Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers
Endorsements

First of all, Marie-Louise, thank you for accepting my invitation to come to Edmonton with Rev. Ron Baerg to lead the retreat for the clergy of the Dioceses of Edmonton and Athabasca. Secondly, thank you for being in our midst at Star of the North Retreat House with your practical, common-sense approach. Thirdly, thank you for your insights into the Word. Insights from the prophets as well as the Gospels. Insights that remind us who we are what we are called to be in the name of Christ and the power of the Spirit.

In Christ,

Bishop Victoria Matthews
Anglican Diocese of Edmonton
February 2006

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Every year, Small Christian Communities host a Fall Retreat in St. Luke’s Parish. It is a time for spiritual uplifting, rejuvenation and recommitment. This year we were privileged to have Marie-Louise as facilitator who presented a well-balanced program of talks, small group discussions and half-hour periods for private meditation which were enriched by a beautiful Fall day for walking, praying and thinking out-of-doors. Her excellent and thought-provoking presentation made for easy listening, contained plenty of humor and stories with a very down-to-earth approach. We left the retreat with a deep sense of being spiritually enriched, rejuvenated and hoping for a return visit.

Thank you, Marie-Louise for being with us and sharing your wealth of knowledge, experience and deep spirituality.

October 2004
Betty La Pointe
SCC Coordinator, St. Luke’s Parish
Calgary, AB

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When the mission began on Sunday evening, I sat in the pew and said a little prayer -- "Dear God, please do not let me fall asleep during the preaching."

Well, not only did I not fall asleep, I was AWAKENED!!
Awakened to a fuller realization of the wonderful gift of life in God that Baptism gives us, of the transforming power of the cross and of God's great love for us, and the challenge to respond wholeheartedly to this bounty, to be real ambassadors for Christ.

Marie-Louise and Bernadette, for the last four evenings you have taught us from the wealth of your own knowledge and experience, but more than that, MUCH more than that, by your own firm conviction and shining faith.

Like Melanie, we approach the life-giving waters of the font, more aware than ever, of who Jesus is in our lives, and who we are in relation to God.

As a parish, we are sincerely grateful. Marie-Louise and Bernadette Teresa (without the H ), we thank you!

Marie Phillips
Chair Liturgy Committee
St. Charles Parish, Edmonton
March 2004: Lenten Parish Mission
Theme: Becoming the Story, Living the Mystery
Preachers: Bernadette Gasslein & Marie-Louise T-G


I gained some fresh insights into the craft of preaching
from Marie-Louise's book. The author's unique perspective
helped me to see some things from a different angle than I
had as a male, Lutheran preacher. She has an ability to
probe a text more deeply than many preachers may and yet
she models a way of drawing on these experiences to
universalize them rather than causing the hearer to focus
on the preacher.

I also gained some understanding of what it means for a
Roman Catholic to be part of that church, particularly the
importance of sacramental life. She also models a different approach to reform than has been much of the Lutheran experience -- a willingness to struggle within the church one has been a part of rather than leaving it. We Lutherans sometimes forget that Luther did not willingly depart Roman Catholicism but was forced out. Instead we tend to jump ship and form a new faction whenever the going gets tough, thinking that we are emulating Luther's courageous stand.

The Rev. Kenn Ward
Editor, Canada Lutheran - ELCIC
Winnipeg, MB

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(For 3 1/2 years), Marie-Louise, you responded graciously
and generously to the suggestion and offer from the
Missionary Oblates of the editorship of the OUR FAMILY
Magazine. You have undertaken the task and the ministry
with courage and faith, with energy and professionalism.
You have shown a heart for the family, ecumenism and the
Church. You have well fulfilled the expectations the
Oblates had of you as editor.

Fr. Leo Mann, OMI
Provincial Superior
St. Mary's Province
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Saskatoon, SK

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Marie Louise has been invited to do supply preaching at
our church on several occasions over the course of many years now. She is greatly appreciated and we keep inviting her back due to popular demand. Her sermons are well researched and delivered with passion and confidence. Thanks Marie Louise for your willingness to assist our congregation in this way.

Kathy Johnson
Worship Coordinator
Battleford United Church, SK

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St. Joseph Calasanctius RC Parish contracted Marie-Louise
Ternier-Gommers to help us through the process of writing
a Mission statement. We found the process led by Marie-
Louise in four meetings to be a challenging and an exciting time for our Parish. We learned to see the vast differences in thinking between different parishioners and how even with these differences we still had the same set of goals. The process was completed in a prayerful and free flowing manner that made everyone feel at home. A process of guided meditation; based on scripture, Church documents, the life of our Patron Saint and our Constitution led us to a strongly agreed set of principles from which our Mission Statement evolved. Marie Louise's knowledge, skill and prayerful presence was an asset to the entire process.


Keith Koberinski
Past Chair, Pastoral Parish Council
St. Joseph Calasanctius Parish
North Battleford, SK

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I have known Marie-Louise for the last few years when I
first directed her in an individually directed Ignatian
retreat. She is a very spiritual person. Her ability to
preach is a critical source of grace for those who hear
her words of wisdom and want to grow closer to God.

Fr. George Morris, S.J.
Gonzaga University
Spokane, WA

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Marie-Louise has been involved with our Volunteer &
Spiritual Services programs for the last 6 years. She has
been a presenter on various topics dealing with spirituality and wellness. She has also participated in
workshops sponsored by the Volunteer & Spiritual Services Department, the SHNB Chaplaincy Committee and Battlefords Ministerial Association. Marie-Louise has served as a Chaplain and officated at our Sunday worship services. Marie-Louise is insightful, and a strong and thoughtful communicator. We appreciate and recognize the special gifts Marie-Louise has shared in her lectures, preaching and during her times of comforting commmunications and visits.

Darlene Kingwell
Volunteer & Spiritual Services/HR consultant
Prairie North Regional Health Authority
North Battleford, SK

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Marie-Louise is a friend. In her book she has shared "the treasure within"; I am deeply touched by her pain and her joy and her determination to realize her calling within the church that she so dearly loves but which does not "formally" need her gift. Her relationship with Jesus speaks loud and clear to all who dare to enter into "Finding the Treaure Within."

Carol
Humboldt, SK

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Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers addressed a group of Ursulines and Ursuline Associates on prayer. The content of her presentation was excellent. Marie-Louise has a way of translating her own experience of prayer, both painful and joy-filled, into concepts that others can easily and personally relate to and identify with. Thus, that part of
her talk in which she shared her personal experience in prayer was especially relevant.

Marie-Louise, as your sister in the church, I wish you much courage as you continue your efforts to acquire an ordained voice in the Roman Catholic Church.

Marian Noll, OSU
Congregational leader
Ursulines of Bruno, SK
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What is my response to "Finding the Treasure Within?" Overwhelming gratitude, for this is not just a book; it has become an occasion of growth in my own faith journey. As I read Marie-Louise's superbly crafted prose, I am struck by many things. Her depth of sharing for one. The level of trust Marie-Louise demonstrates in presenting herself so openly to the reader can only come from a deep and abiding trust in our God. Through the experience of preaching which Marie-Louise describes so poignantly, she knows full well that she cannot predict how the reader will respond to her words. As with her preaching, all Marie-Louise knows is that God has invited her to this new ministry of writing. Her free response to God's invitation as revealed in "Finding the Treasure Within" testifies to the fact that a deep level of trust in God and in God's people is not only possible, but its fruits are both real and at times quite surprising. Hand in hand with this trust comes courage. Page after page, chapter upon chapter, we see Marie-Louise recognize all too clearly the risks involved in responding positively to God's compelling but mysterious invitation to the ministry of preaching. But respond she does; sometimes tentatively, sometimes fearfully, but respond she does. As a reader, my response is: "Where can this courage come from but from the Spirit?" Persistant faithfulness in the mysterious ways of the Lord: that's the other thing that speaks loudly through the pages of this book. Deep, abiding faith born of the Spirit, buoyed by Marie-Louise's knowledge and deep understanding of God's Holy Word. Through the trust, courage and faith that characterizes Marie-Louise's approach to the ministry of preaching, she embodies a hope-filled, manifestly Christian posture to tension. In the face of a seemingly irresolvable tension between the call to the preaching ministry and the constraints of her Roman Catholic faith tradition, Marie-Louise demonstrates a conscious, steadfas