A systems analyst decided to follow her dream without waiting to win the lotto, writes Sylvia Thompson
Forty-eight year-old Elaine Murray shows me into a cosy sittingroom in the groundfloor flat of St Canice's Cathedral Library where she, her husband, Liam, and their children, Conor (17) and Aíne (14), live while Murray fulfils her role as curate of St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny city.
We sit down to chat about her extraordinary career change, from systems analyst to Anglican priest, and two hours fly by as Murray shares some of the myriad details of her personal and professional life which led to this point.
The youngest of five children, Elaine Murray left school at 15 to work as a cash clerk in a builders' providers in Pearse Street, Dublin. Four years earlier her father had died from lung cancer and her mother died 11 months later from cervical cancer.
"I had three older sisters and an older brother who were very supportive but it wasn't unusual to leave school after the Intermediate Certificate in those days."
However, within a few years, Murray had begun working in computer systems and, at the age of 19, a job with the American computer manufacturing company, Amdahl in Swords, Co Dublin, brought her the opportunity to return to her studies.
"I started out as a key punch operator and eight years later, I was a programmer," she says.
"American companies were great at that time. If you were a good worker, you got on."
Studying by night, Murray did her Leaving Certificate, the British Computer Society Examinations in Kevin Street Institute of Technology, a distance learning course with the Open University and a diploma in Management Information Systems at the Irish Management Institute.
Meanwhile, she had married Liam Murray, "her first serious boyfriend". In 1988, when Liam took a redundancy package from Telecom Éireann, they decided to move to Holland where Murray's older sister, Ann, already lived.
"We wanted a bit of an adventure and we were fed up paying over 60 per cent of our earnings in tax in a country where hospital wards were closing down."
At the time, Murray was working for Royal Life Insurance and when she went to hand in her notice, she was offered a transfer to Utrecht. The Murrays settled into Dutch life well and their children, Conor and Aíne, were born while they were there. "I am so glad that I had my children in Holland as I benefited from the fantastic midwife system there.
"With Conor, the midwife drove me to the clinic, used a delivery suite there and brought me home 11 hours later. And Aíne was born at home with the support of a midwife."
It was while she was living in Holland that Murray was drawn to religious worship. "I'd never been religious in terms of organised religion. I was brought up a Catholic but I stopped going to Mass when my parents died. I got married in a Catholic church because Liam was still a practising Catholic.
"But, when I was in Holland, I began to realise that I was missing community worship and all that comes with being involved with a church. I started to go to the fairs and bazaars and then to services at the Anglican church in Utrecht."
Then, when the Murrays returned to live in Ireland in 1996, Elaine Murray started attending the Church of Ireland church in Greystones, Co Wicklow.
"It was a wonderful community to join and Edgar Swann, the rector there, is an inspirational preacher and a lovely human being. I began teaching Sunday School and, more specifically, I gave up a masters in business administration - which I had begun in my new job with Bank of Ireland - to do a two-year part-time certificate course in theology."
It was a conversation with fellow workers about what you would do if you won the lotto that led Murray to seriously consider becoming an Anglican priest. "I said to myself, why would I wait to win the lotto to do this and when I told Liam that I'd like to study to become a priest, he said, 'I was waiting for you to say that'."
After that, Murray set about finding out more about how one becomes an Anglican priest.
"I discovered that I had to meet the Director of Ordinand who would then invite me to join a fellowship of other people who were seeking to study at the Church of Ireland theological college.
"After one year in this fellowship of vocation, I had to be sponsored by a bishop. This process included seeing a psychologist to check if my motives were genuine. Once nominated by a bishop, I could then begin the course."
And so, in September 2002, Murraybegan a three-year full-time course in theology, living from Monday to Friday in the hall of residence in Rathmines, Dublin. "I couldn't have done it without Liam who was at home full-time with the children at that stage.
"We also got a dog, Chester, who held us all together over those three years. Financially, it was very tough but I got a grant from the church and from Wicklow County Council. Friends looked out for us as a family and Greystones parish was very supportive."
Murray says that she loved studying during the day for the first time in her life. "I still miss aspects of living in the college. I made great friends. It's amazing to spend time with people who are passionate about the same things as you are yourself."
In June 2005, Murray was ordained as a deacon and then in June 2006, she was ordained an Anglican priest and appointed as "the bishop's vicar" or curate to the Kilkenny group of churches.
"We have four churches in total - The Cathedral, St John's Church and churches in Kilmanagh and Freshford. It's such varied work. Apart from the liturgical work, I do assembly in Kilkenny College, I teach confirmation classes and I do chaplaincy work in the County Hospital. I've also started a junior choir and a theological book club."
She plans to stay as curate in St Canice's Cathedral for another year. "Three years is the usual time to stay. At that stage, Conor will have done his Leaving Certificate and Aíne will be going into fifth year. It will be time to move on.
"When you become a rector of a parish, there will be no more strategic ignorance," she says.
"The buck will stop with me then."