Your Story Services

03/23/2026

"When I think about what it means to “stand in a fire and pray out loud,” I think about Andres and Oscar. Like many LGBTQIA+ Catholics and their families who continue attending mass, they face rejection, loss, and painful consequences for living truthfully."

Read the whole reflection by Pilar Siman here: https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2026/03/10/standing-in-the-fire-and-praying-out-loud/

07/19/2025

Durante la Semana de Visibilidad No Binaria, celebramos la belleza y la dignidad de quienes viven fuera del binario. Tu existencia refleja lo sagrado. Fuiste creadx con amor y en plenitud. Aquí tienes un lugar.

07/18/2025

In honor of non-binary awareness week, I am sharing a beautiful reflection by Pastor Asher O’Callaghan. I came across these words at a training at the Dignity USA conference this month and loved it.

06/03/2025

Grateful to be featured in Voyage MIA’s Most Inspiring Stories series!

After 15 years as a mental health therapist, I launched Your Story Services to integrate my experiences in mental health, spirituality, and advocacy. Now my mission is to empower women, immigrants, and LGBTQ individuals to feel seen and valued through one-on-one spiritual direction, community workshops, and digital resources.

Read the feature here:

Today we’d like to introduce you to Pilar Siman. Hi Pilar, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers? I’m the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants from Central A...

05/30/2025

05/09/2025

I’m honored and excited to have my letter to the editor published in today’s Miami Herald. As a Catholic woman and mom of two girls, I pray that our new Pope will continue Francis legacy of opening the doors of leadership for women in the Church.

Herald readers write what’s on their mind. | Letters

05/05/2025

If you are like me and are trying to figure out what to pray for as the Papal Conclave begins, I recommend this podcast episode (time stamp 7:45.) There is a great discussion on understanding the role of the Holy Spirit.

05/04/2025

Este mes participe en esta reunión y aprendi tanto de familia de Latinos LGBT. Recomiendo estas reuniones gratis: https://pflag.org/events/latino-community-comunidad-latina/

04/19/2025

While the world went quiet and the disciples hid in fear of also being arrested, women showed up. They stayed at the cross. They followed Jesus to the tomb. And when the stone was rolled away, they were the first to witness the resurrection.

Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas, Salome, Joanna and Mary the mother of James went to care for Jesus’ body. When they found the empty tomb, they were told by angels that He had risen. They ran to share the news with the apostles but they were not believed.

In a world that dismissed women’s voices, God chose women to carry the most important message in history.

This Holy Saturday, may we remember that the resurrection was first proclaimed by women. The Church began in their witness.

04/18/2025

On this Good Friday, I want to share an incredible podcast about the Women of Holy Week.

This series by Paula Gooder imagines the final days of Jesus through the eyes of nine women. Some are mentioned in scripture: the widow with the two coins, the woman with the expensive purfume, Mary, wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Jesus. Some are not mentioned at all, but someone like them was probably present: a woman journeying to Jerusalem for Passover, the wife of a scrbe, and a female disciple at the Last Supper.

Their stories remind us that women have always been part of the Church’s foundation. They’ve witnessed, believed, and remained. May we honor their faith and follow their courage.

🎙️ Listen to the series here: https://www.churchofengland.org/faith-life/what-we-believe/lent-holy-week-and-easter/women-holy-week

04/16/2025

St. Phoebe is recognized as the first woman deacon. She is honored as a sister, saint, and patron, and her story reminds us that women were never on the sidelines of Church history—they were foundational to it.

This Lent, I’ve been hosting a reflection series to honor Catholic women saints whose stories are often untold or misunderstood.

Join me for the final Lunch in Lent workshop today at noon EST.

Register here: https://calendly.com/pilar-siman/lunch-in-lent

04/15/2025

I’m honored to be a contributing author for the Ignatian Solidarity Network Daily Lenten Reflections. I reflect on today’s Gospel reading in which we learn that both Judas and Peter will deny Jesus and how these two disciples have been remembered so differently throughout history.

I share how as a Catholic woman, LGBTQIA ally, social worker, spiritual director and mom of girls it can sometimes feel like the Catholic Church I have grown up in, is following the legacy of Judas.

I explore the glimmer of hope I felt at a vigil service led by Pope Francis in Rome last October in which he and cardinals asked for the forgiveness of institutional sins.

Lastly, I invite all of us to consider what steps we can take as individuals and institutions to recognize our sins, ask for forgiveness, and most importantly, repair the bonds of trust which have been broken.

Judas and Peter both sinned when push came to shove. Each has a very different legacy based on their respective responses to their very human behavior. Pilar Siman brilliantly reflects on one occasion of the institutional Church's response to its sinful behavior that gave her a glimmer of hope.

Read and listen to the whole reflection here ➡️ https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2025/04/15/a-glimmer-of-hope/