Ellen Webber is a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) student at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. She holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Toronto (2016) and has worked for the past decade as a policy analyst, with a focus on the Canadian labour market, undocumented migration and indigenous reconciliation. She is a member-in-formation with the Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey.
When we perceive La Santa Muerte devotees as people operating outside of the rules instead of people seeking God in the messiness of a broken world, we miss the fundamentally holy desires that operate alongside the damaged ones in these practices.