Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers
Biographical Information
The oldest and only
daughter in a family of five, I was born in
As a young adult my
Christian spirituality was strongly marked by frequent visits to
Once our three children
were school age, and after working for many years as a counselor in a shelter
for battered women and children, I enrolled in university studies, focusing on
courses in theology, counseling, and liturgy. I obtained my Masters in
Theological Studies in 1997 from the Lutheran
Theological Seminary in
In July 1998 I became the
first lay and first female editor of OUR FAMILY Magazine, published by the
Missionary Oblates of St. Mary's Province (now OMI Lacombe Canada). I remained in this position until January 2002
when the magazine was closed down after 53 years of publication. Through my
position with Our Family Magazine, I became the western Vice-President for the Association of Roman Catholic Communicators
in Canada (www.arccc.ca)
from 2000 to 2003. She has served on the National Advisory Board for the new
Religion & Communications Project at
After working briefly as a
Pastoral Associate in a local parish, I was hired in the Saskatoon Catholic
Diocese in the area of Scripture Resources, Ministry Development and Parish
Renewal (www.saskatoonrcidiocese.com)
for three years while also providing counseling and spiritual direction to
interested individuals in my community. I offer retreats and programs for women
through the Battlefords' Catholic Family
Services agency and through Queen's
House of Retreats in
In my ten years as member of the Battlefords Ministerial Association, I worked with local Protestant clergy on ecumenical events and was called on as a supply-preacher in several Protestant churches. I co-directed the Ministerial's Christmas Hamper Project called the Empty Stocking Fund. I was part of the ecumenical hospital chaplaincy team at the local psychiatric institution.
I have
written on the Joint Lutheran/Catholic
Declaration on Justification by Faith, an article that was published three
times: in Our Family, the Canada Lutheran, and Catholic New Times. I was copy editor
for the denominational magazine Northern
Light, published by the Worldwide
Church of God (www.wcg.ca).
I have been a regular contributor to Living
with Christ (the Sunday missal), Words
of Life, and Celebrate!, all published
by Novalis,
In my nearly twenty five years
of ministry experience I have served the Diocese of Prince Albert (www.padiocese.sk.ca) as a
member of its Commission for Liturgy, as chair of the Battlefords' deanery
liturgy committee, and as workshop facilitator in the areas of liturgy,
Catholic education, parish mission statements, women's role in ministry,
spirituality and ecumenism. I have been guest-speaker at CWL conventions (www.cwl.ca), Catholic School
Trustees Conventions, ACW (Anglican Church Women) deanery meetings, the ELW convention (Evangelical Lutheran Women),
the 2000 Calgary Education Conference, Study Days for the Ukrainian Eparchy of
Saskatoon, TRACE Conference, Anglican Clergy Retreat in Edmonton, to name a few.
My first book Finding the Treasure Within:
A Woman’s Journey into Preaching was published by Novalis in the
fall of 2002, with a Foreword by Fr. Ron Rolheiser OMI. The book was awarded
third place in the category for “First Time Authors” by the Catholic Press Association at its 2003
convention in
My second
book was published in the spring of 2007, also by Novalis, and is entitled Catholic Women in Ministry: Changing the Way
Things Are. The book shares the experiences, questions and insights of
about 24 Catholic women employed in various ministry positions throughout
western and northern
In 2005, Jim and I relocated
to
Besides my love for and gift with words, I enjoy life-long learning, spending time with family and friends, swimming in the lake at farm (or sipping her morning coffee on the deck overlooking the lake while the pelicans fly over – although that’s a lot less frequent now that we live 3 hours away!), swimming, emailing friends and family far away, following with great interest the goings-on in our children’s lives, going for walks, picking berries, baking bread, and appreciating a good glass of wine with Jim and our friends.
Updated December 2009
