Papers & Presentations

Social Analysis: A Canadian Perspective

Elizabeth M. Davis is Congregation Leader of the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland (Canada) and a doctoral student in Scripture at the University of Toronto. She has taught high school, has served as Chief Executive Officer of St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital and the Regional Health Authority in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and presently serves on several national health boards in Canada.

Africa: Urbanisation & Proliferation of Slums

Kenyan born, Anne Itotia first trained as a teacher and worked both in class and school administration for ten years. Currently, she is on sabbatical after six years of team Leadership at the Congregational level (2000-2006). She has also worked as the African Justice Desk coordinator in Pretoria, South Africa.

Global Human Trafficking: A Mercy Concern

Elizabeth McMillan teaches theology in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and is engaged in community organizing with women and in religious vocation and formation ministry. In the past she has taught at the seminary of the Missionary Fraternity of Mary in Guatemala City (1992-1998), at Carlow College, Pittsburgh, and at Loyola University in Chicago. Betsy holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, and an M.A. from Marquette University.

The History and Experience of Latinos/Hispanics in the United States

Ana Maria Pineda, born in San Salvador and raised in the Latino sector of San Francisco, holds an S.T.D. in Pastoral Theology from the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Spain. She is an Associate Professor in Religious Studies at Santa Clara University since 1997. Ana Maria has received the Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence from Barry University, Florida, and an Honorary Doctorate in Theology from Saint Xavier University, Chicago, and is a founding member of the influential Hispanic Theological Initiative which provides scholarships and mentoring for Latino doctoral theological students.

Social Analysis: Pacific Islands Perspective

Senolita Vakata is a member of the Sisters of Mercy, Aotearoa New Zealand. She currently ministers on the islands of Tonga, South West Pacific, working with Caritas Tonga and coordinating the diocesan office for Justice and Development. Among many other endeavors, Senolita organizes workshops on Environmental Justice. She holds a degree in theology from Yarra Theological Union, Melbourne, Australia.

Catherine McAuley in the Nineteenth and Twenty-First Centuries

Mary Sullivan taught Literature and Writing courses at the Rochester Institute of Technology for 35 years. She is now Professor Emerita and Dean Emerita of RIT. She is the author of Catherine McAuley and the Tradition of Mercy and editor of The Correspondence of Catherine McAuley, 1818-1841. She lectures on Catherine McAuley, directs Mercy retreats, and supports poor families in the neighborhood of her community.

History of The Sisters of Mercy of Ireland in Terms of the Ministry of Spirituality

Bonnie Brennan’s main ministry is Spiritual Direction, Supervision and Retreat Giving. She is also involved in promoting Mercy spirituality through retreats and talks on Catherine McAuley, and the publication of ‘It Commenced with Two ….’, and ‘According to Catherine.’ She is presently co-ordinator, for the Northern Province (Ireland), of the ‘Circle of Mercy,’ a form of association which involves Sisters of Mercy and lay women and men as equal members.

A U.S. Sister of Mercy Dialogues with Tradition

A member of the Northeast/Connecticut community, Dolores Liptak has authored five books on European immigration to the United States and three on American Catholic women since receiving her doctorate in American History from the University of Connecticut. Dolores is on the faculty of Holy Apostles Seminary, Cromwell, CT; continues to write and edit; and serves as mentor to those needing guidance with historical or archival projects. Her recent publication is A Testing Ground of Renewal: The Sisters of Mercy of the Union, Detroit Province: 1966-1973.

Mercy Fire Kindled in Guyana - April 1894, Still Burning - 2007

Mary Noel Menezes, Professor of History, has taught in Universities in the U.S.A., England, Holland, India and the Caribbean. She has authored books, monographs and articles on the Amerindians of Guyana and the Portuguese in Guyana and has been the recipient of national, regional and international honours and awards including Honorary Doctorates from College Misericordia, Dallas, Pa., and the University of the West Indies. For 35 years she also administered St. John Bosco Orphanage and currently works with the older boys at Mercy Boys’ Home.

Response to Social Analysis Papers from an Australian Perspective

Sophie McGrath is a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, Parramatta, Australia. She has a special interest in religion, church and women's histories, and, in an effort to contribute to breaking the cycle of the loss of women's history, she co-founded the Golding Centre for Women’s History, Theology and Spirituality at the Australian Catholic University where she is currently a Research Fellow.

Mercy Embodied/Embodied Mercy as Justice, Wisdom and Holiness

Elaine Wainwright is a member of the Brisbane Congregation of the Australian Institute of the Sisters of Mercy. Her passion lies in enabling communities of faith to engage with their sacred story in the scriptures in ways that are transformative of their lives, and she does this through teaching, research and publication, workshops and preaching. Currently she is Professor of Theology and Head of the School of Theology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Enkindling Mercy in a Multicultural Context: Focus on Jamaica

Theresa Lowe Ching is a member of the Sisters of Mercy in Jamaica (Americas). She holds an M.A. in theology from Notre Dame University, Indiana and a PhD. in Systemic Theology with a concentration in Latin American Liberation Theology from the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto School of Theology. She is presently Director of St. Michael’s Theological College in Kingston, Jamaica.

Fire Cast on the Earth: Spiritual Implications for Mercy in the 21st Century

Janet Ruffing spent her first years in ministry teaching English and Religion in Mercy Secondary schools in California. After completing her PhD in Christian Spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, she has spent the last 22 years chairing a concentration in spirituality and spiritual direction in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University in New York City. She has published widely in her field, has relished the opportunities she has had to present internationally, and is looking forward to this international gathering of Mercy scholars.

Lessons from the New Ecclesial Movements

Doris Gottemoeller is currently the Senior VP for Mission Integration at Catholic Healthcare Partners, a multi-state health system. She previously served as the first president of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. She earned a PhD in theology from Fordham University, with a focus on ecclesiology.

Forgiveness: A Work of Mercy Newly Relevant in the Twenty-First Century

Margaret Farley is Gilbert L. Stark Professor Emerita of Christian Ethics at Yale University Divinity School. Her publications focus on issues in historical Christian ethics, Roman Catholic ethics, medical ethics, sexual ethics, and ethics and spirituality. She is Co-director of the All-Africa Conference: Sister to Sister, which addresses the mutual empowerment of women responding to the HIV and AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. She is past president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the Society of Christian Ethics.

Women as the Image of God

Patricia Fox is from Adelaide, South Australia and has been involved in secondary, and tertiary education, and in formation, spiritual direction and retreat work. She has held leadership positions within the Mercy Institute and the Archdiocese of Adelaide. More recently Pat has completed doctoral studies in systematic theology with a focus on the Trinity and feminist theologies and is presently directing a ministry formation program within her local archdiocese.