Trish McBride was born in Lancaster, England and came to Aotearoa New Zealand in 1952. For most of her life she was deeply involved in the Catholic Church. She has subsequently spent times with ExAlt, a women's spirituality group, a Progressive Presbyterian parish, and the Religious Society of Friends, and now identifies as post-denominational. Now retired, Trish has been a spiritual director, chaplain in various contexts, counsellor and supervisor. She is mother to 7 and delighted grandmother to 23, some acquired, and is now (2024) happily settled in a retirement village.A high point in her writing career was as a prize-winner in a 1994 international competition for religious journalism awarded by The Tablet, London. Others have been contributing chapters to five Aotearoa Catholic-based theology books, (The God Book, A Thinkers Guide to Sin, Journeying into Prayer, But is it Fair? and Living in the Planet Earth), publication of two academic papers in USA, and completing her own unintended trilogy: Faith Evolving, Exploring the Presence and A Love Quilt.Many of the articles and poems in her books have previously appeared in a variety of publications. Formal studies included MA (Hons) in Classics, Diploma in Pastoral Ministry and Recognition as an Associate in Christian Ministry (interdenominational).Involvements include family, social justice, nurturing friendships, quilting, reading, swimming, walking and occasional painting.
"""Faith Evolving: A Patchwork Journey is both spiritual biography and contextual theology. It is a work so much more contextual and potentially valuable for us in Aotearoa New Zealand than even those other great writings by Teresa of Avila or Gregory of Nyssa. Using poems and articles, Trish McBride charts her journey over a thirty-year period from her identity and participation in the Catholic Church to her spiritual search elsewhere. The 'patches' of writing from across this time are threaded together with a brief text that connects them to the overall story. They reveal the struggle, courage, commitment and beauty of a woman's intense relationship with God, family, church and community, and the changing character and understanding of those relationships. Trish engages with philosophical and theological thought, with psychology and developmental theory as she reflects on the meaning of her experiences. Personal and professional encounters with alcoholism, pregnancies, widowhood, HIV / AIDS, sexual abuse by clergy, domestic violence, the mental health arena, and leaving her church have all provoked reflection. This book is a contribution to theological conversation in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. Although Faith Evolving: A Patchwork Journey is a personal account, it mirrors the experiences and stories of other women in and beyond the Christian churches of Australasia. Though these churches provide person-al and community support through liturgical and spiritual nourishment, they are also responsible at times for heartbreakingly abusive attitudes and behaviour towards women and children. Trish reveals some of this underside and some of the healing that is probably never enough. However, the author's voice is not bitter or unforgiving - it is much more compassionate and prophetic."" Dr Ann Gilroy, School of Theology, The University of Auckland ""A work of scholarship ... profound, with wonderful everydayness and simplicity that shine through."" Helen Simmons, Women's Studies Journal, spring 2006 ""Fine, rich writing filled with metaphor and symbol."" Mel Bogard, Friends' Newsletter, April 2006 ""A book to enjoy only if one is prepared to savour, mull over and meditate on it. I warmly recommend it."" Sr Mary Scanlon, LCM, Wellington ""Trish McBride has a sharpened awareness of someone who is sensitively in touch with the God who embraces every moment of her life. Her engaging book tells the power of story and the gift of the reflected life."" Joan McFetridge, Tui Motu, Nov. 2005 ""Common threads - how amazing to read someone else's story and find in it your own! Trish has journeyed from charismatic community, parish ministry and contemplative explorations through a crisis which propelled her into more radical questioning of the status quo. She is at home now, accompanied by friends, with a faith beyond church and institution. Trish points out, through use of James Fowler's 'stages of faith' that her story is also that of all who have gone on a spiritual quest - it is a path well-travelled, though sadly rarely understood by those within the church. Many have found that to keep travelling they have to leave the church that nurtured them and find other companions on the Way. Among those companions are books such as Faith Evolving: A Patchwork Journey - in them we see our own stories reflected, and known that we are not alone."" Rosemary Neave, futurechurch"