The inauguration will begin with the visit and blessing of the Casa Cuna by the Dominican bishop of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Mons. Xabier Gómez, who will then preside the parish mass with baptisms, confirmations and first communions of several families accompanied by the association.
The Casa Cuna Llar Magdalena Bonamich is the result of the collaboration between the Sant Miquel Arcángel parish and the Hogar de María association. The former parish house, which had ceased its activity in 2024, comes back to life welcoming pregnant women or women with small babies in vulnerable situations.
“All the mothers of the baptized turn these days to flowers, cakes... On Sunday the bishop will bless because Hogar de María begins a new stage with the inauguration of the first Casa Cuna,” explains its vice-president, Maite Oriol.
“The parish priest has made it possible for us to stay, and there is capacity for several mothers to achieve autonomy in life, with their babies. The Casa Cuna is a two-story tower with a garden, a workshop and an orchard, where 5 or 6 mothers stay with their babies, accompanied by a coordinator who lives and sleeps there”.
“It's very cheerful, very pretty, and it's been underway since before summer. Now I'm painting a colorful wall. It's a minute away from the parish,” he adds.
Lay support, hand in hand with the parishes
Hogar de María is an association born from the impulse of lay people who, convinced that every life is a gift from God, accompany and support pregnant women in vulnerable situations. Hand in hand with different parishes and under the protection of the Virgin Mary, it offers a home and a community where every mother and every baby are welcomed with faith, hope and love.
Since 2014, it has served more than 2,000 families thanks to the work of a network of volunteers - psychologists, social workers, counselors and educators - in more than 25 parish headquarters throughout Spain.
Its motto is clear: to defend and welcome the life and dignity of each woman and her child. In each of their homes and projects, they offer psychological support, social counseling and job orientation, as well as spaces for training and spiritual accompaniment. The new home in Molins de Rei integrates all this into a daily coexistence that strengthens the autonomy and hope of the mothers.
Motherhood and evangelization
“Our project is based on two pillars, motherhood and evangelization,” explains Maite Oriol. “In fact, we have 26 sites, five in Madrid, one in San Sebastian, one in Poland, and the rest in Catalonia, in Barcelona and the surrounding area. At each site, groups of a maximum of 30 mothers are formed. The closeness and the bond that is generated among them, and with us, make up a real family”.
Parish priests, the most enthusiastic
“We are in the parishes, which are places that are not used in the morning, and so we are close to the pastor, it is very important that the pastor can be close to them,” says Maite.
“The parish priests are the most enthusiastic about the project, they create wonderful dynamics, with a lot of joy. It is the reality of the mothers who were thinking of having an abortion and have not had an abortion, and they are successful and happy lives even though they have nothing.”.
The parish creates dynamics of help, volunteering, gathering, presence, witnessing, faith, and numerous baptisms.
2024: care for more than 500 mothers
The Casa Cuna is managed by an interdisciplinary team and supported by donations. In 2024, Hogar de María cared for more than 500 mothers and delivered about 380 babies. But beyond the numbers, it is an example of how the Church can give a concrete response to social and spiritual challenges.
The vice-president of Hogar de María, Maite Oriol, explains that the initiative is intended to serve as a replicable model for other parishes and dioceses that wish to become involved in the defense of life from the point of view of closeness and personal accompaniment.
“We have to make a distinction between these cribs and what is normal, which is, once a week, on Tuesdays, the mothers go to the parishes, they are together, they tell each other their problems, etc., and then they go home. Each one has her room, her partner, her mother... They always have problems looking for lodging, but we cannot give it to all of them, we do not have room for so many mothers, more than three hundred”.
Living in the Casa Cuna, and the activity in the parish
But in the Casa Cuna, Oriol continues, “it's nice, these mothers learn to live as a family, and they sleep there. They take care of each other much more like a family, and they help each other, cook, etc. And then these mothers go to the Hogar de María activity in the parish, to which another 20 or 30 mothers also go, which is run by the same coordinator. And there is another group of mothers, called champions, between 15 and 21 years of age, who are treated a little separately, because they are very adolescent, very young, they encourage each other.
The project is entrusted to the Virgin Mary, and its walls exude the same spirit of trust and dedication that characterizes all the work of the association. In the words of one of its volunteers, “Hogar de María not only welcomes a mother and her child: it welcomes God who comes with them”.
Baptisms and love: hope made home
At a time when so many women face motherhood in solitude, this Casa Cuna becomes a luminous sign of mercy and Christian hope, reminding us that every life deserves a dignified and loving beginning, they say.
In his recent message for the World Day of the Poor 2025, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that “the gravest poverty is not knowing God” and that the poor “are not a distraction for the Church, but the most beloved brothers and sisters”. Thus, this house is also a concrete response: in it hope takes root, faith is incarnated and life regains the ground to flourish.
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