115+ VOICES
FOR YOU!
8 - 14 Oct
BIOGRAPHIES OF ALL OF OUR VOICES / SPEAKERS
| Speakers | Bio |
|---|---|
| Abraham, Kochurani | Kochurani Abraham is a feminist theologian, gender researcher and trainer from India. She has a Licentiate in Systematic Theology and PhD in feminist theology and she engages with the academia and grassroots for a liberative praxis. She is the former national convener of the Indian Christian Women’s Movement (ICWM), an autonomous movement of Christian women committed to justice concerns in the Indian Church and society. Kochurani is one of the founding members of ‘Sisters in Solidarity’ (SIS), a group that is supporting women survivors of clergy sexual abuse in India. She is a regular contributor to journals and magazines that focus on justice and liberation in the Church and in the wider society. |
| Albano, Sam | Sam Albano is a writer, educator and member of the LGBTQI Catholic community. He is the current Secretary of DignityUSA, the oldest and largest organization of LGBTQI Catholics. A graduate of Saint Joseph's College, Indiana, he is the author of "God's Works Revealed: Spirituality, Theology and Social Justice for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Catholics." |
| Alfred, Taiaiake | Gerald Taiaiake Alfred is a scholar in indigenous nationalism, Iroquois history and indigenous traditions of government. Born in 1965, he is a Kahnawà:ke Mohawk writer, researcher, policy analyst, and political strategist with more than three decades of experience in First Nations governance, politics and cultural restoration and impact assessments. He was a university professor for 25 years, during which time he founded Concordia University's Centre for Native Education and the University of Victoria's Indigenous Governance Program. Taiaiake Alfred left academia in 2019 and is now devoted to working directly with his own and other indigenous people to breathe life into the ancestral visions of nationhood and on cultural revitalisation and environmental restoration. |
| Alison, James | Dr James Alison is a Catholic theologian, priest, and author. James was brought up in an Evangelical Anglican family, and became a Catholic at the age of 18 in 1978. He was ordained priest in 1988. Having lived with the Dominican Order between 1981 and 1995, James now works as an itinerant preacher, lecturer and retreat giver. He has a mission to bring the work of French historian and polymath Rene Girard to a wider public. His books include Faith Beyond Resentment: Fragments Catholic and Gay. He is known for his pastoral outreach in the LGBTQ+ community. |
| Almeida, Ruby | Ruby Almeida was born in Jodhpur, India. She was brought up with an Almeida identity that was both strongly Catholic and Indian from an early age. After moving to England, she attended a Catholic school in Richmond, before embarking on a decade’s long career in the media industry. She has been an advocate for LGBT+ recognition and their rights with our Church for several decades, with a focus not just on what is happening the the Global North but particularly about what is not happening the the Global South. Ruby set up Rainbow Catholic India and then Bridge & Embrace, the first LGBT groups in India and is current Chair of the LGBT+ Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council in London. |
| Anne, A711, | Anne is a survivor of clergy sexual abuse who was groomed as a 15 year old and abused for years after. She gave evidence to the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, detailing the appalling way in which the Church responded to her when she came forward many years later to report what had happened. She continues today to fight for justice, not just for herself but for other victims and survivors with the hope that there might be some meaningful change' |
| Badini Confalonieri, Luca | Dr Luca Badini Confalonieri Director of the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, Luca is author of Democracy in the Catholic Church: An Historical, Theological and Political Case (2012) and The Election of Bishops by Clergy and People: Antonio Rosmini's Neglected Solution, Theological Studies (2012). He is also coordinator of ‘A Proposed Constitution for the Catholic Church’ (2022), available in English, French, Spanish, and German on the Wijngaards Institute website. |
| Baird, Sr Anita | A native of Chicago, Sister Anita Baird is a member of the Religious Congregation of the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, having served as Regional Superior, Provincial Councilor, and most recently as United States Provincial. In 1997 she became the first African American to serve as Chief of Staff to the Archbishop of Chicago and in 2000, Cardinal Francis George appointed her the founding director of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Racial Justice. Sister Anita’s first love is preaching God’s Word, which she has done around the country for more than a decade. Her motto of faith is “Do whatever He tells you”. |
| Balcombe, Sherry | Sherry Balcombe has been the Coordinator of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in Victoria, Australia since 2015. As an Aboriginal Olkola/Djabaguy woman, she is part of, and dedicated to, the communities in Victoria, working towards ensuring a positive present and a vibrant future for all community members. Sherry has been the Victorian representative for National Aboriginal Islanders Catholic Council for seven years and works with the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency in foster care and family group homes. She is on the selection committee for the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Role. |
| Beattie, Tina | Professor Tina Beattie is a British Christian theologian, writer and broadcaster. She is a long-standing advocate of a more prominent role of women in the Catholic Church. who has researched and published widely on women in the Church. Her theological contribution is focused on Catholic theology and psychoanalytic theory; gender and sexuality; Marian theology; theology and literature and art; atheism and religion; women's rights. Tina is the founder of Catholic Women Speak, a worldwide online forum for women in the Church and until 2020 was the Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton in London and Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Religion, Society and Human Flourishing. In retirement, she remains Director of Catherine of Siena College. |
| 'Biggie' | ‘Biggie’, not her real name, is the executive director of Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG) the oldest solely Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer women’s organisation in Uganda that actively leads and organises on sexual orientation and gender identity through advocacy, lobbying and dialogue to create greater visibility and voice. Due to the recent inhuman anti- homosexuality legislation in Uganda LGBTQIA+ people and their allies are being persecuted. ‘Offenders’ face the death penalty and landlords or allies 20 years in prison. Catholic bishops in Uganda have done nothing to protest against this legislation. |
| Blair, Mrs Cherie | Cherie Blair CBE, KC is a leading barrister with over 35 years’ experience. She studied law at the London School of Economics and is the Founder and Chair of the pioneering law firm Omnia Strategy where she focuses on cross-border dispute resolution, commercial arbitration, mediation and human rights. Cherie is a strong advocate for women’s rights and in 2008 founded the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, which has had a significant and measurable impact on the lives of more than 230,000 women entrepreneurs in 105 countries, especially in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. As well as fighting for human rights in her professional career, Cherie is an active campaigner on equality and human rights issues. |
| Boff, Leonardo | Leonardo Boff born in Concórdia (Santa Catarina, Brazil) in 1938, is one of the founding fathers of Liberation Theology and a leading exponent of eco-theology. Condemned in 1985 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the ideas expressed in his book Church: Charism and Power – Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church, he left the Franciscan order in 1992 and pursued his activity as a lay theologian. He won the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize (Right Livelihood Award) in 2001. Together with Mark Hathaway, he wrote The Tao of Liberation: Exploring the Ecology of Transformation (Orbis, 2009). He has written about 100 books in the areas of theology, philosophy, ethics, spirituality, and ecology. |
| Bond, Helen K | Helen K. Bond is Professor of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh. Her books focus on the social and political history of Judaea under Roman rule, the historical Jesus, and the canonical gospels. Originally from a small village in the North-East of England Helen studied for her first degree at the University of St Andrews, graduating with a first in Biblical Studies. She went on to do a PhD at Durham University, spending a year in Tuebingen (Germany). From July 2011 to July 2018 Helen was Director of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins (CSCO). Since August 2018, Helen has had the great honour of being Head of the School of Divinity. She's contributed to over 50 TV and radio documentaries, and (with Joan Taylor) both co-presented the popular TV documentary Jesus’ Female Disciples (C4, 2018) and co-authored Women Remembered: Jesus’ Female Disciples (Hodder, 2022). With journalist Dave Roos, she hosts the podcast Biblical Time Machine. |
| Braganza Passanha | Raynah Braganza Passanha is the National Convenor of Indian Christian Women’s Movement. She is also Director of the Poona Diocesan Women's Commission and a member of the Indian Women Theologians Forum and the Indian Catechetical Association. Raynah is also involved with the CCBI Commission for Catechesis, as well as the Jyana Deep Vidyapeeth, Ishvani Kendra Pune and the Catholic Religious of India [CRI]. She has been published in several catholic journals at the national level, and has presented papers at national conferences of the Catholic Church in India. |
| Brown, Pat | Pat Brown has been a member of many, mostly secular, campaigning groups, motivated by the injustice brought about by sexism and misogyny in the Catholic Church affecting both men and women. She first became involved in a Christian campaign when joining the Leeds group of Church Action on Poverty, which she went on to chair. Pat attended the first meeting of the Catholic Women’s Ordination group in 1993 and became membership secretary and treasurer. She served on the steering group for Women’s Ordination Worldwide and remains involved in that campaign. |
| Cahill, Des | Theologically and psychologically trained, Emeritus Professor Desmond Cahill from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia was educated theologically trained at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome and psychologically at Melbourne and Monash Universities. Ordained in 1970, he did a career switch in 1976 to become a Professor of Intercultural Studies. He and Maria are the proud parents of two daughters and four grandchildren. Professor Cahill was a senior consultant with his research colleague (Dr. Peter Wilkinson) on the Catholic Church to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. |
| Carroll, James | James Carroll was born and raised in America, studied to MA level, and following his vocation to become a Roman Catholic priest, was ordained in 1969. He served as Catholic chaplain at Boston University during which time he wrote passionately against the Vietnam war. Disillusioned with the church, he left the priesthood in 1974 to become a deeply thoughtful and incisive author. In 2001, he wrote a book, Constantine’s Sword, about Christian anti-semitism. His most recent book, The Truth at the Heart of the Lie is a deeply personal exploration of what he says has “broken” the modern Catholic Church. |
| Chettiar, Sr Anita | Sr Anita Chettier, tells her story of clerical sexual assault and attempted rape. Speaking out against the culture of silence in episode 7 from Voices of Faith series ‘Sister, what do you say?’ – disclosing what happened as a service to the church. Every day religious sisters do fundamental work for the Church all over the world. Yet they rarely have the structures and tools at their disposal for effective work and leadership, the freedom and self-determination necessary for peaceful spiritual development, and simple respect for their expertise, experience and spiritual resources. Too often this situation leads to various kinds of abuse: economical, spiritual, sexual, abuse of power or conscience and others. The harm to religious sisters, the waste of their potential and the disregard of the great work they do, is not just their concern. Women religious are part of the Church, part of a community in which we are all responsible for one another. In this section we offer materials that might be useful for religious sisters and all women who consider choosing consecrated life. |
| Chittister, Sr Joan | Sr Joan Chittister is one of the most influential religious and social leaders of our time. For over 50 years she has passionately advocated on behalf of peace, human rights, women’s issues, and monastic and church renewal. A much sought-after international speaker, she is also a best-selling author of more than 60 books, hundreds of articles, and an online column for the National Catholic Reporter 'The Time is Now' (Penguin Random House) is her most recent published exhortation for a Vatican II spirituality. According to the Chicago Tribune, "Chittister has earned her place as one of the illuminators of our age". Orbis Books identifies her as one of the 'Modern Spiritual Masters' of this age. She has served as president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and president of the Conference of American Benedictine Prioresses, and for 12 years, she was prioress of her community, the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania. Sister Joan is executive director of Benetvision, a resource and research centre for contemporary spirituality, and animator of the online movement, Monasteries of the Heart. She holds a doctorate in communications from Penn State University. |
| Chowallur, Sr Prema | Sister Prema Chowallur belongs to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod in India, and has been working with the most marginalised and voiceless people in society since 2015. When she found that the most marginalised were both gender and sexual minorities, Prema founded the Rainbow Home of Seven Sisters (RHoSS) to give food, shelter, clothing, education and health support to transgender persons and survivors of human trafficking. She also works with other like-minded NGOs. |
| Chown, Mary Ellen | Mary Ellen Chown is an educator and writer/poet from Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Mary Ellen has been an active member of the Catholic Network for Women’s Equality, (CNWE) in Canada for 23 years. |
| Coll, Kathy | Kathy Coll is part of the Awake Milwaukee community. Awake is a community of abuse survivors, their loved ones, and ordinary Catholics coming together for a shared mission of awakening, transformation, and healing. "Our mission is to awaken our community to the full reality of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, work for transformation, and foster healing for all who have been wounded". |
| Colville, Mark | Mark Colville has run a house of hospitality in New Haven, Connecticut, USA known as the Amistad Catholic Worker, for the past three decades. A staunch supporter of the poor, and an outspoken advocate on human rights with the mission to decriminalize homelessness, Mark has opened his own backyard to his unhoused neighbors, offering them a piece of land and giving them a home of their own. He is currently working with a group of local volunteers to raise funds for the Rosette Neighborhood Village, a collection of tiny homes that he plans to erect in his backyard. In 2019, he was named Person of the Year by the New Haven Register for his support of homeless rights and commitment to hospitality and community. |
| Conway, Maggie | Maggie Conway is a core member of Root & Branch and founder member of the Implementation Team for Spirit Unbounded. Maggie's master's degree in Design Research for Disability and subsequent book explores how communities are excluded and marginalised. Maggie believes we have a duty to act in the pursuit of justice for all. She is an NGO conservation volunteer, former occupational therapist, healthcare governance/compliance lead, academic and peer reviewer. Maggie and her husband, Giovanni Zammit, are parents to their two grown, adopted children. Maggie believes that the primacy of conscience leads us to be the Church Jesus called us to be. |
| Corbitt, Cathy | Cathy Corbitt is a retired teacher and librarian from Perth, Western Australia. She has degrees in Education and Religious Studies, and a Diploma of Spirituality from Adhyatma Vidya Peetham, Bangalore, India (affiliated to the Teresianum in Rome). Prior to teaching she was a Carmelite nun for nine years. She is married to retired Anglican priest, Dominic Spinosi, and has one son, 34-year-old Joseph. She is a passionate member of reform groups in Australia and is on the Executives of the local Council of Catholic Women Perth, the national Women and the Australian Church (WATAC), and the international Catholic Women's Council. She is an avid reader of theology and leads two theological study groups. |
| D’Souza, Neilan Sylvester | Neilan Sylvester D’souza is vice president of Yeah India, a Tamil Nadu group which aims to provide platforms for learning and sharing among its constituencies and building solidarity in pursuit of a common vision for transformation. Neilan has also produced and narrated a video, "Emerging Church" which argues for four things: a Church which is not a building or a structure; a Church which especially works for the needs of the marginalised ; a Church which is visionary and action-led; and a Church that is free from abuse. |
| Daley, John | Fr John Daley is from Wales and is the priest serving the parish of St Joseph's, Leicester, in the UK, and spiritual leader and founder of the Watermead Apostolate, a faith-sharing music and publishing venture founded in 1992. He is a Rosminian, having joined the Institute of Charity in 1953, and has served as a priest in parish, school and mission locations in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada. He was studying in Rome during Vatican II and is one of the few who can now recount with first-hand experience the detail and excitement of those years. Through his homilies, retreats, broadcasts and writings Fr John has never been shy of taking on challenging issues of justice and discrimination and has always voiced his support publicly for those who have been hurt and abused by our Catholic Church. |
| Daniel, Sr Nasreen | Sr Dr Nasreen Daniel is a member of the US Sisters of Loretto. From Lahore, Pakistan, she obtained paralegal training and a Master's in English in Pakistan. Further studies in India and the Netherlands included international law and theology, social studies, counseling and religious studies. She taught in seminaries in Pakistan, in academies in the United States, and was a field worker and journalist for the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, a Muslim/Christian consortium, and has published in English, Urdu and Dutch. Since 2016, she has been the chairperson for the Major Superiors Leadership Conference of Pakistan. |
| David, Yuval | Yuval David is an Emmy Award winning actor, host, filmmaker, and news commentator. His work has been screened at numerous international film festivals and garnered over 100 awards. Yuval’s work is seen on ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO, FX, and Hulu. He engages in extensive advocacy work for LGBTQ+, Jewish, and other social justice causes, including as an advisor to over 40 organisations. He meets with elected officials and foreign dignitaries to advance humanitarian causes. In collaboration with international organisations, Yuval helps rescue LGBTQ+ people from dangerous and life-threatening situations, helping them escape torture, rape and persecution and obtain secret passage to safe havens in other nations. |
| Devlin, Brian | Brian Devlin was ordained to the priesthood in 1985. During his time in seminary he was abused by the seminary Spiritual Director, Keith O’Brien. O’Brien, who died in 2018, was later appointed Archbishop, then Cardinal, but was forced to resign after serious allegations of sexual misconduct emerged. Brian was one of a group of priests who whistleblew about the predations of the Cardinal as he was about to attend the conclave which appointed Pope Francis. After O’Brien was made an Archbishop, Brian left the priesthood to work with heroin addicts and prostitutes during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Edinburgh. His book about whistleblowing in the Church, ‘Cardinal Sin: Challenging Power Abuse in the Catholic Church, was published in 2021. Brian is a core member of Root and Branch and founder member of the Spirit Unbounded Implementation Team. |
| Doyle, Tom | Tom Doyle was ordained a Catholic priest in the Dominican Order in 1970. He spent 19 years as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force. He has worked as a parish priest, church administrator and teacher. He is also a certified addictions therapist. Tom has been directly involved with clergy sexual abuse since 1982. His involvement includes pastoral/spiritual support for victims and their families, canonical advocacy, consultant and expert witness in civil and criminal litigations, writer and lecturer. Tom’s educational background includes a doctorate in Canon Law and Master’s degrees in philosophy, theology, Church administration, Canon Law and Political Science. |
| Duddy-Burke, Marianne | Marianne Duddy-Burke is the executive director of DignityUSA, which represents the majority of U.S. Catholics who support justice, equality, and full inclusion of LGBTQI people in the church and society. She is also Co-Chair of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics. Marianne is DignityUSA’s primary spokesperson and has represented the organisation in countless news stories and interviews in national and international media of all kinds. She speaks regularly at conferences throughout the United States on issues of importance to LGBTQI Catholics and their families. Marianne received a Master of Divinity degree from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was an Honours graduate of Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. |
| Duignan, Miriam | Miriam Duignan is Communications Director for the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research and has been a campaigner for justice in the Catholic Church since 2010. The Wijngaards Institute is dedicated to bringing about reform through educational materials available to Catholics globally as well as influencing decision makers inside the Vatican. She also serves on the leadership team for Women’s Ordination Worldwide, a network of global member groups challenging discrimination against women and working for the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church. Miriam was born in England to Irish parents, educated by Dominican nuns, completed a degree in Russian and German as well as postgraduate studies at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. |
| El Khabbaz, Dolly | Dolly Khabbaz is an architect and university teacher in architecture. She is an activist and a founder of Khalas movement, aiming to protect women's rights through a civil prenuptial agreement in a religious marriage in Lebanon. Dolly also aims to strengthen women's faith in God. |
| Ewins, Tif | Reverend Tiffany-Alice Ewins is a Church of England vicar at St Michael’s Wandsworth Common. She took up the post in 2017 and before that was a curate at St Paul's Brixton, London. Tif trained for ministry at St Mellitus College and Kings College London, where she was awarded an MA in Theology, Politics and Faith Based Organisations. She holds a BA in Theology from Oxford University and is married to James, and has four children. |
| Exall, Maria | Maria Exall is an active trade unionist and national union representative and has been at the forefront of trade union and labour movement campaigns for equality and social justice in the workplace and in wider society. She wss the President of the Trades Union Congress 2022-3, a member of the Communication Workers Union and Vice Chair of LabourUnions. Maria is a founder member of the TUC Faith & Belief network and believes that Catholic social teaching on trade union rights is central for the future of the Church. She is an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice at Durham University and an associate member of the Las Casas Institute at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford. |
| Fontanilla, Gigi | Gigi Fontanilla is part of the Awake Milwaukee community. Awake is a community of abuse survivors, their loved ones, and ordinary Catholics coming together for a shared mission of awakening, transformation, and healing. "Our mission is to awaken our community to the full reality of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, work for transformation, and foster healing for all who have been wounded". |
| Fortunae, Benedicta Stella | Benedicta Stella Fortunae holds a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Universitas Kristen Indonesia and is currently pursuing a master's degree in English Language Studies at Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta. Her research interests are women’s studies and postcolonialism. Her activism in the Catholic church and human rights started in 2017 when she joined KOMJak, a Catholic youth community-based in Jakarta and she is now also active in various women empowerment groups. As a representative of Indonesia Youth Activists, Benedicta participated in the Asian Youth Academy/Asia Theology Forum in The Philippines (2018)and Thailand (2019). She is a member of the Indonesia translator team for Human Rights Watch. |
| Gameau, Damon | Damon Gameau is an Australian actor and director. His five minute short film “What is Regeneration?” features climate action leaders like Jeff Bridges, Paul Hawken, Christiana Figueres, Kate Raworth and Damon Gameau, and other regenerators from around the world and is a rousing call to action for people to join a global movement of regenerators who are working to heal the world’s social and eco systems. The co-founder of Regen Studios, Damon’s feature documentary, 2040, explores what the future would look like by the year 2040 if we embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet. It is one of the top five highest grossing documentaries in Australia. |
| Gibson, Charlie | Dr. Charlie Gibson was in the Jesuits for 11 years (1958-1969). Although he left the Jesuits, he loved what he was doing - working with developing countries, especially Ecuador, in economic development - but discerned that he was not cut out for a celibate life. Charlie now has a rich family life as a husband, father and grandfather. Nevertheless, he kept up with theology, Church history. After leaving the Jesuits, Charlie spent 20 years at General Motors, and had executive experience in strategic planning and corporate governance. For the past three years, he has been a colleague with Rene Reid in Catholic Church Reform International. |
| Glynn, John | John M Glynn was born in Ireland in 1936 and educated by the Christian Brothers in Kilrush, and then by the Vincentian Fathers at St. Vincent’s College, Castleknock, Dublin. In 1976, John went to Australia to study for the Catholic Priesthood for the Diocese of Kavieng until 1980. Attended St. Paul’s Late Vocation Seminary at Kensington, Sydney and helped out in Bexley Parish, and with St. Vincent de Paul Maternal Heart Conference in the city. In 1987 John became a citizen of Papua New Guinea and since then has shared his time between PNG, Ireland and the UK. In 2015 and at age 79, he retired from teaching but is still a priest assisting at Sacred Heart Parish, Hohola. |
| Gueverra, Mark | Mark Guevarra is a board member at CLC and doctoral student at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He has an interest in how restorative justice practices are necessary on the road to a synodal church, especially in restoring relationships between LGBTQ+ people and the Catholic church. His interest is personal, having been fired as a pastoral associate for being in a same-gender relationship. Mark’s faith, shaped by his Filipino-Canadian and gay identity, is something he is passionate about witnessing to, sharing, and nurturing in a world of grace and brokenness. Mark is also a member of Dignity Canada Dignité, as well as a regular contributor with New Ways Ministry. |
| Hadebe, Nontando | Dr Nontando Hadebe is a lay woman theologian based in Johannesburg South Africa. She is currently International Coordinator of Side by Side Interfaith movement for Gender Justice; gender consultant for Bread For The World; and research fellow University of Free State and presenter at Radio Veritas. Nontando is a member of The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians and Catholic Women Speak/Preach. She believes that no institution including the Church can ignore or violate the human rights of all. |
| Haker, Hille | Dr. Hille Haker is a Catholic Ethicist, working in her native Germany, and the United States. She currently works and lives in Chicago, at Loyola University Chicago. Hille comes from a human rights perspective, is a proud feminist who learns from Mujerista and Womanist sisters, and often works with literature and life stories. She launched the project "Entangled Responsibility" at Loyola University Chicago in 202, addressing the publicly known, Loyola-related cases of clergy sexual abuse and sexual violence, and university responses (or lack thereof) in order to explore better ways to take responsibility, together and collectively. From 2015-2018, she was the President of Societas Ethica, European Society for Research in Ethics. |
| Harris, Elizabeth | Elizabeth Harris is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow within the Edward Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Birmingham in the UK with a specialism in Buddhist Studies and Interreligious Studies. She has spoken in many interreligious and ecumenical contexts. She is a former President of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies and is currently President of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies. During her career, she has combined activist interreligious work with academic research in religious studies. For eleven years, she was Inter-Faith Officer for the Methodist Church in Britain. |
| Hathaway, Mark | Dr Mark Hathaway is the Jesuit Forum’s Associate Director, Toronto, Canada. Ecologian, ecophilosopher and educator who studies the nature, experience, and practice of ecological wisdom. He has a Ph.D. from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, and is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Hathaway is a lecturer at the University of Toronto and also serves as a faculty member of the Earth Charter Education Center for Sustainable Development at the University for Peace in Costa Rica. Together with Leonardo Boff, Dr. Hathaway is the principal author of the book The Tao of Liberation: Exploring the Ecology of Transformation published in 2009 and translated into Italian, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. |
| Heaney, Maeve | Associate Professor Maeve Louise Heaney VDMF is a consecrated member of the Verbum Dei Community and Xavier Chair for Theological Formation at Australian Catholic University. A theologian, musician, and composer, she specializes and researches into the areas of theological aesthetics, music, spirituality, ministry and leadership. She is currently President of the Australian Catholic Theological Association (ACTA). Her most recent publication is entitled Suspended God: Music and a Theology of Doubt (London: Bloomsbury, 2022), and in 2020 she released her 5th album of original music: Strange Life: The Music of Doubtful Faith. |
| Heizer, Martha | Educationalist scientist and psychologist, Martha taught at the Theological Faculty at University of Innsbruck. Her special interest is in Feminist Theology. She was co-founder of the Austrian KirchenvolksBegehren, the initiative which led to the establishment of We Are Church International. She has been Chair of We are Church - Austria since 2014. Martha and her husband received notice of excommunication from the Archdiocese of Innsbruck in 2014 |
| Herrlein, Miki | Miki Herrlein (they) studied catholic theology in Frankfurt, Freiburg and Munich. They have gained professional experiences in pastoral care for more than 20 years now. Born 1980 in Frankfurt, Germany, Miki also worked in Mexico, Chile and China as an educator, teacher and filmmaker. They are currently under contract as an education consultant for the diversity unit of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Committed as a catholic LGBTQIA+ role model and board member of the discrimination-critical and internationally renowned OutInChurch campaign Miki´s mission for a church without fear is in full swing. |
| Hidalgo, Walter | Walter Hidalgo is currently dedicated to consulting in a variety of capacities including facilitating workshops, trainings, in-home coaching, multi-media ventures on social media and lectures. And when he’s not doing that, he’s working as an education specialist for the Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers where he spearheads a multisensory curriculum that centres itself around doing missionary work, social justice and spiritual empowerment. In addition to that, Walter is also a world traveller, father, spoken word/Hip-hop artist, athlete, Hip-hop spiritual counsellor, public speaker, mentor, advocate, community organiser and educator. |
| Hincapie, Sulman | Sulman Hincapie is the Co-secretary of the International Christian Service of Solidarity with the Peoples of Latin America, SICSAL, Oscar Arnulfo Romero. He is also Coordinator of the Climate Crisis and Care for the Common Home Commission of the Global Convida20 Alliance and participates in the Laudato Si' Movement (MLS), Colombia Chapter, as Coordinator of the Laudato Si' Animators Program. Sulman is an advisor and development of Colombian projects in the Santa Laura Montoya Foundation of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mother Laura and works in a human rights capacity with indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant communities, Action Without Harm and Peace Building and Care of the Common Home. |
| Hwang, Paul | Dr. Paul Hwang is one of the founding members of the Woori Theology Institute in Seoul, S. Korea. He has been director of the Center for Asian Peace and Solidarity (CAPS) since 2010 and organized regularly the Asian Youth Academy (AYA)/Asian Theology Forum (AFT) since 2007 with young lay leaders working for ‘social ministries’ on a pan-Asian level. Out of this work emerged the Asian Lay Leaders Forum. |
| Ivey, Eric | Eric Ivey is an editor, producer, and cinematographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He directed, filmed, and edited, the documentary short, Not Worth Killing which screened at over 20 festivals internationally, winning numerous awards including ‘Best Documentary Short’, Sidewalk Film Festival, and Best International Documentary NorthWest Fest. He produced and edited a three-part documentary series on Waldorf Education, Learn to Change the World which has been translated into 25 different languages and has screened for audiences across the globe. He is passionate about cinematic storytelling and considers himself lucky to make it his work. |
| Jackson, Denis | Denis Jackson was born in Bradford, UK and is 78 years old. He went to a seminary for 13 years and was ordained a priest in 1971. However he left the priesthood a year later, becoming a social worker and marrying in 1974 with two daughters, but was unfortunately widowed in 2001. Denis has worked as a counsellor in a GP practice and has a mental health chaplain for the past 20 years. He retains a deep interest in spirituality and mental health. |
| Jones, Andrew | Andrew Jones has a prolific and creative online presence, generating social media content on blogging, travel, spirituality and social media trends for more than two decades. He has 30 years’ experience with third sector social enterprises in 70 countries, and has variously been an international aid worker, a church developer and a pastor. Andrew claims to be a modern-day ”‘missionary” and is always seeking to figure out what next – for the church, for culture, for community. He enjoys discovering and empowering “impact entrepreneurs” for social transformation projects, especially those concerned with justice, financial sustainability, and urban transformation. |
| Kateusz, Ally | Dr Ally Kateusz is a cultural historian specializing in the intersection of women and religion in Early Christian art and texts. Research Associate at the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, she has published peer reviewed articles in the Journal of Early Christian Studies, the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, The Priscilla Papers, Theologia, and other venues. Her most recent book is Maria, Marianne, and Miriam: Rediscovering the Marys, co-edited with Mary Ann Beavis. Her 2019 illustrated book is Mary and Early Christian Women: Hidden Leadership. |
| Khoury, Huda | Huda Khoury is a consultant working with international organizations on human rights, women’s rights and advocacy. Her professional background was helpful when she became an activist herself to defend her own personal marital case and the cases of other women at church tribunals in Lebanon. Huda co-founded in 2006 the association 'Yes for Family’ to help women caught in the different forms of injustice and discrimination at the church tribunals and continues to network with other like-minded groups sharing the same struggles and objectives. As a Lebanese/Canadian she continued her advocacy after she moved to Canada. |
| Klafki, Benedikt | Benedict Klafki is an 18 year old German student, from Saxony. He is part of Offen Katholisch, a group of eight teenagers and young adults from Germany, who want to stand up for their Christian faith and its values. Their journey together began in 2022 with an open letter to their Bishop Heinrich Timmerevers, in which they clearly positioned themselves in favour of tolerance towards strangers, gay marriage and women's priesthood in the Catholic Church. |
| Klein, Herbert | Herbert Klein, is a Deaf, British Sign Language(BSL) mental health professional, from London, UK. He recently retired from the Adult and Children’s Deaf Mental Health Services within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) after over 30 years in a wide variety of roles including therapist, manager, project manager, trainer, lecturer and advisor and has qualifications in counselling, management and diplomas in mental health. He received a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship Award for researching ways of improving emergency and disaster services for Deaf people. Since 2015 he has been working in Indonesia as an Independent Deaf Mental Health Advisor, a WHO funded initiative in partnership with Indonesian Government. Herbert is also the President of the British Society for Mental Health and Deafness (BSMHD) and an Ambassador for the European Society of Mental Health and Deafness (ESMHD). |
| Klein, Mara | Mara Klein was born in 1996 and is part of queer initiative #outinchurch in Germany. From 2019 to 2023, Mara was part of the German Synodal Path, representing Catholic Youth but also the queer community as the only nonbinary member of the Synodal Assembly. In 2021 Mara co-published the book "Catholic and Queer" which told the stories of queer Catholics in Germany and was supported by theologians, bishops and laypeople in important positions. Mara studied to become a teacher for English and Catholic Religion and is currently working at the Catholic-Theological Faculty of the University of Münster. |
| Kutty, Joe | Joe Kutty is a 21 year old Cloud Computing Apprentice from Oxford, UK. He is originally from Kerala, a southern state in India, Joe has attended Corpus Christi Parish in Oxford since he was 6 and claims to be without bias in his beliefs about religion and the church. He has his own Tiktok and YouTube channels which he works on in his spare time and is a self-confessed football obsessive. |
| Lazzarini Orrù, Paola | Paolo Lazzarini Orrú PhD is a sociologist and journalist, and the founder of Women for the Church, an Italian Catholic feminist group. She has long experience in the social service and in education, has several sociological publications to her credit, as well as two books on the spirituality of the everyday. Paolo has been actively involved in gender inequality in the Catholic Church for several years, was a consultant for Voices of Faith, and helped establish the Catholic women's council. |
| Liston, Kevin | Born in Ireland, Kevin Liston was ordained a Catholic priest in 1973. He worked in Kenya until retiring from the ministry in 1977. Arriving in Australia in 1982, he devoted 30 years to refugee and migrant services while contributing to development of policy and programs in SA, nationally and internationally. Since retiring in 2012, he completed a Master of Theological Studies (ACU) and a Graduate Diploma in Psychology (Monash University). With a lifelong engagement in religious and church issues, he is committed to working for a mutually enriching conversation between Christianity and the 21st century world. Kevin has a particular interest in ending clericalism and promoting the voice of lay Catholics. |
| Luciani, Rafael | Rafael Luciani is a Lay Venezuelan theologian, appointed as Expert of the Theological Commission of the General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops. He is also an Expert of CELAM (Latin American Bishops Council) and Member of the Theological Advisory Team of the Presidency of CLAR (Latin American Confederation of Religious men and women). He holds degrees of Doctor in Theology and Licenciate in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome; For over 20 Years, he has taught courses on Christology, Mystery of God, Latin American Theology, Second Vatican Council and Ecclesiology. |
| Lynch, Bernárd | As a human rights and HIV/AIDS activist over the past 50 years in the Catholic Church, Bernárd Lynch has worked assiduously for LGBTQIA+ people and for women's full inclusion in ministry. He is a gay, Irish born, retired Roman Catholic priest, author and activist. Bernárd has an interdisciplinary Doctorate in counselling psychology and theology from New York Theological Seminary and Fordham University. In 1982, he founded the first AIDS ministry in New York City and was drafted onto the Mayor of New York’s Task Force on AIDS. In 2006, he became the first Catholic priest in the world to have a civil partnership. In 2012, after forty years, he was expelled from his Religious Order the Society of African Missions. Bernárd continues his advocacy through the Mayor of London’s Community Advisory Board and support for those in and outside ministry. |
| Mallavibarrena Martínez de Castro, Raquel | Raquel Mallavibarrena Martínez de Castro is a member of We Are Church Spain, WAC International and European Network Church on the Move, and Redes Cristianas space of coordination of base groups in Spain. She is 62 years old and is a lay person, belonging to a base community. Raquel teaches Mathematics at UCM, Complutense University of Madrid. |
| Manriquez, Rosa | Rosa Manriquez is an ordained Roman Catholic priest. She is active in the Immaculate Heart Community, where she participates on the Commission on Justice for Immigrants and Refugees and the Commission for Antiracism as Spiritual Transformation. Rosa is also active in Call To Action and Roman Catholic Women Priests, although her main focus is outside the walls of the institutional church. A lifelong Catholic, Rosa attended school with the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Los Angeles, from first grade through college. She also holds a Master of Arts in theology. |
| Manson, Jamie | Jamie Manson is President of Catholics for Choice. For over 15 years, she has been a thought leader and advocate in the field of women’s equality and reproductive rights in the Catholic Church and the public square. Jamie was a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter where she was the only openly lesbian journalist in the Catholic media in the world and an often-solitary voice for feminism, LGBTQ equality, and reproductive freedom. Jamie’s expertise in Catholicism and sexual ethics was first formed during her studies at Yale with her mentor, Margaret Farley, RSM. She is the recipient of the Sr. Theresa Kane Woman of Vision and Courage Award and was named a “Religious Leader to Watch” in 2020 by the Center for American Progress. |
| Maresca, Catherine | Catherine Maresca has been a catechist since 1982 and a formation leader since 1987 in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a Christian Montessori teaching program for children aged 3-12 years which enables them to experience and form an authentic relationship with God. The author of several books on children and religion, she is the founding director of the Center for Children and Theology (cctheo.org), researching and providing resources for children and adults to nurture the spiritual life of children. Catherine is married with five grown children and has a MA in Religious Studies from Howard University Divinity School, Washington, DC. |
| Márquez Ochoa, Armando | Armando Márquez Ochoa is a founding member of the Salvadorean Foundation Br. Mercedes Ruiz, which is dedicated to the attention of ecclesial base communities. He is also co-secretary of the International Christian Service of Solidarity with Latin America (SICSAL). Among other writings, Armando has been publishing the Collection "The Catechesis of Mons. Romero" from which five books have been published. In 2001, he was invited by the Diocese of Tarahumara in Mexico to teach the course of ongoing formation of the clergy with the theme "The Church and Archbishop Romero". |
| Massingale, Bryan N. | Bryan N. Massingale is the James and Nancy Buckman Professor of Theological and Social Ethics, as well as the Senior Ethics Fellow in Fordham’s Center for Ethics Education. He is a past Convener of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium and a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He is a current member and past coordinator of the North American Regional Committee of the “Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church” project. The focus of his talk is the experience of black clerical abuse survivors in the USA |
| Maťavka, Miroslav | Miroslav Maťavka is a gay catholic cis man living in Slovakia. He works for an international software company in Austria but has an extensive experience volunteering in support of LGBT+ catholics in various countries. He is European coordinator for Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, secretary in the RCC Working Group of the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups and leading Slovak NGO in support of LGBT+ christians, SIGNUM - Dúhoví kresťania. Miroslav has experience of living and working in his native Slovakia, as well as in England, UK and Bavaria, Germany. |
| Mathews, Maggie | Maggie Matthews claims to be an “ordinary Catholic”. A former broadcast current affairs journalist, she has experience of a Catholic parish community providing safe sanctuary to those most in need. But Maggie also has historic experience of Church-related abuse, which leaves her struggling to reconcile the reality of both, particularly given the Church’s ongoing failures to face up to both the extent of continuing abuse and the harm it causes. |
| McAleese, Mary | Dr. Mary McAleese was President of Ireland from 1997 until 2011. She was the first President to come from Northern Ireland where she and her family experienced first-hand the sectarian violence of The Troubles. The theme of her presidency was Building Bridges and her work for peace and reconciliation culminated in the historic state visit to Ireland by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in May 2011. She is a broadcaster, academic lawyer and has a licentiate and doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University. She was formerly Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology in Trinity College, Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast, the first female Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Queens and Professor of Children, Law and Religion, University of Glasgow. She is current Chancellor of Trinity College Dublin, Chair of the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion at the University of Notre Dame and Patron of the Von Hugel Institute for Critical Catholic Enquiry at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge University. She was a founder member of the Ireland’s Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform and played a significant role in the successful 2015 same-sex marriage referendum campaign. She is the author of many Catholic Church related articles and books including “Quo Vadis: Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law” (2013) and the groundbreaking work Children’s Rights and Obligations in Catholic Church Canon Law (Brill 2019). She was winner of the Alfons Auer Prize (2019) awarded by the University of Tubingen’s Faculty of Catholic Theology and was recently awarded (2022) an Honorary Doctorate by the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Lucerne. She is a mother and grandmother, married to Martin since 1976. |
| McDermott, Mark | Mark McDermott practiced law for 31 years with Skadden, Arps, a large Wall Street law firm, where he specialised in mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructurings. He currently serves as an independent director on the boards of troubled companies that are restructuring their affairs. He co-founded Catholic Renewal, a charity comprised of restructuring lawyers and investment bankers, that has raised over $12 million for food for New Yorkers in need. Mark is the Executive Producer of "Wonderfully Made -- LGBTQ+R(eligion)," a film about the aspirations of, and challenges facing, LGBTQ+ Catholics. |
| McElroy, Mary Jo | Mary Jo McElroy is Coordinator of the international Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation team of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (RSHM). She spent 20 years in the North East of Brazil working with the Base Christian Communities, which gave her a new understanding of Church. She is now in Noddfa Spirituality Centre in North Wales, where the community welcome a great variety of groups. |
| McElwee, Kate | Kate McElwee currently serves as the Executive Director of the Women's Ordination Conference, where she has worked since 2011. Founded in 1975, WOC is the oldest and largest organisation working to ordain women as deacons, priests, and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church. A feminist voice for women in the Roman Catholic Church, the body is a grassroots-driven movement that promotes activism, dialogue, and prayerful witness to call for women's full equality in the Church. Kate graduated from Mount Holyoke College earning a degree in Religion and later earned an MA in International Human Rights Law from SOAS (London). After living in Rome for eight years, she and her husband now reside in Washington, DC. |
| McEwan, Tracy | Tracy McEwan, PhD is a theologian and sociologist of religion and gender at the University of Newcastle in Australia. Dr McEwan's expertise in qualitative and quantitative social research enables her to apply empirical methods of analysis to diverse contexts. Her writing and research interests include women in Catholicism; domestic and family violence; and sexual and spiritual abuse.She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Theology) and Master of Theology from the University of Newcastle, and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Mathematics) from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). |
| McPhillips, Kathleen | Dr Kathleen McPhillips is a sociologist of religion and gender at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is co-author of the International Survey of Catholic Women (2023), the largest survey on Catholic women worldwide. Her work spans the status and history of women and religion; religion and the state. Kathleen is an expert in the sexual abuse issue in religious organisations and has extensive experience in attending, reporting on and analysing the Catholic Church at the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse and has held numerous research grants |
| Meehan, Bridget Mary | Rev. Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan was ordained a priest in the first USA ordination of Roman Catholic Women Priests in Pittsburgh on July 31, 2006. She was ordained a bishop in the first U.S. Ordination of bishops in Santa Barbara, California on April 19, 2009. Bridget has written 20 books, authors a blog on contemporary spirituality and theology, and has produced movies about the historical impact of the Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement on Google and YouTube. She is one of the founding members of People’s Catholic Seminary, Dean of Global Ministries University’s Doctor of Ministry and Master of Divinity Programs. |
| Middelboe, Penelope | Writer, historian, series editor of 70+ animated films making cultural heritage accessible and former CEO of Shakespeare Schools Foundation, large UK charity using Shakespeare to give disadvantaged youth a sense of self-worth. She is a co-founder of Root & Branch and a founder member of Implementation Team for Spirit Unbounded, Penelope produces a radical history podcast HistoryCafe.org with her husband, Jon Rosebank. |
| Montes, Maricarmen | Maricarmen Montes studied at the National School of Anthropology and History before becoming is a primary school teacher in Mexico, specialising in popular education with a gender perspective. She has been working for more than 30 years mainly with peasant and indigenous women, exploring the gender, class and faith dimension in a search for a theology for the women. Maricarmen participates in the Women's Collective for Dialogue, she coordinates the rural area and works in training, formation of promoters, advisors and grassroots women. She is a member of the Board of Directors of SICSAL and Coordinator of the Gender Equity Commission of the Global Alliance ConVida20. |
| Musonza Holman, Martha | Martha Musonza Holman was persecuted, beaten and imprisoned in her home country of Zimbabwe for pursuing her conscience, Martha remains passionate about her culture. She is particularly interested in how 43 years of a postcolonial country has shaped women's lives and identity in Zimbabwe. What does a paternalistic society look like in 2023? She met her husband Dave in the UK and took him to see her village. ‘My father’s house had been destroyed under Mugabe’s “Operation Restore Order” and everything was upside down and my children had nowhere to sleep. I took Dave to the villages which had no electricity, toilets or anything. He had never seen poverty in that context, and that was the beginning of the Love Zimbabwe Charity.’ |
| Newcomb, Shawna Bluestar | In her dedication to personal and planetary healing, Shawna helps to lead a global movement with her father speaking out on the Domination Code. Of Shawnee, Lenape, Zapotec ancestry, Shawna offers a fresh perspective and a model for a way forward to heal the Earth, all beings, peoples and future generations in this time of the Great Shift. Shawna offers us the Reverence Code an alternative to the prevailing Domination Code. |
| Newcomb, Steven | A Shawnee scholar, Steven is director of the Indigenous Law Institute, which he founded with traditional Oglala Lakota headman Birgil Kills Straight (1940-2019). He is also the director of Original Nations Advocates and has been writing about U.S. Federal Indian Law and Policy and the Doctrine of Discovery and Domination for some four decades. His work focuses on the contrast between the free existence of Indigenous nations extending back to the beginning of time, and the system of domination that was brought by ship across the Atlantic Ocean and imposed on everyone and everything. There is an additional contrast between the ecological and beneficial wisdom of Indigenous peoples, and the patterns of dehumanization used for centuries against them on the basis of the Vatican papal documents and royal charters. Steven published many of his findings in Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (2008), and he is co-producer of The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code, directed by Sheldon Wolfchild (Dakota). |
| Norman, Larry | Deacon Larry Norman is part of the Awake Milwaukee community. Awake is a community of abuse survivors, their loved ones, and ordinary Catholics coming together for a shared mission of awakening, transformation, and healing. "Our mission is to awaken our community to the full reality of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, work for transformation, and foster healing for all who have been wounded". |
| Ngalula, Sr Josée | Sister Dr Josée Ngalula, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a member of the congregation of Sisters of Saint Andrew, and professor at the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Congo. One of her fields of research is violence from and inside religious institutions. She is committed to providing pastoral care to victims of abuse in Church’s structures. Josée has a doctorate in Theology from the Catholic University of Lyon and is currently Professor at the Catholic University of Congo (UCC) and other theological institutions in Kinshasa. She is also the Director of the Observatory of Violence and Religious Fundamentalism in DR Congo (OVIRCO) at the Catholic University of Congo. |
| Nothelle, Claudia | Claudia Nothelle is a journalist who used to work in public TV. Since 2017 she is professor for TV journalism at the University of applied sciences in Magdeburg. She is vice president of the Central Committee of German catholics and took part in the Synodal path. Many of the assemblies were moderated by her. |
| Nyakundi, Alloys | Alloys Nyakundi is Catholic Church Reform International, Maryknoll, and Call To Action’s Young Seekers Coordinator. He has a Master’s degree in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University, USA. Alloys was born and raised in Kisii, Kenya, where he is currently coordinating the activities of Emmah’s Garden non-profit and Online Young Adults Seekers Small Christian Community, a global safe space for young people to meet online on Zoom to share life experiences and challenges. He believes that human beings were created to be in solidarity with one another. His work can be summed up with the Ugandan proverb, “One hand washes the other hand.” |
| Nyakundi, Emmah Gesare | Emmah Gesare Nyakundi is a young woman born and raised in Kisii County in Kenya. She graduated in 2019 from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology with a BSc in Agriscience. Emmah is one of the driving forces behind the success of Emmah’s Garden. The project involves identifying key women in the village of Nyandoche Ibere who will set up and manage a Kitchen Garden. The women who receive funds to start a kitchen garden are also motivated to improve garden performance. Improved performance may translate into surplus food. Surplus food can be sold in the village to increase income for the family. Climate change will make harvesting enough water more and more difficult. The project also helps the people of Nyandoche Ibere in rural western Kenya stay healthy by providing filters for water purification. "By helping the people to be self-reliant for their clean water needs, we promote improved health, school attendance, and opportunities to develop their economy to be enduring and self-sufficient. If Nyandoche Ibere can succeed then so can other rural villages in Kenya." |
| O'Loughlin, Tom | Thomas O’Loughlin is Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology at the University of Nottingham in the UK, and the Director of Studia Traditionis Theologiae. He is a presbyter of the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. He has written extensively on how church teachings change and evolve and emphasises the need for Christians to take the modern awareness of the need for human equality seriously as part of their practice as well as their preaching. His book The Curia is the Pope examines what he calls the “self-serving bureaucracy that manages the Pope and controls access to him” and proposes some remedies for the problems which he says the Church, as currently managed, is chronically unable to deal with. |
| O'Murchu, Diarmuid | Diarmuid O'Murchu is a retired missionary, social psychologist, author, with extensive international experience on Adult Faith Development as a workshop leader and group facilitator in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, The Philippines, Thailand, India, and in several African countries. A member of the Sacred Heart Missionary Order, and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, his main interest is in the theological foundations for the renewal of our Christian faith (Catholic or otherwise) in the 21st century. Reclaiming the Gospel foundation of the Kingdom of God is central to that renewal. |
| Parry Thompson, Rhiannon | Rhiannon Parry Thompson is a core member of Root and Branch, and an active environmentalist, a Green Trade Union Branch rep, a trained Extinction Rebellion speaker, a member of Catholic Concern for Animals and a Constituency Labour Party Trade Union Liaison Officer in the UK. She seeks to integrate sustainability into her work as a University lecturer/academic and Learning Developer. Rhiannon runs a professional association Community of Practice in Sustainability in Learning Development. Rhiannon has a strong commitment to interfaith relations and is the Catholic Church representative on her local Christian Aid Committee. |
| Perry, Pam | Pamela Perry joined the Church in 1962 after seeing God in the work of Abbé Pierre with the homeless of Paris. Her CV includes teaching, writing, running a business, chairing a property company and volunteering for CAFOD, Jubilee Debt Campaign, Make Poverty History and with refugees. Pam co-founded Parishioners’ Call which encourages discussion within parishes. Now a grandmother, she lives in Salisbury. Pam was widowed in 2022. |
| Postlethwaite, Nicholas | Nicholas Postlethwite is a member of the Passionist Congregation and was ordained as a priest in 1964. After studying at the Gregorian University in Rome and the Institut Catholique in Paris, in 1971 he joined his fellow-religious Father Austin Smith in beginning what became known as the Passionist Inner City Mission in Toxteth, Liverpool, one of the UK’s oldest of the Black communities. While continuing to live in Liverpool, he served for 12 years as Passionist Provincial from 1997 to 2009. Since the death of Father Austin in 2011 he continues his involvement in supporting Black Community development initiatives. |
| Purcell, Sherry | Sherry Purcell, IHM, PhD is President and Principal Executive Officer of the Immaculate Heart Community of California, which she joined in 2015 after a career of service in public education. As a member of the Community she has served on a committee which helps incoming members with discernment about membership and helped to re-write the original decrees to define the spirit of the Community today. Sherry has made two trips to the border of the US and Mexico to stand for the rights of immigrants and refugees and she regularly visits people held in detention centers waiting for a determination of their immigration status. She leads two Community prayer groups via Zoom on a monthly basis. |
| Renu, Nameeta | Dr Nameeta Renu OCV, STD, is a member of the Order of Consecrated Virgins according to Canon 604 (1983 CIC) in the Catholic Archdiocese of Bombay. She is a licensed Homeopathic Physician and Holistic Healthcare practitioner with almost 30 years of experience in the field. Nameeta is a feminist and has a doctorate in theology with other multidisciplinary qualifications, along with decades of pastoral experience at the grassroots as well as international level. |
| Ropata, Pa | Pa Ropata (Rob) McGowan is founder and kaumatua (elder) of Tiwaiwaka, a Maori movement to heal the land and the people. Based in Aotearoa, New Zealand, he is lead tutor Titoki Education & Learning, and a long-time member of the Bay of Plenty Conservation Board. Pa’s work draws on his Catholic heritage and is closely aligned Laudato Si, hearing the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor and marginalised. |
| Roper, Elissa | Dr Elissa Roper is an Australian theologian specialising in synodality, and speaks widely on topics related to building up a mature, responsible and loving Church. Living in Australia with her husband and four children, she is interested in building a mature, responsible and loving Church. Elissa had a role assisting the Drafting Committee of the Fifth Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Australia in 2022. She is a member of the Australian Catholic Theological Association (ACTA) and the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea (ISMAPNG) Theological Association and a former member of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne’s Ecumenical & Interfaith Commission for four years before its decommissioning in March 2021. |
| Saini, Angela | Angela Saini is an award-winning British journalist and author, based in New York. She presents radio and television programmes, and her writing has appeared in National Geographic, New Scientist, and Wired. Her latest book The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule was published in spring 2023, and was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. As the founder and chair of the “Challenging Pseudoscience” group at the Royal Institution, Angela researches and campaigns around issues of misinformation and disinformation. She sits on a number of boards, including the Royal Society's Science Policy Expert Advisory Committee. In 2020, she was named one of the world’s top 50 thinkers by Prospect magazine. |
| Saldanha, Virginia | Virginia Saldanha is a writer and public speaker on how the Small Christian Community is a unit of a Synodal Church. She is a former Executive Secretary of the Women’s Desk, Archdiocese of Bombay, a member of the CBCI Commission for Women and the FABC Women’s Desk & Office of Laity, Family & Women and sat on the Executive Council of Pax Christi International. Virginia began to engage with the issue of Sex Abuse of Women in the Church in1998 during her tenure with CBCI and actively took up cases when, in 2010, victims of clergy sex abuse approached her for help to address the issue. This initiative expanded to include women across India and now internationally with ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse) |
| Scarlett, Kerry | Kerry Scarlett is an ordained Methodist Deacon and is currently Vice President of the Methodist Church in Britain. She is passionate about social justice, and currently woks as part of the Methodist Learning Network, focussing on enabling churches to engage with issues of community organising and economic marginalisation. Kerry founded ADAVU, an anti-trafficking charity and participated in regional network and anti-trafficking campaigns. |
| Shepherd, Margaret | Sr Margaret Shepherd, nds, is Director of The Council of Christians and Jews, London, and editor of its journal, Common Ground. She is a member of the Roman Catholic Congregation of Our Lady of Sion. She has a Master of Theology in Biblical Studies from King's College, London and a Diploma in Jewish Studies from the Leo Baeck College. Sr. Margaret serves on the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations, and is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Cambridge Centre for Christian-Jewish Relations, a consultant for University of Derby 'Religions in the UK' Handbook, and tutor to Christian students at the Leo Baeck College. |
| Slee, Nicola | Nicola Slee is Professorial Research Fellow at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education. She has worked in theological education for the past 30 years, both in higher education and ministerial formation contexts, combining this for a while with a freelance portfolio of writing, retreat work, spiritual direction and consultancy. She has been Professor of Feminist Practical Theology in the Faculty of Religion and Theology at VU Amsterdam since 2017. |
| Sterringer, Shanon | Shanon Sterringer has been a member of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP) since 2019. She is an avid scholar with multiple degrees culminating in a PhD in Ethical and Creative Leadership focussed on the leadership example of Saint Hildegard of Bingen. Her CV has included work as a certified lay ecclesial minister and master catechist in the Diocese of Cleveland, supporting missionary work in India, and giving seminars in India and the Holy Land on women and ecclesial leadership. She is author of 30 day Journey with St Hildegard of Bingen and her new book, Forbidden Grace, about her call to ministry is about to be published. Latterly, she has founded and is Director of Hildegard Haus and the developing Community of St Hildegard in Fairport Harbor, Ohio. She is a mother of three |
| Sullivan, Francis | Francis Sullivan AO is currently chair of the Mater Group of hospitals, Catholic Social Services Australia and a director of Mercy Health. He was previously CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council and before that, Secretary General of the Australian Medical Association and CEO of Catholic Health Australia. Francis is the chair of Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn (CCCG) established in April 2017 in response to concerns arising from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse. He is particularly committed to the articulation and promotion of the emerging expression of Catholicism in the Australian community. |
| Taylor, Joan | After a BA degree at Auckland University, New Zealand, Joan completed post-graduate studies at the University of Otago and then went to the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (Kenyon Institute) as Annual Scholar in 1986. She undertook a PhD at New College, Edinburgh University, and was appointed in 1992 to a position of lecturer (subsequently senior lecturer) at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, in the departments of both Religious Studies and History. In 1995 she won an Irene Levi-Sala Award in Israel’s archaeology, for the book version of her PhD thesis, Christians and the Holy Places (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993, rev. 2003). In 1996-7 she was Visiting Lecturer and Research Associate in Women’s Studies in Religion at Harvard Divinity School, a position she held in association with a Fulbright Award. She has also been Honorary Research Fellow in the Departments of History and Jewish Studies at University College London. She has taught at King’s College London since 2009. Joa, with Helen Bond, co-presented the popular TV documentary Jesus’ Female Disciples (C4, 2018) and co-authored Women Remembered: Jesus’ Female Disciples (Hodder, 2022). |
| Tawaroa, Sr Makareta | Makareta Tawaroa is a sister of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Sister Makareta is a distinguished leader in her community and among her people, the Māori people of the Whanganui River, Aotearoa New Zealand. She led a campaign to achieve legal status of “personhood” for the river which is central to the identity of the iwi (people), connecting the land, the mountains, sea, its forests, flora and fauna and communities with their identity, values and spirituality. Sister Makareta’s story offers a different “way of being” as human beings on this planet, and our care of each other and the earth. |
| Tinner-Williams, Nate | Nate Tinner-Williams is a Catholic convert, Josephite, and co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger, a non-profit digital media publication covering stories of interest to African-American Catholics. He is a graduate of Pepperdine University, where he received a BA in theology, and is a master's student in theology in the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana. |
| Varley, Mary | Mother, friend, activist, seeker, former social worker, core member of Root & Branch. I am deeply ashamed to be part of a church that has betrayed children and young people so grievously. The church must become a place where children and adults' rights to protection from harm and abuse are respected. I feel privileged to work with courageous and wise survivors through our 'Stolen Lives' initiative. |
| Vélez Caro, Olga Consuelo | Olga Consuelo Vélez Caro has a PhD in Theology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and has been a tenured professor and researcher at the Pontifical Javeriana University for 35 years. She is currently a professor and researcher at the San Alfonso University Foundation in Colombia and visiting professor at various national and international universities. Olga is the author of several books and numerous articles. She co-founded the Colombian Association of Theologians and is part of the Theological Committee of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia and other international Theology networks. |
| Venner, Marie | Marie Venner is a public policy researcher who has conducted 44 studies for public agencies in the US via National Academies' Cooperative and Strategic Research Programs, culminating in work around climate change the past two decades and particularly focused on decarbonization and now effects on all life. She is a lifelong Catholic who has been in youth ministry, on the Maryknoll Affiliate Board, the Call to Action Vision Council, and on the Steering Committee of the Global Catholic Climate Movement its first 4 years. Marie came to leadership positions in the church in her teens at a very active parish. She started studying theology at age 18 and has never stopped, informing her work and service in the church from a theological and social justice perspective |
| Wallis, Jim | Jim is a globally respected writer, teacher, preacher, and justice advocate. He is a New York Times bestselling author, widely recognized public theologian, renowned speaker, and regular international commentator on ethics and public life. |
| Woodhead, Linda | Linda Woodhead was appointed FD Maurice Professor at King’s College in 2022, where she is also Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Previously she was Distinguished Professor at Lancaster University. She studied Theology and Religious Studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and first taught at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford. She grew up in rural Somerset and now lives in both London and Glasgow. Linda works with journalists covering religion, culture and values, and regularly broadcast on these topics. She founded the Westminster Faith Debates with the Rt Hon Charles Clarke. Linda continues to work collaboratively on improving how religion is handled in schools and public life. |
| World Meeting of Popular Movements | An initiative of Pope Francis, the purpose of the World Meeting of Popular Movements (WMPM) is to create an “encounter” between Church leadership and grassroots organizations working to address the “economy of exclusion and inequality” (Joy of the Gospel, nos. 53-54) by working for structural changes that promote social, economic and racial justice. It is a space of fellowship between organisations based on the five continents, a platform consisting of different popular movements regarding the invitation of Pope Francis for movements addressing the right to land, indigenous rights, the right to protection from violence by large agribusiness corporations, also the marginalized and forgotten including the homeless and persons living in communities without adequate infrastructure, to become the protagonists of the change process. |
| Wright, Alexandra | Rabba Alexandra Wright was appointed as the first female senior rabba (female form of rabbi) in England in 2004, as Rabba of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, London. She is a significant figure within British Liberal Judaism. Rabba Wright is active in the Council of Christians and Jews and for five years served as the North London Hospice’s Jewish chaplain on their multi-faith chaplaincy team. She has contributed to two anthologies of women rabbis' essays and liturgies – Hear our Voice and Taking up the Timbrel. Rabba Wright is also the only woman whose sermon has been included in Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein's Jewish Preaching in Times of War. |
| Zappone, Katherine | Katherine Zappone is a former Minister for Children and Youth in the Irish Government, feminist theologian and human rights activist, and strategic advisor to the Executive Director of the UNFPA. She draws on these experiences to pressure the Roman Catholic church to stop burying the voices of girls, women and gender fluid persons in order to be a human rights-compliant organisation. Katherine believes her ministerial responsibility for a justice and love response to the institutional violence against girls and women in Ireland's mother and baby homes will deliver real transformational change. |