Sr. Bridget Tighe with the children of fisherment who live on the border with Egypt. (Provided photo)
by Sarah Mac Donald
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Sr. Bridget Tighe, a member of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood (FMDM), is executive director of Caritas Jerusalem in Gaza.
She began her postulancy at the FMDM motherhouse in the United Kingdom on June 25, 1965, and in the five decades since has served Palestinian refugees in Jordan as a nurse and midwife, studied theology at Cambridge University, specialized in health management at the London School of Economics, successfully launched the prestigious Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology in Cambridge, and served as vice rector of Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem.
She "absolutely loved theology" and would gladly have done further studies at Cambridge University, but her management skills were much sought after. Her role at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology combined both theology and management: Faced with the challenges of having no money, no building and no students, she was undaunted and stayed in the role for 11 years (1994-2005) and even managed to get the mortgage on the institute's building paid off before embarking on her next project.
