CHAPLAIN

As a chaplain, I offer pastoral care, group work, and liturgical leadership.

My passion for group experience was sparked by my work in the early 2000s as a hospital chaplain, leading spirituality groups with those facing addiction and on inpatient psychiatric units. For fifteen years, as Chaplain for the Center for Urban Community Services, I created and led memorial services for people who knew homelessness during their lives. I have been certified with the National Association of Catholic Chaplains since 2002.

My doctoral work combined depth psychology and theology. I apply this to my current pastoral work by helping individuals and communities discover the freedom within their own faith, and then helping them develop the means to enjoy that freedom.

In collaboration with inspiring colleagues, I offer workshops and retreats in a variety of religious and secular settings. These have included Wild Discoveries: Caring for the Self the Mary Magdalene Way (Mercy by the Sea Retreat and Conference Center), In Communion with Our Biblical Sisters (Mercy by the Sea), Brooding Over the Waters (Church of the Ascension Episcopal Church), An Invitation to Inner Life: Finding and Cultivating Your Own Devotional Practice (Tibet House and the Church of St. Francis Xavier); Delighting in the Spirit: A Retreat Day for Women (Hitchcock Presbyterian Church); Naked Wisdom: Uncovering Hidden Meanings in the Story of Adam and Eve (Union Theological Seminary); The Theology of Self Care (National Association of Catholic Chaplains); The Abundance of the Alabaster Jar: A Day of Recreation and Ritual (Church of St. Francis Xavier); and Wise Women circles (private settings).  

Contact me to request a workshop or retreat day.

Teacher

Teaching Bible Studies is one of my favorite ways to share my passion for the Bible.

My first Bible Study in 2002 was based on my Masters thesis at Fordham’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education (GRRE); this course focused on the gospel passages excluded from the Sunday Lectionary of the Roman Catholic Church. Twenty more Bible Studies followed at the Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York City. In 2017, I introduced a course entitled Women’s Power in the Bible, building on original scholarship I have been developing since my doctoral studies in the Hebrew Bible at Union Theological Seminary. The course unearths the various sources of power available through the ancient biblical text that do not depend on patriarchy.  In 2018, my course The Ministry of Jesus as the Expansion of Consciousness birthed several chapters of my most recent book, Jesus Found in Translation. During Lent of 2021 I led my first full-scale online Bible Study called Women Lost and Rediscovered in the Bible through FutureChurch.

I am currently exploring ways of bringing these Bible Studies to a wider audience through short animated films. Here is my first foray!

Contact me to be notified when I’m teaching a course.

BiBLE Scholar

My scholarship brings together the fields of Biblical Studies and Depth Psychology. 

Much of my scriptural exegesis begins with an exploration of a particular Hebrew word in the ancient text. I am fascinated by the ways the history of interpretation and translation has buried possible meanings, and I love bringing these possibilities to light. Delving into the Hebrew Bible and psychoanalytic theory are two ways I celebrate my Jewish heritage and deepen my Catholic faith.  

Here is an example of my exegesis, and here are some thoughts on who wrote the Bible.

Feminist of Faith

My faith journey is entwined with my continuing growth as a womanist/feminist.

Womanist thinkers and theologians — from Alice Walker to Musa Dube — have inspired my own development as a person of faith and as a feminist. I continue to explore the deep roots of wisdom as practiced by our female ancestors, and to open myself to emerging universal truths beyond any institutional religious limitations.

I am currently Scholar-in-Residence at the New Shul — an organization in NYC that describes itself as “a progressive, independent, creative community exploring meaningful ways to experience Jewish life and ritual in the 21st century.”

I believe that the beauty at the heart of Catholicism -- Christ’s living message of love and transformation -- needs no longer be bound by misogyny. In 2017, I launched the Feminism & Faith in Union movement, with Catholic social justice organizations FutureChurch, Women’s Ordination Conference, Call To Action, and with the women’s ministry at Xavier, The Women Who Stayed. Also through The Women Who Stayed, I co-launched the initiative I Have Something to Say which features a homily written by a woman each week. I am part of FutureChurch’s First 100 Deacons campaign and encourage and support women and men who heed their call. Only in communion with each other and with the Spirit can we successfully challenge the grip that patriarchy and institutional influence hold on Catholic consciousness.

Here are some ways I bring Faith and Feminist together.

Here is more about Feminism & Faith in Union

Publications & COURSES

Films

(m)Adam: Adam’s Rib Reframed, Animated Bible Short, YouTube.com, April 5, 2020

Books

Story within the Story: Uncovering the good news that’s been hiding in the gospel all along. In development

For She Has Heard': The Standing Stone in Joshua 24 and the Development of a Covenant Symbol, Hardcover – August 20, 2015 (available at "scholars' price" from Sheffield Phoenix Press)

Mornings with Jesus 2019 (contributor), Daily Encouragement for your Soul:365 Devotions, published by Guideposts

Mornings with Jesus 2020 (contributor), published by Guideposts

Journals

Walking with Women Called: “I am a Catholic Priest”, New Women New Church Vol. 41, no 1 (2018), 6.

Gaze of Grace: Revisiting the Immaculate Conception in Light of DW Winnicott’s Concept of Maternal-Infant Mirroring, Union Seminary Quarterly Review, VOL 65:3&4 (2016) pp 9-22.

The Bible as Transformational Object: The Psychoanalytic Theories of Christopher Bollas and Their Relevance for Religious Educators, Religious Education, 111:5 (2016), 470-486,

Online Articles

Prince’s genius changed my life: How I quit my network job — and found religion — to his funky beat, Salon.com, June 7, 21016.

"The Truth About Eve", The Banquet (member-only content), July 2017.

Scholarly Papers

Holy Witness: The standing stone in Joshua 24 and the Badimo in Botswana’s African Independent Churches., Joshua-Judges Section and Postcolonial-Studies-and-Biblical-Studies section. Annual Meeting; November 2013.

Egyptian Returnees as Unwelcome Playmates? Winnicott’s ‘Psychopathology of Play’ and its implications for the current state of biblical scholarship. Annual Meeting; November 2011.

L’Ruach Hayyom in Genesis 3:8. Pentateuch/Law Section. Mid-Atlantic Meeting, March 2010.

Bible Studies

through People’s Catholic Seminary

Jesus’ Spiritual Awakening: Diving Deeply into the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, Winter 2023

through LizzieBerneDeGear.com

The Ministry of Jesus as the Expansion of Consciousness, Fall 2021-Winter 2022

through FutureChurch

Women Lost and Rediscovered in the Bible, Lent 2021

at the Church of St. Francis Xavier

The Female Ancestors of Christ, Spring 2019

The Ministry of Jesus as the Expansion of Consciousness, Spring and Fall, 2018

Women's Power in the Bible, Spring 2017

Awe, Thanksgiving and Mercy, Fall 2016

The Earth, the Bible and Us: inspired by Laudato Si, Spring 2016

The Merciful God of the Old Testament Advent 2015

Testimony: A Bible Study for the Spiritual Introvert Spring 2015

Resurrection: In the Bible, in Christian Tradition, and in Us Spring 2014

Annunciation Stories Advent 2013

Mary Our Jewish Mother: The Human and Divine Feminine in Ancient Israel Spring 2013

Christ as Relational Messiah Spring 2012

Jesus’ Scriptures: A New Look at the Old Testament Spring 2011

The Gospel of Mark, Spring 2010

The Gospel of Mark and Active Imagination Spring 2009

Hebrew Bible and Healing Spring 2007

Genesis 2-3 in English and in Hebrew Spring 2004

Genesis I in English and in Hebrew Lent 2003

A Collective Translation of Genesis I Easter Season, 2003

The Gospel of Mark:The Ministry of Jesus as the Expansion of Consciousness Fall 2002

What We Don’t Hear on Sunday:The Gospel passages that do not appear in the Sunday Lectionary, Lent 2002

Academic Courses

at Fordham University's Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education

Human Growth and Development Fall 2014

Psychology and Religion/Spirituality: Online course Fall 2014, Fall 2013