 | Mary Rose Bumpus, RSM, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality
Contact Information
Academic/Professional Experience
I have been a teacher at some level of education for most of my life. For me, teaching is a vocation. I love interacting with students and faculty colleagues and thoroughly enjoy the mutual learning that takes place inside and outside the classroom. I began my professional career as a high school teacher in 1970. In 1998, as I was finishing my doctoral work in the field of Christian Spirituality, I began teaching courses at the graduate level. As an adjunct professor, I have taught courses at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Boston College, and San Francisco Theological Seminary. As Interim Director of the Program in Christian Spirituality and Visiting Professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary, I spent four years of delightful teaching of courses that prepared students to become spiritual directors in a variety of settings. In the year 2004, I was invited by the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University to accept a position as Assistant Professor of Spirituality where I am currently engaged in the fascinating processes of teaching, learning, growth and transformation.
In addition to my teaching experience, I spent four years working as a counselor for Catholic Social Services. My work in this arena spanned the gamut of individual and family counseling, children and youth counseling, and older adult counseling and social work. I liked doing counseling with individuals and families and took great delight in those moments when some slight or significant change occurred in the direction of healing and wholeness. I have been a spiritual director for over 25 years and a supervisor of spiritual directors for the last 12 years. I have also served as a Director of Sisters in Formation for the Sisters of Mercy of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Research Interests
The foundational question that underlies my various research interests is: “How do we actually encounter/experience the living God, and how does this experience shape and inform the people we become and the way we live our lives?” I am interested in how people throughout the world and throughout human history have experienced and lived within the context of ultimate mystery, and how they and we have been transformed by this mystery. So I wonder, as I read biblical texts for example, how people actually experienced Jesus of Nazareth? Or, what kinds of interpretive approaches to our readings of biblical texts, particularly the Gospels, lead to transformation and justice? How have our forebears, people like Antony and Augustine, Francis and Clare, Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross, Jonathan Edwards, Simone Weil, Dorothy Day, and Martin Luther King, Jr., among others, how have they experienced transformation in the direction of God?
I have a keen interest in the art and work of spiritual direction. This leads me to ask questions such as these: What is the spiritual climate or ethos of the contemporary U.S. culture? Is it possible to live a “sane and holy life” here and now? What do people hunger and thirst for today? How do we image or imagine God? Where is the place God comes to meet us? How can we, as spiritual directors, assist those we accompany in discovering the presence and activity of God in their lives? What is the relationship between spirituality and justice, between transformation of self and transformation of the church and the world?
I am also interested in theoretical questions that are interdisciplinary in nature. For example, what is the relationship between psychology and spirituality, between theology and spirituality, between science and spirituality? How do these disciplines shape and inform one another and toward what end? What does the ecumenical faith community have to say to us about the variety of approaches we might take to the practice and art of spiritual direction?
Often my particular research projects arise in response to the concerns, needs, and questions of students and others. In an essay entitled “Supporting Beginning Directors: Participating in the Dance,” co-author Rebecca Langer and I address questions and concerns of beginning spiritual directors. This chapter is a direct result of our work with students. I hope my own interests and research endeavors correspond to the needs of the church and world and the desires of others.
Affiliations
• Member, American Academy of Religion
• Member, Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality
• Member, Catholic Theological Society of America
• Member, Catholic Biblical Association
• Member, Spiritual Directors International
• Member, MAST, Mercy Association of Scripture Scholars and Theologians
STM Courses
• Spirituality and the Gospel of John
• Spirituality and the Gospel of Luke
• Biblical Spiritualities
• Psycho-Spiritual Development
• Introduction to the Art of Spiritual Direction
• Supervised Spiritual Direction Practicum I
• Supervised Spiritual Direction Practicum II
I am, and for thirty-five years have been, a Roman Catholic Sister of Mercy. As such, both my personal and professional life are guided by “prayerful consideration of the needs of our time,” by a “preferential love for the poor and special concern for women,” and by “the pastoral priorities of the universal and local church.” My commitment to mercy and justice impels me “to develop and act from a multicultural and international perspective, to work for systemic change, to practice non-violence, to act in harmony and interdependence with all creation, and to respond to the on-going call to conversion in my lifestyle and ministry.” This commitment took on even greater significance after spending the summer of 1976 living and working with our Sisters in Jamaica, W.I. It was further enhanced in 1989 as I co-authored the constitution of the first Pax Christi chapter for the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. I find myself at home at Seattle University, a University dedicated to the education of “the whole person.” I find myself at home at a School of Theology and Ministry that is dedicated to “professional formation.” I find myself at home in an institution committed to “empowering leaders for a just and humane world.” I appreciate the camaraderie I share with colleagues and the wonderful students and staff with whom I am fortunate to interact.
In addition to my work at the School of Theology and Ministry, I enjoy great friends, hiking and the wonders of nature, a good meal (that someone else prepares), reading well written novels and historical narratives, playing the piano and listening to music. As part of my educational experience, I had the opportunity to study the Navajo Blessingway Rite with Dr. Clara Sue Kidwell at the University of California at Berkeley. As a native of Nashville, Tennessee, I enjoy the occasional trip across country where I take great delight in meeting folks from native tribal traditions. I have a particular appreciation for the art and music of other cultures.
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