Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC Australias 25th Governor General, shaking hands with ACUs Associate Professor Mary Coloe, who led workshops throughout the conference.

Conference to commemorate anniversary of report

A conference was recently held at the Canberra Campus (Signadou) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the report, Woman and Man One in Christ Jesus.

The report was commissioned by Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and came at the conclusion of long-term research that investigated the participation of women in the Australian Catholic Church. 

The project was chaired by Professor Peter Carpenter, who at the time was the Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The research team leader and author of the report was Dr Marie MacDonald, who is the former Head of the School of Religious Education at the University.

This research led to the creation of a Commission of Australian Catholic Women reporting to the Bishops Conference on the status of women in the church.

Ten years on, diocesan delegates of the Commission met in Canberra to review, celebrate and plan the next steps of this initiative. 

On the final day of the Conference participants had an opportunity to meet with the Governor General, Quentin Bryce who spoke to them of the importance of woman in all aspects of society and the necessity to turn rhetoric into reality.