Newest affiliates' connections with FSPA heartened deeper commitment

The FSPA circle of affiliates recently grew by two, with the addition of Glena Temple and Mary Thompson. Here they share some of the experiences they’ve had along the way to this commitment, and what reaching the milestone means to them.

Glena Temple
Viterbo University was the link between La Crosse, Wisconsin’s Glena Temple and FSPA prayer affiliation. Working with FSPA at Viterbo University, says Glena, made her aware of their mission, and Earl and Marci Madary’s encouragement affirmed the call. “Affiliation offers spiritual growth, a sense of community and opportunities to be involved with projects that I believe in,” she says. Ecological advocacy and social justice issues top her list.

Glena serves another FSPA ministry—education—as Viterbo’s Dean of Letters and Sciences. She began her career as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus (U of M), then went on to become a biology faculty member first at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and then Viterbo. A native of Brockport, N.Y., Glena holds a graduate certificate in program evaluation, a bachelor’s degree in biology from Pennsylvania’s Allegheny College and a Ph.D. in botany and plant science from the University of California, Riverside. Also through the U of M, she is currently working to attain a master’s degree in educational policy and administration.

Kayaking, gardening and reading are activities Glena enjoys. She is married to Stephen Temple, and Mollie Williams is her affiliation sponsor.

Mary Thompson
For Mary Thompson, becoming a covenant affiliate is “a devotion I have been waiting for perhaps my entire life.” She recalls childhood daydreams of proclaiming “out loud in front of strangers my love of Christ.” As an adult, she was drawn closer to her calling when her children participated in a program at Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center in Hiawatha, Iowa. It was ultimately her relationships with Sisters Marlou Ricke (who provided Reiki treatments) and Rita Heires (first her spiritual director and now her FSPA contact) forged during a personal battle with cancer that brought her to join the affiliation fold. “Today, I feel the joy of
affiliation in my heart and unity with the FSPA community in prayer, cosmic awareness, caring for Mother Earth and commitment to issues of social justice,” says Mary.

Currently a parish lector, Mary has played an active role in her faith community. She will assume the position of Church Life/Family Life Committee chair for her new parish this year, and was a key supporter for Sister Laurette Sprosty’s mission work in Zimbabwe at her former parish, St. Ludmila.

Mary is a practitioner of Usai and Karuna Reiki, healing touch and reflexology. She uses her business, Tranquility, as a vehicle to further her healing ministry, working free of charge as much as she can with cancer and hospice patients. “I do this in gratitude for my own good health and well-being,” says Mary. She also serves as a faculty member for the East-West School of Integrative Healing Arts in North Liberty, Iowa. Formerly a speech therapist, Mary held several different positions in the field. She has a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology as well as a master’s degree in speech pathology, both from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.

“Growing up on a farm in Ohio I have always felt God’s loving presence in nature,” says Mary, who likes gardening, hiking, yoga and reading. Wife to Don, mother to Dillon, Elizabeth and Bennett and step-mother of Paige, she resides in North Liberty.