Currently serving as executive director of Concern America, an international refugee aid and development organization based in Santa Ana (a position she has held since 1979), Marianne graduated from Mount St. Mary's College with a degree in classical languages; completed the M.A. program of studies in Applied Theology from the School of Applied Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley; and did advanced theology studies at the University of San Francisco.

 

She has also completed the “Training for Transformation” summer school course in Dublin, Ireland, and helped create and now co-facilitates the workshop which resulted from that course, “Developing a Heart that Yearns for Justice.”

 

Marianne has served as the Director of Religious Education in three southern California parishes, two of which are located in Orange County (including St. Joseph Parish, Santa Ana); she is active in parish life and serves on the Social Justice Committee of St. Joseph Church; and she is a member of the Partners in Mission group of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange.

 

Special interests include peace studies, spirituality, ecology, and educational models developed using the methodology of Paulo Freire.

 

During the 1980s Marianne served on the Board of Directors of LULAC Headstart in Long Beach and on the Los Angeles End Hunger Coalition.

Marianne currently serves on the St. Joseph Health System Foundation Board, based in Orange, California.