Connie Marshner

Connie Marshner fell in love with Ireland when she was in middle school and with the Eastern Church when she found Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia, a few years later. She heard echoes of Eastern hymnody in some late-antique Irish prayers and poetry, and the pursuit of a master’s degree in Gaelic literature at University College Cork gave her the opportunity to do in-depth research on the topic.  Monastery and High Cross is drawn from her 2022 dissertation. A teacher of Gaeilge, she is the chair of the Saints and Scholars Foundation, which supports a new model of faithful Catholic education for modern secular Ireland, www.saintsandscholars.us. She lives in Front Royal, Virginia.