Mary Impelman

I am currently working as a Catholic campus minister at Rice University. I love being able to work with college students as I believe this is a crucial time during many young adult’s faith journeys. I have been involved in St. Martha’s Cornerstone Scripture Study as a speaker and small group facilitator, many ACTS Retreats as a team member and served as a Life After Loss grief group facilitator and CCE catechist. 
 
I was blessed to complete a 3-year program with the Houston Cenacle Sisters to become a certified Spiritual Director in 2019. I love to share the gift of spiritual direction with others as it has been personally fruitful for me for over a decade. When I am providing spiritual direction, I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me as I listen with my whole heart to the person seeking direction. It is possible to find God in all things and I believe that spiritual direction helps us to tune into God’s presence in the details of our lives. My style of spiritual direction is heavily influenced by Ignatian spirituality.
 
I am also currently serving as a mentor for the GIVEN Institute. It was originally organized by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious as an attempt to help young Catholic women receive the gift they are, realize the gifts they’ve been given and respond with the gifts only they can give. Their mentoring program provides young, emerging Catholic female leaders throughout the world with guidance, support and accompaniment as they navigate the questions, opportunities and challenges facing contemporary Catholic women.
 
I received my bachelor’s degree from Rice University and my Master of Social Work from the University of Houston. I had previously worked as a medical social worker for several hospices in the Houston area. I have been married for over 25 years to Ryan and we have 2 young adult children, one currently in college and the other in graduate school. 
 
My favorite passage from Scripture is Ephesians 3:14-21, especially verse 17-18: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.