Millie and her husband, Seán, before flying to Boston
In 2022 I felt a niggling in me that what I was doing was not satisfying the desires of my soul. I was working at a Jesuit secondary school in Ireland where I had been very happy. I loved working with the students there, in the classroom and especially through the Kairos programme. Students would sometimes wait for me after class to talk about something important, but I would only have a minute before the next group of 28 boys would come to the door. I felt frustrated at the lack of time I could offer. My subjects of Spanish and French with full curricula also left little room for the deeper questions of life (though I did do my best!).
I prayed with the intercession of St Francis Xavier for two things: to meet a lovely, handsome man to marry and the opportunity to study to be a school chaplain (God, in my experience, likes very concrete prayers). God didn't mess around and soon after provided me with a two-in-one answer to my petition: I met a guy called Seán who happened to be moving to America to study an MDiv at Boston College. We needed time to get to know one another and so Seán discerned that the degree would be there a year later, but Millie might not be, and wisely decided to postpone his degree for a year and stay in Ireland.
During that year I was blessed with two trips to Boston College through student programmes in the school I was working in. The second time on campus I had a beautiful encounter in the CSTM Thursday mass where I experienced God calling me to study here. And so I said yes.
It is quite an experience to radically change every aspect of your life in a short period of time. Within two months I had quit my job, gotten married, moved to a new continent (and moved house three times!), and started a new field of study relatively unknown to me. All I can say from this experience is that God gives us the grace to do His will and I am regularly amazed at how blessed I am.
Seán and I feel a strong call to reignite, in whatever small way God wills, the embers of faith in the people of Ireland. We have such a beautiful history of Christianity in our country, but many people have been hurt and feel betrayed by the Church. The younger generations have little to no contact with the Church whatsoever and so it is both a challenge and a wonderful opportunity to make known our loving God. Following in the footsteps of St. Patrick, we are excited to continue to learn and bring back these gifts as an offering to God and the people of Ireland.