FAQ`s

What is the Institute for Feminism and Religion?

We are a non-profit educational company, which has now been granted charitable status. 

What is your aim?

Exploring a prophetic approach to feminisms and religion, inclusive of many traditions and the emerging consciousness in Ireland.

How do you do that?

By providing opportunities for women to reclaim religion by engaging theoretically and experientially with the issues of feminist theology, ethics, spirituality, and ritual.

Are you trying to set up a religion?

In true feminist fashion, we are not seeking to build empires, or attract disciples. Our model is more like a supportive matrix and words like leavening, networking, empowering, resourcing, encouraging, educating, supporting, inspiring, nourishing better express our ambitions and ways of working.

Your name is very off-putting. Why do you need words like Institute/Religion/ or Feminism in the title?

We’ve struggled with this for years and haven’t come up with anything better. We are an Institute because we take ourselves seriously and aim toward professional standards in all that we do. We use the word Religion (rather than spirituality) because we also wish to reflect on ethics, ritual, theology, (and increasingly, mythology). As to Feminism? To those who ask, no explanation is possible; to those who do not, no explanation is necessary.

Why do you not invite men to your courses? Are you anti-men?

We are not anti-men; we are pro-women. While men are welcome to our public celebratory events, experience has shown us that when men are present in women’s courses, half the women want to take care of them; the other half, want to throw them out. Either way, they distract women from taking responsibility for their own learning. With sufficient demand, we may, in the future, offer an occasional integrated course on gender and religion.

Are you not just doing to men what men have always done to women?

When blacks in South Africa first tried to dismantle apartheid they were a colonised people who had been educated in the mentality of the colonial powers. They first had to separate to discover what being Black could possibly mean. Once they had done that, they could deal with white power on equal terms, and not just by being absorbed into the dominant white mind-set. White women and men also had to do their own separate work. Blacks or all women are not responsible for the liberation of those who have oppressed them, although mutuality must eventually be our goal.

Do you have to believe in anything to come to the events?

We expect those who come to our events to support the aims and our ways of working. In addition, we hope that people can live with questions, have a sense of humour, cope with ambivalence, and work creatively with uncertainty as we seek to explore new ideas and develop new structures and ways of working.

Are there any other ground rules for events?

From the beginning we have attempted to commit ourselves to the following ways of working. We add and adapt these aims following reflection on our experience:

Commitment to Ourselves:

• To honour our truth in whatever way we need:
• To have the freedom to name where we are with honesty and integrity.
• To honour the inclusivity of right and left brain, mystery, the feminine, ritual that is grounded.

Commitment to the Group:

For a full list of commitments to the group, see our Home Page.

Where do you get your money?

We keep overheads to the minimum, use our houses for meetings and office space, and run on a shoestring budget. In the last five years, about one third of our annual budget has come from male and female religious orders. We received small grants for particular events from foundations. The rest we raise through course fees and individual donations.

Who runs the operation?

The Board: The company comprises nine members, (The Board), which is responsible for holding in trust the aims and operating process of the Institute; for employing staff to carry out these aims; and for the financial liabilities of the Institute, in accordance with the Articles and Memoranda of Association.

National Director: The Board oversees the work of the National Director, a voluntary position currrently held by Mary Condren, Th.D.

Director of Integrative Work: The Board has appointed a voluntary Director of Integrative Work, Merovee Guerin.

National Committee: This is the main inspirational and working body of the Institute whose work is as follows:

Assisting the Board in regularly revising and devising the aims and operating processes of the Institute.

Fund-raising.

Planning for national events.

Resourcing events in the regions and initiating regional bodies.

Keeping a watching brief on the prophetic future of the Institute.

How can I become a Friend of the Institute?

Come to our courses. Volunteer services to your Regional group. Offer resources (music, poetry, workshops). Put up posters in your school, supermarket, church, local women’s centre. Donate money toward our costs and especially toward scholarships for women on low incomes.

Is there a subscription fee?

No. but to cover the cost of administration, and to provide “seed money” for future events, we welcome all donations. 

What do I do next?

Take a minute, and Contact us with your questions, financial help, and interest.