By Sr M Luka Jueneman
Registrations are still open for a Catholic Women’s Conference scheduled to be held here in Perth on Saturday 27 July 2024 co-hosted by the Centre for Life, Marriage & Family and the Centre for Faith Enrichment, as well as UNDA Fremantle Campus Ministry, with the theme, In Her Footsteps: Answering the Invitation of the Feminine Genius.
The theme of the Conference invites women to step into the journey with other like-minded Catholic women from all walks of life to be formed and equipped for the challenges of today’s world in the footsteps of Mary Magdalene.
They are encouraged to ‘offer their gifts in the service of the Gospel,’ looking at how the words written by the fathers of Vatican II in their closing message are still true today: “…at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling.”
Shelby D’Souza, Coordinator of Family Life Education at CLMF, one of the members of the organising team, has taken the time to answer a number of questions.
As the conference is a collaboration between various agencies, do you have a common vision for the conference?
Our vision for the Catholic Women’s Conference in 2024 is to create a space for Catholic women to gather, be formed and equipped to navigate the growing challenges of the world we live in. We want to foster a deeper understanding of the beauty of the Catholic Church’s teachings. With an age range of 18 years and older, we want this conference to be a source of support and accompaniment for women in all the different seasons of life.
How do you think this conference will make a difference for the women in our Archdiocese?
Our hope is that through the key-note speakers, workshops and fellowship with one another, we will be able to inspire and cultivate a community of Catholic women to recognise their identity as daughters of God, the gifts that they have, and to be sent as apostles who share the beauty and truth of our faith back home in their work, family, school and other networks. Workshops will cover topics such as the embodying the feminine genius in the service of the gospel, relationships, fertility, marriage & family.
Who will deliver the keynote address and what will it be about?
The keynote address will be delivered by Professor Renee Köhler-Ryan, the Deputy Executive Dean, Faculty of Education, Philosophy & Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
Before joining Notre Dame, Prof Ryan was a researcher and academic assistant at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where she earned a PhD in Philosophy under the supervision of Professor William Desmond.
She teaches Aesthetics, Philosophy of the Human Person, and Political Philosophy, as well as courses that emphasise the importance of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and has published extensively.
She is a member of the Mission and Identity Committee for Sydney Catholic Schools and serves on the Reference Group for Studies in Catholic Thought, which reports to the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
She was also a delegate for the Plenary Council of Australia and is a non-bishop member for Oceania for the Synod on Synodality (2023-2024).
The topic of Prof Ryan’s keynote address will be “Working Mothers? How to Make a Difference in Public and at Home?”
Prof Ryan will explore the work of Pope St Paul VI who argued at the end of the Second Vatican Council that the distinctiveness of a feminine understanding of what is important in society is becoming more and more essential.
Her talk will address some of the opportunities and challenges that Catholic women face in the workplace – considering all along how important it is that we support women in their biological and spiritual motherhood.
For more information, and to register, visit https://CLMF.org.au/InHerFootsteps