A Bride of Christ in the World — with Erin Kinsella
Season 2, Episode 9 | Originally aired on June 29, 2020
About the episode
"Anybody that God has entrusted to me to care for...it's looking at reverence in the human person in such a way that when I encounter them, that they're encountering that mercy, that tenderness, that beauty of God, which is a real gift to participate in."
After taking steps to follow Christ more intentionally and putting aside her dreams to become a renowned virologist, Erin Kinsella thought that her vocation was to the religious life. But as she pursued Jesus in this vocation, things weren't totally falling into place the way that she would have liked. As it turned out, Erin had been set apart by God, and this led her to explore the vocation of consecrated virginity. In this episode, we talk to Erin about her background in science, her beautiful and amazing vocation story, and what it means to image the Church in the world as a Bride of Christ.
Listen to the episode
Meet Erin Kinsella
Erin Kinsella is a Consecrated Virgin of the Archdiocese of Toronto. She works as the Director of Campus Ministry at the Newman Centre at the University of Toronto’s St. George campus. She did her undergraduate degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax and graduated with co-operative Honours in Microbiology and Immunology and went on to graduate studies in Texas. During her university years, she fell away from the practice of the Faith and looked for God in things that can only imitate His goodness. After becoming ill and being forced to discontinue her graduate studies, Erin had a powerful encounter with the mercy of God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and experienced a “reversion” to the Faith. This eventually led her to work in Youth and Young Adult Ministry in various forms and in various provinces before landing in Toronto. Along the way, she discerned Religious Life and marriage, but through a long and winding path, God shut firmly the doors to those Vocations and led her to Consecrated Virginity. Erin’s deepest desire is to become a Saint and to take as many people with her as possible. Since there is already a Saint for lost causes, Erin hopes one day to be the patron Saint of people who struggle with the snooze button or the Patron Saint of sharing funny yet encouraging memes.
Read more about Consecrated Virginity: Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago from the Vatican on the Ordo virginum (READ)