Speaking at the AONTAS Adult Education Summit: Power, Participation and Spiritual Development

Speaking at the AONTAS Adult Education Summit: Power, Participation and Spiritual Development

I was delighted to contribute to the AONTAS Adult Education Summit and to the launch of the 2026 Adult Learner Journal, which includes my article, Power, Participation and Spiritual Development in Post-Catholic Ireland.

The opportunity to speak meant a great deal to me. It represented something of a culmination of a long journey as a woman seeking spaces to talk about faith and spirituality beyond the walls of religious institutions, particularly since leaving a formal Church role.

In my article, I draw on Paulo Freire's ideas about power, participation and critical consciousness to reflect on my own journey from passively receiving ideas about faith towards co-creating spaces for spiritual exploration.

I use the image of gorse – bright, resilient, rooted and difficult to contain – to describe the kinds of spaces that can emerge when people bring their lived experience into dialogue, share leadership and create opportunities for everyone to contribute.

In the article I look at how these spaces can offer those who are somewhat  “over Church, but not over God” a chance to explore questions of meaning, spirituality and belief. I also ask what role adult and community education might play in recognising and supporting such spaces.

What I would love to develop

I am particularly interested in creating more opportunities for adults to explore and express their faith and spirituality together in group settings.

This could take the form of:

• Workshops: facilitated opportunities to explore particular themes, questions and experiences of faith and spirituality.

• Courses: a more sustained journey of shared reflection, dialogue and spiritual development.

• Retreats and gatherings: time and space to step back, listen, reflect and explore together.

These spaces would welcome explicit expressions of faith, including people's relationships with God, religious traditions, scripture, prayer, doubt and belief. They would be participative rather than prescriptive, starting with people's lived experience and allowing different voices and perspectives to contribute.

I am also interested in encouraging and supporting others who would like to create their own Rewilded Faith spaces. I would love to see more people equipped and confident to initiate gatherings and groups in their own communities, shaped by the people who take part.

I am not proposing that adult education become religious education. Rather, I am interested in how adult and community education, and other supportive organisations, might offer connection and encouragement to spaces where adults can explore spirituality without those spaces having to be owned or controlled by an institution.

Could we create a kind of hedgerow – offering support, shelter and connection while allowing the gorse to grow in its own way?

Read the article

The 2026 Adult Learner Journal is available here (my article is on p71):https://www.aontas.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/The_Adult-Learner_2026_WEB.pdf)

I welcome conversations with individuals, groups and organisations interested in adult spiritual development, participative approaches to faith and spirituality, and the possibility of creating or supporting Rewilded Faith spaces.