Catholic Women Now

Five Habits for Catholic Caregivers: Honoring Mom and Dad with Natasha Goodwin - 10/22/2026

Episode Summary

Caring for an aging parent can bring guilt, exhaustion, and burnout, but it can also become one of the most sacred seasons of your life. Natasha Goodwin, a former psychiatric therapist and co-founder of Catholic Caregiver, joins Julie Nelson and Chris Magruder to share the Five Habits of Caregivers, a faith-based approach for Catholic daughters and sons living out the Fourth Commandment. Learn practical self-care, emotional balance, and how to accompany a parent at the end of life with peace and hope.

Episode Notes

Are you caring for an aging mom or dad while also juggling work, marriage, kids, and parish life? You’re not alone, and you are worthy of care too.

Natasha Goodwin co-founded Catholic Caregiver with her mother in 2020 after watching her mom and her mom’s friends care for their aging parents. Drawing on her background in inpatient and outpatient psychiatry, Natasha built a ministry that helps sons and daughters navigate caregiving without losing themselves, now serving thousands of Catholic caregivers.

In this episode:

The Five Habits of Caregivers: Pursue Self-Care, Sharpen My Role, Lean into Faith, Unite with Others, and Meet the Moment
Why you can’t pour from an empty cup. Caring for yourself emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically is part of caring well
Caregiving as a role. Clarifying your priorities as a daughter, son, spouse, and caregiver, and protecting your marriage and primary vocation
Handling guilt, anger, and fear. A simple pause: What am I feeling? What’s underneath it? What do I need before I respond? Sometimes 30 seconds of prayer or a three-minute walk is enough
Catholic resources for caregivers. Scripture, the Catechism, papal encyclicals, and saints who were caregivers
Meeting the moment at end of life. Questions to ask your parent before they die, and preparing together for a peaceful death
Hope at the hour of death. Julie shares how a passage from St. Faustina’s Diary brought her mother peace
Real stories. A retreat attendee thanks Natasha for “permission to be a daughter” again

Plus: Julie and Chris share Truth, Beauty & Goodness, including the new Angel Studios film Daniel and the renewal happening in the Catholic Church.

Find a Catholic Caregiver retreat: catholiccaregiver.com/retreat

Learn more at catholiccaregiver.com

Catholic Women Now is produced by IowaCatholicRadio.com

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