Genesis Farm is blessed to have Anne-Marie Conn as a new staff member. She arrived mid-January, and has taken on with enthusiasm both administrative and program coordination responsibilities.

After 15 years in leadership in the Society of the Sacred Heart (SSHC), an international religious congregation for women, Anne-Marie took a sabbatical in 2008-9. That year was spent at Sprout Creek Farm in Poughkeepsie, NY, running the shipping and marketing department. Sprout Creek is nationally known for its cheeses and educational programs for children (visit www.sproutcreekfarm.org), and we have recently benefitted from that connection at our staff lunches! She also discovered a love for goats and cats.

 

Last summer she attended the New Cosmology Immersion program here at Genesis Farm, in the middle of her studies at Holy Names University in Oakland, CA. She just completed a Master of Art’s degree there in Culture and Spirituality, based on the New Cosmology of Thomas Berry. This is her second graduate degree; she received a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry in 1984 from Boston College, with studies focused on theology, finances for non-profits, liturgy, and human development.

 

Anne-Marie served as the Provincial Superior of SSHC for nine years. Her responsibilities included facilitating the life of the Province spiritually, financially and ministerially, as well as working at the local and international levels to prayerfully reflect on the way we live our lives in the world today and to actively work for the transformation of society. She oversaw the running of the business office, re-organized the governmental and financial structures of the Province, organized two 5-day decision-making meetings of a SSH Province to discern how to implement their vision, and reconfigured the SSH government structure into a more collegial and feminine model.

With a degree in education, she taught and developed curriculum for more than 20 years in Grades 4-11. As an educator, she seeks through collaborative ministry to empower others in the use of their gifts and support them in their work. Trained as a spiritual director at the Jesuit Center in Cincinnati, OH, to accompany adults on their faith journey with God, she has directed a number of retreats as well as serving actively in spiritually accompanying individuals since 1991.

As Program Director at Anishinabe Spiritual Centre in Espanola, ON, she developed a balanced program to help further the faith life and human development of the Anishinabe people, worked in collaboration with Native Elders in developing programs, and organized, with an Anishinabe counselor, a summer youth camp.

She has had many years of experience since 1985 as a board member, serving on the boards of the Sacred Heart School of Halifax, Tapestry House, Inc., Sacred Heart School of Montreal, and the Canadian Religious Conference Administrative Council for Ontario.