Brian Lennon SJ’s new book, Mary Magdalene and the Gardener: Women Leaders in the Church  (Messenger Publications), is an examination of the spiritual significance of Mary Magdalene’s relationship to Jesus, the trans-historical significance of the resurrection and the contemporary question of the role of women in the Church.

According to the Irish Jesuit, Mary Magdalene might be the most misunderstood person in the story of Jesus. Yet, she was the first person to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection and she first took the good news of his world-changing resurrection to the apostles.

The book is set in the context of the Amazon Synod in 2019 that raised the question of the role of women in the Church. This prompted the author to ask: “What can the story of Mary Magdalene and her relationship with Jesus, the ‘Gardener’, tell us about the future of women in the Church?”

The book is a meditation on a world changed by one word; the word that made the resurrection real was ‘Mary’.

Brian Lennon SJ has spent over 40 years working in Northern Ireland with a particular focus on the peace process. He is currently Chair of the Board of the Jesuit Refugee Service and Secretary of Dialogue For Diversity that works on issues of migrants, prisoners, conflict, community development and climate. He recently published with Revd Tim Kinahan Does Christ Matter? An Anglican and a Jesuit in Dialogue (Messenger Publications).

Mary Magdalene and the Gardener: Women Leaders in the Church » is published in Ireland and the UK by Messenger Publications and is priced at €7.95/£7.50.

Jesuits in Ireland