Brigid Agnes McGuigan

Sr. Brigid, born on September 1, 1924 in Carnamoney, Draperstown, County Derry, Northern Ireland, was the third of nine children of Joe and Annie McGuigan. In her youth, she delighted in walking the hills, riding on the back of her brother’s motorcycle and attending Saturday dances at the parish hall. During these years she also became the care taker of her young sister, Rose, who was seriously ill and of her grandmother with whom she lived during the summer months.

Turning down a proposal for marriage, she entered the Religious Sisters of Charity in 1947 and made her final profession in 1953. After working with troubled children in England, she was assigned in 1958 to teach at St. Columban in Garden Grove, California, and, then, St. Bridget of Sweden in Van Nuys. From 1971 to 1974, she served as the Director of Religious Education and Confirmation for the newly established parish of St. Edward in Dana Point. During that time she saw that a major part of her mission was the training and faith formation of the parents so that they could take leadership in the religious growth of the young people of the parish.

From 1974 to 1978 she played a similar role at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in east Hollywood, a multi-cultural community. During the summer months she attended the Mexican- American Cultural Center in San Antonio, Texas, and completed a Masters in Religious Education at Seattle University. Again, a great part of her ministry was not only the formation of the parents to take leadership and but also to care for the many immigrants and poor who were part of the parish.

From 1978 to 1987 she served as Co-Director of Campus Ministry for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, training, supporting and supervising campus ministry at all the major colleges and universities through out Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties as well as developing special training programs for Catholic student leaders. From 1987 to 1990 she became full time Director of Campus Ministry.

From 1990-1998 she became a consultant to Religious Communities and parishes and traveled throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, England and Ireland providing workshops, training, conflict resolution and personal and staff development. She was frequently sought after because of her expertise in use of the Myers-Briggs instrument and theory for personal and staff development.

In 1998 she joined the Staff of Our Lady of Malibu as a Pastoral Associate where she developed the Rite of Christian Initiation process for fostering the spiritual growth of adults and helping them to become full members of the Catholic community. Key to this ministry was her training and development of parishioners to serve as catechists. She also worked with couples preparing for marriage and couples who were in troubled marriages. She was frequently sought out by parishioners to help them spiritually during difficult times.

She saw the heart of her ministry was to help each person she met to experiences themselves as children of God, created in God’s image, with unique gifts and talents to be used in the service of others. She always said that her job was to work herself out of a job – to empower others to do what she was doing. She had a wonderful ability to help people see themselves as God sees them and then to go out and reshape their world in light of the Gospel. While much of her ministry was with adults, she had a special ability and love for working with troubled children.

Arrangements under the direction of Holy Cross Mortuary, Culver City, CA.