Australian Women Preach

First Sunday of Advent - Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Gillian writes: I am the Chaplain and Head of Religious and Values Education at St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School in Brisbane, a position I have held for the past 10 years. Prior to that I have been a parish priest, worked in a cathedral, assisted a Primate and most importantly, been mum to 4 amazing children. 

I am an Anglican priest with tertiary qualifications in Japanese, Law and Theology. I am a lifelong Anglican with a keen interest in the future shape of the church and in women’s issues within the church and beyond. I think working as a school chaplain is the best job in the church, because it brings me into contact with such a variety of people, many of whom have no or little knowledge of the church or Christianity, but who are keenly interested in living a meaningful life.

I am also a vowed member of the Society of the Sacred Advent, an Anglican religious order of women, and I am committed to the ongoing contribution of religious orders to the life of the Anglican Church and its schools. I am curious about what religious life might look like in the 21st century, and what treasures it still has to offer.

My other interests include gardening, baking, quilting, and my little border terriers who make life so much richer.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - John 18:33-37

The Right Rev’d Sarah Plowman is Assistant Bishop in the Anglican Church Southern Queensland. She has spent most of her life in SE Qld, growing up on the Sunshine Coast. She began her career as a Physics and Maths teacher, during which time she explored a vocational call into youth ministry. After serving in parish and Diocesan roles in youth ministry, she returned to schools as a lay chaplain, and pursued a call to ordained ministry. Since her ordination to the priesthood in 2005, she has served as chaplain at three Anglican schools, loving the energy and dynamism of the educational environment.

In 2020, she transitioned out of school ministry, taking on the challenging role of the Director of Discernment and Formation, based at St Francis Theological College. In this role she was able to explore and develop the nature of vocation, and encourage Anglicans in their journey to ordained ministry. In June 2024, she was consecrated as a bishop in the Anglican church and is now an Assistant Bishop in the ACSQ with responsibility for the Northern Region of the diocese.

She is married to Darius, with two daughters and two step-daughters, all in their late teens. She loves hiking, camping and running, as well as tending and growing her garden which is full of native plants, birds, insects and lizards!

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Psalm 91

Dr Robyn Ober is a Mamu/Djirribal woman from Far North Queensland. She is a Lead Researcher at Batchelor Institute in the Northern Territory spanning three decades. She is well renowned for her expertise of both-ways pedagogy, working to combine Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing, being and learning in teaching practice and research. She serves in key leadership and ministry at Darwin Hillsong church and often speaks at Christian events and gatherings in the Northern Territory and beyond. Over the past four decades she and her family have supported her parents in pioneering new churches and building Indigenous leadership in Christian ministry across northern Australian in remote and rural Aboriginal communities.

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mark 12: 38-44 - How can we be more generous with what we have?

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mark 12:28-34

Di writes: I am a Buandik First Nations woman. I am Reverend Canon Auntie Di Langham, Director of Reconciliation in Newcastle Anglican. I am mother of four, grandmother of 14 and great grandmother of 7. My ministry has included Juvenile Justice Chaplin and 20 years as a gaol chaplain. I am secretary of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council. I am invited to speak at many churches and groups. I like to challenge people in their faith and get them to go on a spiritual journey that sometimes may be uncomfortable. I believe that  it is in this discomfort we grow.

Belinda writes: I am a proud Buandik woman. Auntie Di is my mother. I am currently working at Nikinpa Aboriginal family and community centre. I am an artist. I use gum leaves as the backgrounds of my art. I belong to Nikinpa Women's art group who create healing leaves for those who have Iost loved ones or reconnecting with culture. I attend Campfire Church. I like to write creatively.

30th Sunday Ordinary Time - Mark 10:46-52

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mark 10:35-45

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mark 10:17-30

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mark 10: 2-16

Penny Jones

Penny is an Anglican priest and spiritual companion, who has been offering spiritual guidance and inspiration for more than thirty five years.  As a dancer, labyrinth and InterPlay facilitator, and yoga practitioner, she is especially drawn to the interface of spirituality and the body, and to the ways in which physical movement can effect spiritual shifts. She has served on the staff of four theological colleges and courses, specialising in the New Testament, practical theology and homiletics

website: http://www.soulworkerpennyjones.com    

 Josephine Inkpin

Josephine is an Anglican priest serving as Minister of Pitt Street Uniting Church in Sydney.  The first out licensed ordained transgender Minister in Australia, she has been very actively involved in many recent struggles for LGBTIQ+ advance in faith spaces and wider society and is currently co-chair of Equal Voices and a member of the Trans Council of Equality Australia. Formerly a staff member of the National Council of Churches in Australia and General Secretary of the NSW Ecumenical Council, she has worked in many capacities, not least with inter-faith relationships and First Nations people of faith, and as a theologian and church historian. websites:https://www.blessedimp.org/ and https://www.transspirit.org/

Together, Jo and Penny helped create the Queer Theology unit for Pilgrim College, the first such university initiative in Australia.   Some of Penny and Jo's reflections and spiritual addresses can also be found at https://www.penandinkreflections.org/

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

Dr Mayrah Yarraga Dreise says... I am a proud Yuwalaraay and Gamilaraay Woman from Southwest Queensland Northwest New South Wales. I speak and teach our languages in our community and lead local dance (yulagi) ceremonies. I am also a visual artist considering Australian History, stolen generations, intergenerational trauma and the impact of colonisation on First Nations peoples in the forms of both painting and public art installation.

I have been in Education for over 40 years with much of my work focused on Indigenous Education. I was a classroom teacher for 25 years as a history, Visual and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies secondary subjects, and a principal in two schools for 10 years. I have also been the Indigenous education project officer for the then Queensland Studies Authority, Senior Lecturer in Indigenous education at the Queensland University of Technology and at Charles Sturt University.  Prior to my current role I was the Associate Professor for Indigenous Education at the Australian Catholic University.

In my current role I work across Brisbane Catholic Education offices and 146 schools to improve outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education. Some key focuses of this work include: Professional Development of Teachers, School Leaders and officer staff in cultural safety and First Nations Curriculum and Education, implementing ACARA Version 9 with First Nations content for all BCE students, engaging with First Nations communities and parents, offering a variety of cultural workshops to students across different sectors at the Ngutana-Lui BCE Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural studies centre at Inala and contributing to the development of BCE policies, strategies and programs.