Mary Bea Sullivan

Mary Bea Sullivan is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, retreat leader, and entrepreneur. A graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary, Mary Bea currently serves as Associate Rector at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Ala. Author of Living the Way of Love: A 40-Day Devotional (Church Publishing, 2019), Living Awake: Forty Days Toward Renewal (Wheatmark, 2010), and Dancing Naked Under the Moon: Uncovering the Wisdom Within (Sophia House Press, 2008), Mary Bea was a featured author at the Amelia Island Book Festival. She chairs the Commission on Spirituality in the Diocese of Alabama, serves on the faculty for the Metagem Institute, and is a member of Contemplative Outreach Birmingham. Prior to attending seminary, Mary Bea founded Project Compassion, a community-based nonprofit in Chapel Hill, N.C., which was recognized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a national model end-of-life care coalition. Project Compassion was a collaboration among Duke University, the University of North Carolina, faith communities, and retirement facilities. Mary Bea also led career development programs at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Reared in a large Catholic family, Mary Bea veered off that path in her mid-twenties and began an expansive exploration of faith that included seeking God in the natural world, Tibetan Buddhism, and yoga. Ultimately, her Buddhist teacher, the late Lama Norlha Rinpoche, encouraged her return to her Christian roots. Mary Bea laughingly identifies this time as, "when I was kicked out of Buddhism." Mary Bea is married to the Rev. Dr. Malcolm Marler, Senior Director of Pastoral Care at UAB Hospital. They have two adult children, Brendan and Kristin. The family enjoys travel and the outdoors, especially hiking.