06/10/2026
"Arriving in Boston felt like migrating all over again—even after nineteen years in the U.S. I drove long distances for food ingredients that once lived down the street, and I still wince at the 'international aisle,' as if tortillas and frijoles—foods that predate the Constitution on these lands—were foreign to our common table.
Yet in that social dislocation, the CSTM became home: classmates became friends, teachers became mentors and colleagues. In August 2021, my husband, Rudy Flores, and I packed a few belongings (and our two cats) in a Rav4 and drove from California to join the CSTM. He completed the M.T.S. in 2023 and now pursues the S.T.L., and I obtained my Ph.D. last September. This community has formed our minds and held our hearts.
When we lost our first child at five months of gestation, the CSTM wrapped us in prayer and concrete care; professors invited me to make theology from where I was—to craft teología en lo cotidiano from a fresh wound. When our rainbow baby, Kathleen Guadalupe, arrived, the same halls rejoiced. In Simboli Hall, an academic journey became lived spirituality: praying with the city and its changing seasons; practicing Ignatian discernment to 'find God in all things'; trusting with Rahner’s sacramentality of the world and, with Isasi-Díaz, the wisdom that rises from the lived experiences of the pueblo. That is how I see grace in my life: the Spirit apprenticing me through inquiry, embodiment, memory, and community so that everyday life becomes a locus of hope and an encounter of God’s transformative presence.
As I’ve moved to my current role as Director of the M.A. in Ministerial Leadership program, my work has become a pastoral-theological praxis. Curriculum development is where ecclesiology meets formation; advising is cura personalis with academic rigor; recruitment is a ministry of invitation that honors vocation and circumstance; and teaching is theological vocation in action, cultivating sentidos espirituales for executive leadership. What brings me joy is witnessing the students’ transformation: when a case study becomes pastoral imagination, when a strategic framework protects human dignity, when organizational assessment serves the common good. These years have braided transition, grief, and joy, stretching trust and endurance while clarifying a simple petition: may our academic work (research, thinking, discernment, and writing) serve the Church by forming contemplatives in action for the needs of today." -Brenda Noriega-flores, Ph.D. '25, Director of M.A. in Ministerial Leadership
