching within the groups stressed the importance of a Christian family background. 
Family life is the greatest institution in the world for the formation of character, and out of it the nation grows. Religion is the indispensable foundation of family life, and must be taught by the parents. 
In 1885 George Sumner was appointed archdeacon of Winchester (and in 1888 bishop of Guildford within the Diocese of Winchester), and he and Mary moved to Winchester. In the same year, they attended the Church Congress at Portsmouth. At a women’s meeting during the congress, Bishop Ernest Wilberforce suddenly asked Mary Sumner to talk about her work at Alresford. It was unusual for a woman to speak publicly, but Mary overcame her nervousness, and her speech made a great impact.
The Mothers’ Union now spread rapidly, and membership quickly grew. Within only a few years there were branches in most dioceses in England. Queen Victoria became the first royal patron. Soon the society had appointed its first overseas workers and built and equipped a central home in London, from which the organisation was administered and guided. During her lifetime, Mary Sumner saw the Mothers’ Union grow into a world-wide organisation, working in sixty-eight home dioceses and one hundred and thirty-eight dioceses overseas, with a membership of over four hundred thousand. 
Mary spent the years after 1885 in a constant round of speaking engagements and voluminous correspondence. Her own strong faith underlay her commitment to the cause of women and family life. Although she was a product of her age in her attitudes to the nation, and her comfortable life as a bishop’s wife after 1888 protected her from the harsh side of Victorian life, the Mothers’ Union could not have come into existence without her vision and drive. She finally gave up her active involvement in the organisation in 1916 at the age of 88. She died on 9 August 1921. 
It was in 1886, only one year after the Mothers’ Union had become organised on a diocesan basis in Winchester, England, that the Mothers’ Union in New Zealand began in the parish of Avonside, Christchurch. The vicar, Canon W. Pascoe, encouraged his wife to call a meeting of women to form a branch, the first formed outside England. By 1893 the Mothers’ Union was firmly established in New Zealand.
For further reading:
Joyce Coombs, George and Mary Sumner, their Life and Times, London, The Sumner Press, 1965.
For Liturgical Use
Mary Sumner was born in 1828, and in 1876 founded the Mothers’ Union in the parish of Alresford. She was inspired by a great vision concerning the Christian responsibilities of motherhood. Mary gathered together women, many young and inexperienced and from different social backgrounds, for weekly classes. During her lifetime Mary Sumner saw the organisation spread throughout Great Britain and overseas and become an important part of the Anglican Communion. She died in 1921.
Sentence
There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you: there is no rock like our God.	
				1 Samuel 2:2
Collects
Everloving God,
your Son Jesus Christ knew the shelter of a mother’s love
and the protection of a mother’s prayer;
we thank you for Mary Sumner
and the Mothers’ Union she founded;
by your Spirit may your church continue
to make strong the homes and families of this land;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Praise to you, God of the ever-changing family,
for the Mothers’ Union
and for Mary its founder;
Praise to you that women who serve the church
have come to a real share in its leadership;
praise to you for all they have achieved,
here and all over the world.
Psalms	119:9-16	123
Readings
Proverbs 24:3-4		Foundations for a home
Ephesians 5:25-6:4		Christian family life
Luke 11:9-13		Good gifts to children
Post Communion Sentence
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.	1 Peter 2:3