Creative Partners

• Mary Earle
• The Musicians

Mary Earle

Mary Earle is a poet, spiritual director, teacher, and Episcopal priest who leads retreats, teaches and facilitates workshops. Mary is on staff at St. Mark's church, and serves as adjunct faculty for the Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin. With an interest in symbolic exploration, Mary teaches regularly for San Antonio's C. G. Jung Center as well as for Gemini Ink.

Mary's poetry and essays have appeared in New Texas, Windhover, The Texas Journal, The Texas Poetry Calendar, Concho River Review, and the anthologies Here is My Spirit and Women's Uncommon Prayers. Mary also teaches courses in spirituality at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin.

Praying with the Celtic Saints

Mary, an Episcopal priest, and Sylvia Maddox, an Episcopal laywoman, are co-authors of Praying with the Celtic Saints and have found themselves caught up in the current interest in Celtic Spirituality.

The idea for the book began at a class they taught at Reconciliation Church in San Antonio. Mary and Sylvia used material they had drawn from the lives of Celtic saints both in the class and in their own spiritual life. It was a way, Mary says," to sift through all the information to find the truth of the life of the saint. What does the story of this saint say to you in your life?"

Mary tells how it came to be. "On the Feast of St. Brigid, I wrote a letter to the editor (at St. Mary's Press) and received a response in a week. They wanted two sample chapters. We did that and they said they wanted (the text) by October 15. We literally wrote it over a summer."

The book has done well both in the United States and overseas. The book is family and lay oriented, rather than monastic in tone. They describe Celtic spirituality as being, grounded in Creation. "There is a sense of me and Christ," Mary says, "but not just me and Christ. There is a real missionary orientation to this spirituality. Exploring this spirituality is a kind of pilgrimage. When you go in a pilgrimage, you don't know where you are going. You allow the current to take you and rely on God."

Praying with the Celtic Saints is published by Saint Mary's Press and is available at bookstores everywhere.

Back to Top

The Musicians

Sofia's Table Chorus

Back to Top