Marybeth Kearns-Barrett ’84 is the new director of the Office of the College Chaplains at the College of the Holy Cross. Her appointment was announced by Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., president of the College.
Kearns-Barrett succeeds Katherine M. McElaney ’76, who was the first woman to direct campus ministry at Holy Cross and who served 25 years before she passed away last year.
Rev. Paul Harman, S.J., special assistant to the president chaired a nation-wide search for the position: “After having interviewed three finalists, the Search Committee was pleased to recommend Marybeth for the position,” explains Fr. Harman. “Marybeth has the respect and support of many throughout campus, and we are confident that her ideas, experience, faith, and enthusiasm for the position will serve the College well.”
A Worcester resident and Holy Cross graduate, Kearns-Barrett directs a staff of eight and oversees the Office’s programs in pastoral care, faith development, social justice, and liturgical and music ministries. She serves as one of the directors for the Spiritual Exercises and offers individual pastoral counseling and spiritual direction. She also coordinates the Post-Graduate Volunteer Fair and advises students interested in full-time volunteer work following graduation in programs such as the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
For the past ten years she served as faculty advisor to Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), the largest student organization on campus. Under her leadership, the program forged 40 community partnerships enabling 600 Holy Cross students each year to engage weekly with Worcester area residents in hospitals, shelters, schools, nursing homes, churches, community centers, and other sites.
“Our contemporary world provides many challenges as well as opportunities to engage young adults in questions of faith and meaning,” says Kearns-Barrett. “I am honored to have the opportunity to provide leadership within the Holy Cross community as we work together to assist our students in discovering how growing in faith can enable them to more generously place their gifts and talents in the service of the world.”
In 2006, Kearns-Barrett received an Arthur J. O'Leary Faculty Recognition Award at Holy Cross, which is given to senior faculty members who make a special contribution to Holy Cross through their teaching, scholarship and/or service; and was a National Jesuit Honor Society Honorary inductee.
Active in the Worcester community, she is a retreat director at Christ the King Catholic Youth Council, a former retreat director at Notre Dame Academy from 2008-10, and was on the Abby’s House Board of Directors from 2003-08.
She earned her M.Div. from the Weston School of Theology and received her B.A. in religious studies from Holy Cross.
She and her husband Chris live with their four children in Worcester.
