Speakers

Fr Daniel O’Leary, MA (UK), MA (CA), a priest of the Diocese of Leeds, England, is a writer and speaker. He has worked as parish pastor for 30 years. For another 20 years,  he taught theology and religious education at St Mary’s University College in London.  Author of many books, he writes for The Tablet and The Furrow. The main aim of all his work is to reveal the astonishing meaning of the Incarnation, and how it transforms the quality of our daily lives. He himself still struggles, each new day, to stay authentic and free!

Fr Steve Bevans is a priest of the missionary congregation of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) and Professor of Mission and Culture, Emeritus, at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. From 1972 until 1981, he served as a missionary to the Philippines.

Educated at the Gregorian University in Rome and the University of Notre Dame in the United States, Steve is the author or co-author of six books and editor or co-editor of eleven, among which are Models of Contextual Theology, An Introduction to Theology in Global Perspective, and--edited with Cathy Ross--Mission on the Road to Emmaus: Constants, Context, and Prophetic Dialogue. He has taught and lectured in many countries around the world and is currently a member of the World Council of Churches' Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, one of three Catholics to be appointed to this post by the Vatican. He is currently serving as a visiting lecturer at Yarra Theological Union at the University of Divinity in Melbourne.

Sr Bridget-Rose Tiernan SND  de Namur was born in Bulawayo, in what is now Zimbabwe, and spent her teenage years growing up in Zambia. She completed her secondary education with the Sisters of Notre Dame as a boarder in Kroonstad, South Africa, and studied at Rhodes University in South Africa for a BA degree in History before joining the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1963. Her novitiate years and a further year of study were spent in England, and she returned to South Africa in mid-1967, where she has been in ministry ever since. She has since read for B Ed degree at the University of Cape Town, and completed a Masters in Educational Leadership with the Australian Catholic University.

Biddy-Rose, as she is most frequently called, has taught in several secondary schools in South Africa. In 1977, following the Southern African Catholic Bishops STATEMENT OF Commitment (to transformation in Sn A) she left teaching, and for 9 years worked in the area of Justice and Peace, both in the Archdiocese of Cape Town and then for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, based in Pretoria.

In 1987, Biddy Rose rejoined the newly launched Catholic Institute of education (CIE), which she led until the end of 1999, through the tumultuous last years of apartheid, and then the exciting first years of the new democracy. After leaving the CIE she has continued to be actively involved in Catholic Education at different levels, national, and provincial, and in her Congregation’s two schools for needy learners in Kroonstad, Free State.

Biddy Rose SND lives in Johannesburg in a small Religious community, and having recently handed over the responsibilities of province leadership, is looking forward to writing up the history of the SND community in Zimbabwe and South Africa in the last 40 years, and of the first 100 yeasr of St Peter Claver Primary School in Kroonstad (1916 – 2016).

The Hon Professor Kristina Keneally has had a long standing career in politics and is widely known as the first woman to hold office as the 42nd Premier of New South Wales, a position she held from 2009-2011.

She was also the Member for Heffron in the New South Wales Parliament between 2003-2012 and served in Cabinet in various roles including; Minister for Disability Services, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Planning, Minister for Infrastructure and Government Spokesperson for World Youth Day.

After politics Kristina was the CEO of Basketball Australia between 2012-2014.

Kristina is the Director of Gender Inclusion/Adjunct Professor at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and a regular columnist.  She also serves as a Director of Souths Cares, Patron of the Stillbirth Foundation Australia and Ambassador for Opportunity Australia International.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science and an MA in Religious Studies both from the University of Dayton. She is also a Political Commentator and regularly appears as a guest on The Cabinet on Sky News.

Kristina Keneally is exclusively represented by Wall Media.

Fr Richard Leonard is a Jesuit priest.  He has degrees in arts and education, as well as a Master’s degree in theology.  Fr Richard did graduate studies at the London Film School and has a PhD from the University of Melbourne.  

He directs the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting, is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Catholic University and has been a visiting scholar within the School of Theatre, Film & Television at UCLA and a Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.  Fr Richard has served on juries at the Venice, Berlin, Warsaw, Hong Kong, Montreal, Brisbane and Melbourne International Film Festivals and he has lectured on faith and culture all over the world.

He is the author of:

• The Mystical Gaze of the Cinema: the Films of Peter Weir;
• Movies That Matter: Reading Film Through the Lens of Faith;
• Preaching to the Converted;
• Where the Hell is God? (which has gone on to become an international bestselling religious title).
• Why Bother Praying? (which was awarded a 2013 Excellence in Publishing Award from the US Association of Catholic Publishers
• What are we waiting for? Reflections for Advent and Christmas
• What Are We Doing On Earth For Christ Sake? (was released in March 2015)
• What are we hoping for? Reflections for Lent & Easter (will be released in February 2016).

Tony Ryan a former teacher, Tony Ryan is an educational consultant and writer, and offers professional support to school organisations throughout the world on topics such as ICT, future learning environments, and teacher welfare.

Tony is the author of the Thinkers Keys, The Ripple Effect, Mindlinks, Wrapped In Living and a series of manuals and workbooks that stimulate innovative thinking in classrooms.

He has worked with over 1000 schools in 8 countries in the past 15 years, and is the Australian ambassador of School Aid, a non-profit organisation that co-ordinates disaster fundraising throughout Australian schools.

Andrea Dean grew up in the small gold mining village of Adelong on the south western slopes of New South Wales. After training as teacher, she worked in various fields of education for more than 30 years.

Initially, she taught in rural New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. A highlight was the time she spent living in Papua New Guinea where she worked in the Vanimo district from 1993 to 1996.

Eventually settling in Canberra, Andrea has been involved in leadership, facilitation and teaching through the Catholic Education Office, 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. Since 2009, Andrea has worked as an independent consultant and life coach in her business which is called Future Matters. She offers retreats and spirituality days for Catholic schools and organizations as well as supporting the implementation of mentoring programs and collaborative development of Vision and Mission Statements. Currently she is training as a spiritual director and coordinates a national leadership program for young women called the “Young Catholic Women’s Interfaith Fellowship”.

Peter Smith is a Kamilaroi man from south western Queensland and north western NSW. Born in Murrurundi in NSW in 1934, he moved to Queensland in 1960. He served 23 years in the Australian Army with active service in Malaysia and Vietnam, and attained the rank of Warrant Officer.

After being discharged in 1978, Uncle Peter became a ranger with the Aboriginal Ranger Service. In this role he located, recorded and protected sacred Aboriginal sites throughout different regions in Queensland. He has been happily married for over 60 years, and has 9 children, 24 grandchildren, and 32 great-grandchildren. Peter was a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council for nine years from its formation, the last three as Chairperson. He is a member of the Mount Isa Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council, and from 2002 to 2008 was the World Council of Churches Australian Representative at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Donna Mulhearn Activist, writer and speaker, Donna Mulhearn was a human shield during the war in Iraq and returned several times as an aid worker and human rights activist. She is a journalist, former political adviser and completed her Master’s Degree at the University of Sydney Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. 

During her fifth trip to Iraq in 2013 she researched the effects of toxic weapons on the civilian population, particularly mothers and babies in the city of Fallujah. She is currently working on her second book and setting up a small retreat centre at her Blue Mountains property.

Featured on ABC’s Australian Story program, her book, Ordinary Courage, a memoir about her experience as a human shield, was published in 2010. Inspired by the Peace Prayer of St Francis of Assisi, Donna describes herself as a 'Pilgrim and Storyteller." She practices a spirituality of action and contemplation which includes Christian Meditation, Labyrinths, playing the celtic harp, living simply and the odd act of sacred civil disobedience!

Mohammed Elleissy  is a Melbourne-based Community Worker, writer and commentator.  He is a board member of the Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia and Interaction – a multifaith organisation that works to bring people of various faiths together on charitable projects.

He was formerly a member of the Victorian Multicultural Commission's Regional Advisory Council for North West Metro as well as a former member of the National Leaders Group for the White Ribbon Foundation.

He has spoken extensively around issues of multiculturalism and community issues in Australia, having appeared on SKY News, Sunrise, The Project on Network Ten, SBS's Insight as well as a regular contributor to ABC's News Breakfast on ABC1. He has also written for the Herald Sun and ABC's The Drum.

From 2007 to 2009, he was a member of the Victorian Premier's Multifaith Multicultural Youth Network and was a participant of the Governor's Roundtable into Multicultural Policy. In 2009 he was a speaker at the International Parliament of World Religions.

Jacqui Rémond is National Director of Catholic Earthcare Australia, the ecological agency of the Catholic Church in Australia. She is also an official spokesperson for the Catholic Church on Laudato Si’, the papal encyclical on ecology.

Jacqui graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Education in Science in 1997, a post graduate certificate in Leading Resilient Enterprises in 2014, and in the years between worked as an environmental educator at Universities, TAFE colleges and Secondary Schools around the county.

Jacqui has spent many years developing partnerships and ecological conversion programs to enable the Catholic Church in Australia to better care for God’s Creation through advocacy, education, research and collaboration. Two key initiatives are the National Energy Efficiency Network (NEEN) and A Strategic Systems-based Integrated Sustainability Initiative (ASSISI). Jacqui is currently the Convener of the National Council of Churches Australia Eco Mission Project and the NSW Eco Mission Network, and represents Catholic Earthcare Australia on the steering committee of the Global Catholic Climate Movement, the Australian Education Sustainability Alliance and the Justice and Peace Advisory Council in Sydney.

With a long history in environmental advocacy, Jacqui has previously worked as the Coordinator of the Northern Australia Environment Alliance and served as Chair of Environs Kimberley.  In 2006, Jacqui undertook training with Al Gore to become a ‘Climate Change Leader’ and presented Al Gore’s slide show throughout the Kimberley. This led to her involvement in ‘The Big Switch’ campaign and her organising the first ‘Walk Against Warming’ in the Kimberley. Today, Jacqui is a mentor to a group of retired academics in Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project.

Nicholas Marchesi & Lucas Patchett - Orange Sky Laundry two 21 year old best mates, Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett built a free mobile laundry in their old van to help the homeless. With the aim of positively connecting the community, Orange Sky Laundry began in September 2014. The world first, rapidly expanded to 5 vans in Brisbane, Melbourne, South East Victoria, Sydney and the Gold Coast. Run by over 270 volunteers, the custom fitted vans with two commercial washing machines and two dryers, now service over 36 locations and wash over 350 loads each week.

A catalyst for conversation, Orange Sky Laundry facilitates countless hours of conversations each week. In February 2015, the pair took their mobile laundry to North Queensland to wash clothes in cyclone affected communities.  Recently they were appointed the Young Australians of the Year 2016.   The boys have found a way to treat others how they want to be treated by restoring respect, raising health standards and reducing the strain on resources. They now plan to expand services Australia wide in the aim of connecting the community and continually improving the lives of others. 

Sr Carmel Ruddick The plight of asylum seekers both across the world and particularly here in Australia has tugged at my heart-strings for a long time, writes Carmel Ruddick rsm. So much so, that I simply had to volunteer to go to one of the detention centres, to find out something of the truth of what is happening.

Marie Radford worked from 1976 to 1996 in Townsville Catholic schools and during this time was Acting Principal at St Joseph’s School, Mundingburra, Deputy Principal at Ryan Catholic College and Principal at St Joseph’s on The Strand.  In 1997 she joined the Townsville Catholic Education Office as an Education Consultant.  Marie is currently the chair of the Diocesan Education Committee for the Townsville Diocese.