Casey Calhoun Murphy, MDiv., WJST ‘98
I met Virginia Sullivan Finn as a beginning Weston Jesuit School of Theology student in 1995. My husband and I had just moved into Harvard Street apartments in Cambridge, MA. I signed up for something called “Spiritual Direction,” though these words were new to me. Virginia and I met regularly for two full years until her retirement. She encouraged me, always, to seek God in the ordinary, in both the unexpected and the expected. She encouraged me to pray, sometimes and to write. She helped me to listen carefully to both quiet and loud, to uncomfortable feelings, to hear and recognize “call”, and to live it. Until Virginia, I remember looking for the “spiritual” in the stereotypical places of church and religion, in places that didn’t really sync with my reality as a lay person. Virginia helped me to speak to God and to listen to God during my time at WJST, in the midst of my early marriage, in my classroom conversations and academic writing, and in my friendships. She helped me to hear God and speak to God in the midst of the children in Appalachia and the students at Wellesley College. Her own struggles and joys, conveyed in class stories, in her publications and memoirs, and at Weston weekly liturgies where she preached the truth boldly, had an enormous impact on me. She had a wonderful gift of imagery and of communicating an experience--some of these images are still clear to me 25 years later. Her life, and her active engagement in ministry, challenged me to change my degree from MTS to MDiv, and to embrace full time ministry in two university settings. My strength had always been in academics, in my head, and Virginia helped me to open up my heart to people, even when active ministry felt less comfortable than books and scholarship. Virginia was a woman who was willing to feel it, to know it, and to speak it--to live truth no matter what the consequences. After I had served for a decade in campus ministry, Virginia’s example gave me the courage to speak up and step away from professional ministry. Her example helped me to not settle but to own my reality, to keep listening and to keep praying, and to hear God in the everyday. I have continued to love Virginia from afar, through another degree, and into a different role as a STEM teacher in a preK-8 Catholic school. In my mind, I can see her not-so-patient gaze pushing me to follow and to lead. I can hear her wit and I can feel her company in this rather winding journey where the path is anything but clear. Virginia, you are still instrumental in my life, and I know in the lives of so many other “Pilgrims in This World”. Thank you for your faithfulness and deep honesty.
Mary Ellen (Foley) McGuire, WJST MDiv. 2003
I met Virginia once. It was the summer of 2001 after completing the first year of my M.Div. at Weston Jesuit. We were required to go on an 8-day silent retreat, which I had never done before and I found the whole idea of a week of silence daunting. I arrived at Our Lady of Peace retreat center in Narragansett, RI and spent the first day doing holy things like reading Scripture and praying in the chapel. That afternoon I met my assigned spiritual director for the week, Virginia Finn. She asked how my day was and I told her about my piety. She laughed and suggested I loosen up: “Do some crossword puzzles! Take naps! Rest and relax!” After an hour of transformative conversation, she told me two things that have marked me for all these years. First, she suggested that I have three intentional prayer times each day, and that I rest and play the rest of the time. This has been my structure for annual retreats for the past 18 years. Second, she invited me to “show my life to Jesus”. This bore much fruit for me, and I look back on this week with Jesus as one of the best of my life. Virginia’s joy and delight in my prayer times encouraged me to open up to God in a way I had not done before. Through Virginia's direction I realized that Jesus has been with me every step of the way in the course of my life. I am grateful for this gift which has made such a lasting impression on me. May the angels lead her into paradise!
James Martin, S.J., WJST M.Div.,‘98, Th.M., ‘99
Originally posted on Fr. Martin’s Facebook page.
My friend Virginia Sullivan Finn worked for many years at Weston and was also a talented author, a beloved mentor, a popular spiritual director at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, and a real leader in the church. She was also, incidentally, the very first woman I ever heard preach.
I was on a retreat at Eastern Point as a Jesuit novice, just a few weeks into my novitiate, and after the priest had offered a few words as the homily for the day, Virginia got up and reflected at length on the readings. She was vibrant, dynamic, funny, smart and filled with joy.
I don't remember the reading, but I remember two things about that day, as she preached--and preached beautifully. First, my stunned recognition at how much the church is losing by not hearing women break open the Scriptures during the Mass. I simply had never thought about it until that moment, at age 27.
And, second, an image that I've never forgotten. Virginia told the story of a young member of her family (a grandchild or perhaps a niece or nephew) who had visited her at Eastern Point recently, where she was a "guest director." The child clambered onto Brace Rock (pictured here) and Virginia saw the child throwing their arms wide open, and then bringing them back to their chest, dramatically inhaling and exhaling.
After the child returned to Virginia, she asked, "What were you doing out there?" And the child pointed to the beautiful view and said, "Trying to take all of THIS inside me so that I can take it back home!"
She used it as an image of how we can take the graces of retreat home, but also how also they are hard to hold onto. Now Virginia enters into the grace of the One she had served for so long, and the One whom she helped so many others encounter.
May she rest in peace.
Crystal Caruana Sullivan, WJST MTS, '94
I can still hear Virginia's voice, in the Gathering Place at 3 Phillips place at a workshop where she was preparing lay students for finding a job in ministry. She was focused on helping us understand our gifts and skills and teaching us how to present ourselves to the communities in which we might serve. I remember being struck by her realism. The way that she made sure we knew who we were as lay ministers and that our gifts were valuable in the Church. She was tireless in her support for lay students and she professed and lived an authentic Vatican II vision of leadership - that still inspires me today. Virginia's influence helped seal my identity as a lay minister, and also witnessed for me what it means to support ministers in the Church, which I do now in my current ministry. Even after graduation, she stayed in touch occasionally - and served as a font of wisdom. I never knew her whole story until I read her memoir. I am grateful to have been taught by such a strong witness and model as Virginia. May she be welcomed by the angels and continue her influence in heaven!