God's Mercy and Yours

The talks are open to the public and there is no charge. They will take all place in the Assembly Hall, accessed via New College, on The Mound.

However, if you wish to eat and drink either on Friday or Saturday you must book on Eventbrite and if you can please make a donation. You can donate on the day, or in advance to Fr Dermot.

Catherine is a Lay Dominican, a member of the London fraternity who is currently serving on the provincial council as events officer. She began her working life as a school teacher in the northeast of England, after a first degree in languages and history at Oxford. She later turned to postgraduate study in theology, first at Heythrop and then Durham University, specialising in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Her current research is on Aquinas's ecclesiology. Since 2011, she has also been employed as a parish catechist and youth worker in East London, where she lives with her daughter and extended family.

Duncan was born and brought up in Scotland. He was educated at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as Julius-Maximilian University in Würzburg, Germany. He was Executive Director of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), Caritas Scotland, for thirteen years and then Head of International Relations at the General Secretariat of Caritas Internationalis (CI) in the Vatican. He was elected as Secretary General of the CI in 1999, leaving this office in 2007 and then became a Visiting Professor at Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Sydney for six months and stayed six years. In addition to coordinating a programme to offer tertiary education to Burmese refugees and migrants from camps in Thailand, he introduced a new degree in international development studies and taught it and Catholic social ethics at ACU until he returned to Scotland at the end of 2013. He was an Adjunct Professor of ACU, and is a published writer in development and refugee studies as well as Catholic Social Teaching, and has a doctorate in Catholic theology from the University of Glasgow. In 2004, he was named ‘Alumnus of the Year’ by the University of Edinburgh for his humanitarian work, and in 2015 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great by Pope Francis for his service to the Church. Duncan was a co-founder of the Glasgow Lay Dominicans with a justice and peace focus in the 1980s, has been a lay representative on the Dominican Volunteers International Commission, the Preaching Commission and, most recently, the International Dominican Commission for Justice and Peace.

Born in Belgium, Fr Philippe is a member of the Southern African Dominican Province. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Liège. After working as a journalist and adult educator in Belgium and France, he moved to South Africa in 1988 where he has been teaching the History of Christianity at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and doing community work ever since. He makes regular visits to Rwanda for research purposes. His latest books include The Genocide against the Tutsi and the Rwandan Churches. Between Grief and Denial (James Curray, 2022) and The First Black Dominican Sisters in Natal (1922-1939). At the Crossroads of Race and Gender (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2023).

Sr Terry is the Prioress General of the English Congregation of St Catherine of Siena, often known as the Stone Congregation. Sr Terry isa medical doctor and resides at St Rose’s House, Stroud, Gloucestershire. She entered the English Congregation in 1968 and was a qualified physiotherapist having worked in adult and sports medicine. The congregation sent her to St Rose's School in Stroud, a specialist school for physically disabled children. At first this was a challenge for someone with no experience in paediatrics, but soon she grew to love encouraging the youngsters to be as independent as possible. Sport became part of the curriculum and the children represented England in swimming and took part in national and international games. After several years it was suggested that she study medicine and after qualifying as a doctor, she worked in the NHS as a paediatrician. In 2019 I was elected Prioress General of the congregation.

Sr Karen is a Sister of the Congregation of St Catherine of Siena of Newcastle, Natal, South Africa, often known among Dominicans as the Bushey Sisters. She resides at Rosary Priory, Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire. She was elected Congregation Councillor in December 2016, re-elected in December 2022. She has worked in university chaplaincy and faith formation for children and adults and trained in formation ministry. With a strong back ground in administration, she is also currently Co-ordinator of the Niland Conference Centre run by the Congregation.

Fr Paul is an Irish Dominican friar, who lives in Rome, where until recently he taught courses at the Angelicum University on the literature of the Western mystical tradition. He was born at Newcastle, Co. Down. he began teaching full time at the Angelicum in 1994 and, in the same year, was appointed Spiritual Director at the Convitto Internazionale San Tommaso. In 2000-2001, he was invited by Cardinal George to occupy the Paluch Chair of Theology at the University of St Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Chicago. From the period 2001 to 2005 he was Vice Rector of the Angelicum University and, in 2007, he was elected President of the Institute of Spirituality at the Angelicum and re-elected in 2009. In 2010 he was invited by The House of Lords, London, to deliver an hour-long lecture on Christian Contemplation. On 17 January 2012 he was conferred with the STM (Master in Sacred Theology) by the Dominican Order. his books, 19 in all, include 6 books of poetry, are in the general field of spirituality and literature. They have been translated into languages such as German, French, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Polish, and Arabic.

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