Pentecost - Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15 - The Spirit of Pentecost

Dr Di Rayson is a public theologian whose specialties are ecotheology and Bonhoeffer. She lectures at various institutions including University of Newcastle and Uniting Theological College, Charles Sturt University, and previously at BBI – The Australian Institute for Theological Education. She is an Adjunct Research Fellow of the Public and Contextual Theology (PACT) Research Centre and is an elected board member of the International Bonhoeffer Society. Di helps edit two academic journals, The Bonhoeffer Legacy – An International Journal, and Perspectiva Teológica in Brazil. She is a research consultant for the National Church Life Survey (NCLS Research) and a member of Anglican EcoCare.

Before theology, Di had an extensive career in public health, community development, and public policy, working as a missionary in Papua New Guinea and then in Australia’s Northern Territory. She holds a Master of Public Health through her work in training village birth attendants in the Highlands of PNG.

Her area of research is in the application of the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer to ecotheology and ecoethics, based on a deep relationality with all creation. Her first book, Bonhoeffer and Climate Change: Theology and Ethics for the Anthropocene, is about to be released. She has published on other issues such as ecofeminism, war, and rape culture.

Di regularly preaches in her home Anglican parish and is a guest preacher in other denominations. She speaks in a wide variety of settings here and abroad (COVID permitting!). She periodically appears on ABC Radio to discuss moral and ethical issues. Her passion is to bring good theology to the service of the church community and to communicate it widely and well.

Di lives on Biripi country on a small farm with her family of humans, animals and plants.

Elizabeth was brought up on a farm in the south of South Australia. Her father was a lay preacher in the Uniting Church, and their ministers were both men and women.

She attended St Mary MacKillop’s very first school in Penola, and was received into the Catholic Church along with family members. Elizabeth valued the sacramental worldview that she encountered and was inspired by all the religious leaders in her community.

From a young age, she felt called to a vocation in religious and liturgical leadership, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. However, her life took a turn through a few years of questioning her faith and completing a degree in Circus Arts.

From there she discerned God’s call to become a Sister of Mercy, professing her first vows in Adelaide in 2010. She has since studied a Bachelor of Theology, Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning, and Master of Theology (Coursework).

Her ministries have been with youth, immigration detention centres, prisons, parish, school and ecumenical/interfaith relations.

She is currently a pastoral worker in the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes and a chaplain at Red Bend Catholic College. Elizabeth finds life in exploring the scriptures and the Church’s liturgical/sacramental tradition together with those in marginal situations.

Danielle Anne Lynch is a theologian, musician, and teacher, working in Brisbane.

Her work in systematic theology encompasses Theology, Music, and Songwriting, with particular interest in feminist and queer approaches.

She also works in Mission, Liturgy,  Religious Identity and Culture, and Religious Education. Danielle’s book on music and theology God in Sound and Silence: Music as Theology was published in 2018.

Her album Into Silence, a collection of  original songs exploring life in all its dimensions, including spiritual and faith aspects, was released in 2020 and is available on online platforms including Spotify, iTunes, and Youtube and is available in CD format.

Trish Madigan is a Dominican Sister who has ministered for many years in the Catholic Church in Australia in ecumenical and Interfaith relations. She is preaching on the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday after Easter (John 15: 1- 8). The other readings are Acts 9:  26-31 and 1 John 3: 18-24.

Margaret Scharf is a member of the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of Western Australia. She has a teaching and administrative background which was the springboard for other ministries, such as missionary work in the Solomon Islands, and the Dominican Sisters’ Motor Mission based in Morawa WA.

After opportunities for study in the USA, Margaret served for 16 years on the staff of the Center for Spiritual Development in Orange CA, as supervisor of the Art of Spiritual Direction three-year formation program for aspiring spiritual directors. Margaret taught many of the modules in the program, as well as acted as mentor and supervisor of spiritual directors. Her Doctorate involved the design of a formation program for supervision of spiritual directors.

Currently, Margaret is part-time with the Catholic Institute of WA, and the Centre for Faith Enrichment, also providing Staff PD Days in Catholic Schools and presenting parish programs wherever the need is in the State. Margaret is the designer of a program for spiritual and faith development of potential leaders in Catholic Schools, called “Galilee” which has been on offer for 5 years in WA through the Catholic Institute of WA.  Margaret is also on the executive of the Council of Churches in WA, the Ecumenical council appointed by the Heads of Churches, and enjoys volunteering to play the music for the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry on Sundays.

Margaret may also be remembered as a composer of Liturgical music with works published in Australia and the United States.

I am a first generation Tongan-Australian. My family and I migrated to Australia in the early 1990’s.

I am an ordained Deacon in the Uniting Church in Australia and am currently serving as a Tertiary Chaplain at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie.

I am passionate about advocating and encouraging different faiths and communities to come together in dialogue on differences and social justice issues.

I have a strong interest in studies of the Hebrew Bible and contextual Theology.

As a young contemporary Theologian from Oceania, my hope is to see more Theological work from those at the grassroots of Pasifika.

I hope to liberate our younger generations to write and relate to their own context.

I love to spend time reading novels, tales from Pasifika and hanging out with family and friends.

Melinda is a Catholic Indigenous woman from the Cubbitch Barta Clan in the Dharawal Nation.

Melinda has been married for 26 years to Alan, has four children and three grandchildren.

She originally has a background in administration in Catholic schools, then went to Australian Catholic University studying Theology as a mature aged student.

She holds a BTheol (Hons), minoring in Philosophy and History. Melinda tutored and lectured at Australian Catholic University for over 7 years in both Systematic Theology and Biblical Studies.

She has an interest in the work of Edith Stein and has given papers at international conferences on Stein.

Melinda is currently the Pastoral Care Coordinator at St Vincent’s Private Hospital Sydney.

Sister Patty Fawkner is the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict.  The Good Sams, as they are fondly called, was the first congregation to be founded in Australia in 1857 and now has communities in Australia, Japan, the Philippines and Kiribati.

Growing up in Sydney’s western suburbs, Patty was educated by the Presentation Sisters and then the Sisters Good Samaritan.  After joining the Good Sams, she trained and ministered as Primary School teacher, later becoming a Principal and a diocesan Religious Education Consultant.  Patty transitioned to Adult Education after completing a theology degree and has worked in that field in various capacities ever since.

Patty has also ministered as a media officer with Catholic Religious Australia, as the Director of UNIYA Jesuit Social Justice Centre, and has twice served on her congregational Council.  Though her ministries have been diverse, Patty sees that a connecting thread is her endeavour to make the riches of our Christian tradition accessible to contemporary people and circumstances.

Patty is currently the Vice President of Catholic Religious Australia.  She is a writer and facilitator, and a lover of bush walking and reading.  She has a keen interest in politics, current affairs and questions of justice and spirituality.

Dr Cristina Lledo Gomez is a Systematic Theologian and the Presentation Sisters Lecturer at BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education. She is also Research Fellow at Charles Sturt University’s Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre (PACT). She received her Bachelor and Master of Theology at the Catholic Institute of Sydney (2009) and PhD in Theology at Charles Sturt University (2015). In 2015 – 2016, she was the Visiting International Research Fellow for Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry where she wrote her first book, “The Church as Woman and Mother: Historical and Theological Foundations” (published in 2018).

Cristina’s role at BBI-TAITE is directed at the promotion of women’s spiritualities, feminist theologies, and ecology. She has also worked on many other levels and contexts of Church including as parish youth ministry coordinator, senior server, high school teacher, diocesan social justice coordinator, pastoral associate for university staff, in Catholic women’s activist groups, and as Chair of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council.

She has presented and published in the areas of maternal-feminist theology, ecclesiology, migration, post-colonialism, domestic violence, ecotheology and child sexual abuse in the Church. She has spoken at the Berkley Centre for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, the Antonianum in Rome, and various theological conferences. Cristina is working on her second book, a co-edited volume on mothering and theology and about to embark on a new research project: a theology which recovers and promotes the indigenous Filipina tradition, the Babaylan, for the empowerment of Australian-Filipina women

Andrea Dean has been involved in leadership, facilitation, and teaching through the Catholic Education: Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, the Australian Catholic University, and the University of Canberra.

In 2004, she received a Churchill Fellowship and visited the USA to investigate programs in teacher formation.

After two years as Director of the Office for the Participation of Women and Office for Lay Pastoral Ministry within the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Andrea is once again working as a consultant. She holds qualifications in education, theology, coaching, spiritual direction, and ministry.

Andrea is the president of WATAC (Women and the Australian Church).