I have been involved in faith formation for adults for over 20 years, in both a paid and more recently in a voluntary capacity. I was ordained in July 2020 as a OneSpirit Interfaith Minister, and left my job to work in this area full-time. I offer ceremonies to mark major life moments: weddings, baby namings, vow renewals and funerals/memorials. During the Covid restrictions, I am making memorials available online, to allow the recently bereaved to have some form of gathering to compensate for the lack of chance to connect with people at a wake, removal or a funeral.
My areas of expertise are
• Faith & community during Covid
• New forms of Church
• Ministry to the ‘partially post-Catholic’ – those who may be ‘over Church, but not over God’.
• Online rituals – especially for those grieving during Covid
• Women in Church (and outside it) as leaders in faith and spirituality
• Justice education– how to pass on Christian values as a parent
• Authentic spirituality – grounding God in the grit of everyday life
• Infertility & Faith
I am very interested in how Christian faith will evolve in Ireland, and how new forms of community to support it might emerge. This question is prompted by the significant change in parish life of the Catholic Church, particular in the cities, where many including myself, feel that it no longer feeds whatever faith they do have. I have significant experience of different forms of Christian community, having volunteered with the Corrymeela community in Co Antrim, and their sister communities in Scotland and in Sweden. In 2000, I was one of the team who founded Slí Eile, an Irish Jesuit Faith and Justice Initiative for 18-35 year olds, which generated a community of over 200 young adults in Dublin in the early 2000s.
In 2012 I was one of those who joined the initial steering group of the Association of Catholics in Ireland – an organisation of lay Catholics seeking reform within the Church. My main energy is however in ‘being the change’ in terms of church, rather than advocating for change within the Catholic Church.
My interest in what’s possible in terms of ‘new forms’ of church was fuelled significantly by the experience of our own wedding in 2005. We couldn’t have a Church ceremony, as my husband was a former Catholic religious, and although he left his order, he did not want to seek laicisation from his priesthood. We did not want a registry office wedding, as it would not have been possible to have any expression of faith there, and that was an important part of our wedding ceremony for both of us. So we created our own ceremony, and invited two friends to lead it.
For the last ten years, my husband and I have been part of a group who have been co-creating ‘pop-up’ faith gatherings at Easter and Advent, as a way to give our kids some positive experiences of faith community. We moved online this year, and have had regular weekly gathering since the start of Covid restrictions.
Career:
I have studied theology, economics, nonprofit management and most recently Interfaith Ministry. I started work in mid-90s with PriceWaterhouse- as they were then- as an assistant Management Consultant, and after 2 years, moved to coordinating a community centre in Ballymun, as part of a Jesuit Volunteer programme. Since then, I have worked in the voluntary and community sector for over 20 years- 7 of those with faith-based organisations- in different leadership roles, including as Manager of an Intercultural Centre in South Central Dublin, and as a Lecturer in nonprofit economics.
Justice education was a key part of many of my roles. I initiated both local and overseas volunteering programmes within SlI Eile in 2000-2003. I was Chair of the Edmund Rice Developing World Immersion Programme Steering Committee ( 2007-2008) that oversaw immersion trips for senior students to Developing World countries from over 40 Irish secondary schools. As manager of Canal Communities Intercultural Centre (2008-2012) I led the development and implementation of a Local Intercultural Youth Strategy, which addressed issues of interculturalism and anti-racism.
Media experience:
I am an aspiring author and poet. I have had several articles and poems published, both in print (The Furrow, The Messenger) and online (Vita Poetica, a Washington based arts& spiritualty collective). I was delighted to read a series of my own reflections for The Living Word on RTE Radio 1 for a week in early Dec 2020. In June 2020 I was interviewed by Soul Waves Radio project about my ordination as an Interfaith Minister. Previously, in 2000, I was on Pat Kenny’s morning show on RTE, and on Radio Limerick, Radio Foyle and Highland Radio, to speak about my work with volunteers at the time.
I have been involved in faith formation for adults for over 20 years, in both a paid and more recently in a voluntary capacity. I was ordained in July 2020 as a OneSpirit Interfaith Minister, and left my job to work in this area full-time. I offer ceremonies to mark major life moments: weddings, baby namings, vow renewals and funerals/memorials. During the Covid restrictions, I am making memorials available online, to allow the recently bereaved to have some form of gathering to compensate for the lack of chance to connect with people at a wake, removal or a funeral.
My areas of expertise are
• Faith & community during Covid
• New forms of Church
• Ministry to the ‘partially post-Catholic’ – those who may be ‘over Church, but not over God’.
• Online rituals – especially for those grieving during Covid
• Women in Church (and outside it) as leaders in faith and spirituality
• Justice education– how to pass on Christian values as a parent
• Authentic spirituality – grounding God in the grit of everyday life
• Infertility & Faith
I am very interested in how Christian faith will evolve in Ireland, and how new forms of community to support it might emerge. This question is prompted by the significant change in parish life of the Catholic Church, particular in the cities, where many including myself, feel that it no longer feeds whatever faith they do have. I have significant experience of different forms of Christian community, having volunteered with the Corrymeela community in Co Antrim, and their sister communities in Scotland and in Sweden. In 2000, I was one of the team who founded Slí Eile, an Irish Jesuit Faith and Justice Initiative for 18-35 year olds, which generated a community of over 200 young adults in Dublin in the early 2000s.
In 2012 I was one of those who joined the initial steering group of the Association of Catholics in Ireland – an organisation of lay Catholics seeking reform within the Church. My main energy is however in ‘being the change’ in terms of church, rather than advocating for change within the Catholic Church.
My interest in what’s possible in terms of ‘new forms’ of church was fuelled significantly by the experience of our own wedding in 2005. We couldn’t have a Church ceremony, as my husband was a former Catholic religious, and although he left his order, he did not want to seek laicisation from his priesthood. We did not want a registry office wedding, as it would not have been possible to have any expression of faith there, and that was an important part of our wedding ceremony for both of us. So we created our own ceremony, and invited two friends to lead it.
For the last ten years, my husband and I have been part of a group who have been co-creating ‘pop-up’ faith gatherings at Easter and Advent, as a way to give our kids some positive experiences of faith community. We moved online this year, and have had regular weekly gathering since the start of Covid restrictions.
Career:
I have studied theology, economics, nonprofit management and most recently Interfaith Ministry. I started work in mid-90s with PriceWaterhouse- as they were then- as an assistant Management Consultant, and after 2 years, moved to coordinating a community centre in Ballymun, as part of a Jesuit Volunteer programme. Since then, I have worked in the voluntary and community sector for over 20 years- 7 of those with faith-based organisations- in different leadership roles, including as Manager of an Intercultural Centre in South Central Dublin, and as a Lecturer in nonprofit economics.
Justice education was a key part of many of my roles. I initiated both local and overseas volunteering programmes within SlI Eile in 2000-2003. I was Chair of the Edmund Rice Developing World Immersion Programme Steering Committee ( 2007-2008) that oversaw immersion trips for senior students to Developing World countries from over 40 Irish secondary schools. As manager of Canal Communities Intercultural Centre (2008-2012) I led the development and implementation of a Local Intercultural Youth Strategy, which addressed issues of interculturalism and anti-racism.
Media experience:
I am an aspiring author and poet. I have had several articles and poems published, both in print (The Furrow, The Messenger) and online (Vita Poetica, a Washington based arts& spiritualty collective). I was delighted to read a series of my own reflections for The Living Word on RTE Radio 1 for a week in early Dec 2020. In June 2020 I was interviewed by Soul Waves Radio project about my ordination as an Interfaith Minister. Previously, in 2000, I was on Pat Kenny’s morning show on RTE, and on Radio Limerick, Radio Foyle and Highland Radio, to speak about my work with volunteers at the time.
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