Born and raised in western Oregon farm country, Bridget soaked in the beauty and fragility of earth up close, fostering a lifelong love of flora, fauna and nature overall; doing daily chores, gardening, running, backpacking and biking, while working on collaborative projects to restore the native habitats of their Yamhill farm. After graduating from Western Oregon University with a degree in education, she heeded a call to join the Franciscan Sisters; soon realizing her path was leading elsewhere, she put her heart into work as a lay leader advocating for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation. After obtaining a Master’s of Divinity in 1990 at the Pacific School of Religion, she headed to Chile as a Maryknoll missioner focusing on ecofeminism and striving to live grassroots solidarity with communities on the margins.
In the late 1990s she returned to the family farm and began building relationships with the Spanish-speaking, immigrant community in Oregon. In 2000 she married another Oregon farm kid, Frank Fromherz, (they had met at Pacific School of Religion in the late 1980s when he was finishing doctoral work at the Graduate Theological Union). In 2002 she co-founded and continues to lead Adelante Mujeres (Rise Up Women), a nonprofit with a mission of holistic cross-generational education, sustainable micro-enterprise development, shared leadership empowerment, and public policy advocacy for immigration reform and other just causes. Adelante Mujeres is now a widely respected Oregon powerhouse for positive social change, helping thousands of women and children to fulfill their dreams and become collaborative leaders for justice and peace.
