Limerick native elected international president of religious society

THE FIRST ever of its kind, a Limerick man has been elected as president of a religious society. 

Reverend Dr Michael O’Sullivan, SJ has been elected president of the international Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality (SSCS) in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr O’Sullivan is a native of Limerick and was a pupil at Crescent College Limerick. He is the first ever Jesuit anywhere in the world to be elected to this position.

According to Professor Douglas E. Christie of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles: “Professor O’Sullivan is widely recognized by his North American peers as being one of the most consistently thoughtful and informed European voices on the place and meaning of spirituality in the contemporary world.”

Dr O’Sullivan is also a member of the Executive Committee of the International Network for the Study of Spirituality (INSS), another leading international organisation for the study of and research in spirituality in higher education.

In July, Dr O’Sullivan addressed the fourth biennial conference of SSCS in Adelaide, Australia where he was introduced as “probably the most networked scholar in the field of spirituality studies”.

Dr O’Sullivan is the founding Director of the Spirituality Institute for Research and Education (SpIRE) which is based in Dublin. The Institute collaborates with the South East Technological University (SETU) to deliver postgraduate programmes and research activity in the field of spirituality studies.

“Through his teaching, writing, public speaking, administrative service, and tireless efforts to build networks of collaboration Dr Michael O’Sullivan, SJ has inspired colleagues and students not only in Ireland but throughout the world.” said Professor Arthur Holder, John Dillenberger Professor of Christian Spirituality, Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, CA.