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The Rev. Karen Brenna MacQueen – an Episcopal priest, registered nurse clinician, and spiritual director with extensive experience in Indian religion and philosophy – died Feb. 10 at age 80 after an extended illness. She is survived by a niece, friends, and colleagues in interfaith ministries. At her request, no services are planned.
MacQueen, who also identified as a member of the Nayaswami order, was active with The Guibord Center: Religion Inside Out, leading online presentations on topics including “Spiritual Tools for Centering and Grounding,” “Dual Belonging,” and “What Does It Mean to Hold Fierce Compassion in a Fractured World.” An LBGTQ+ advocate, MacQueen also spoke on topics of intersex identity and experience.
She collaborated with the late Rev. Dr. Gwynne Guibord on interfaith programs, including a liturgy that combined both Hindu and Christian faith expressions.
Fascinated in the 1970s by Indian spirituality, MacQueen volunteered for two years with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta and traveled extensively visiting India’s holy cities of Rishikesh, Varanasi, Puri, and Vrindavana. In South India she met Faither Bede Griffiths, spiritual director of the Christian ashram Shantivanam, whom she credited with showing her “it was possible to live fully as a disciple of Jesus while exploring Indian spirituality.”
Born in Welland, Ontario, Canada, MacQueen was raised Roman Catholic and received into the Episcopal Church at St. Paul’s, Pomona, in 1997 by Bishop Frederick H. Borsch. She was sponsored for ordination by St. Paul’s and earned a master of divinity degree from Claremont School of Theology/Bloy House. She was ordained to the diaconate in 2003 and the priesthood in 2004 by Bishop J. Jon Bruno. MacQueen then served as associate rector of St. Paul’s until 2012.