Mary Guilfoyle

Mary Guilfoyle is the former Director of Evangelization and Discipleship at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, Michigan. In that capacity, in addition to serving on the parish leadership team, one of her responsibilities was overseeing and growing one of the largest Alpha programs of any Catholic parish in the United States. Mary served as Hub Church Director for Alpha USA and trained more than 100 parishes on how to integrate Alpha into their pastoral planning in order to be outward-focused missionary parishes. Convinced that programs don’t make disciples but people do, Mary was committed to the development of discipleship strategies that move away from academic models to lived models of discipleship, where the goal is nothing less than the transformation of people, families, workplaces, neighborhoods, and culture. Through trainings, workshops, small group communities, and other relationally-based initiatives, Mary and her team equipped and accompanied ministry leaders, volunteers, and parishioners to be fruitful disciples and disciple makers to live on mission-bearing witness to Jesus Christ. Mary has also mentored parish staff leaders around the country as they discerned how to bring about a culture of evangelization and discipleship in their parish.

Mary was a member of Synod 16 on the New Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Detroit and witnessed the Holy Spirit moving in a powerful way. She eagerly shares the extraordinary pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, with parishes that are passionate about renewal and culture change. Mary has her Bachelor’s Degree from Washburn University and has studied at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. She and her family are committed to the revitalization of Detroit.