Katharine Massam | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Australian |
Occupation(s) | Academic, church historian |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Western Australia PhD |
Thesis | Lay Catholic spirituality in Australia (1992) |
Doctoral advisor | Patricia Marcia Crawford and Tom Stannage |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Church history,Spirituality |
Institutions | University of Divinity |
Website | staff |
Katharine Massam is a professor of church history based at the University of Divinity in Melbourne,Australia.
Katharine Therese Massam [1] grew up in Perth,Western Australia. She completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) at the University of Western Australia and a Diploma of Education at Flinders University in Adelaide,South Australia,before going on to completing her PhD at the University of Western Australia in 1992. Her doctoral thesis was later published as Sacred Threads:Catholic Spirituality in Australia. [2] [3] [4]
Massam worked as a lecturer in the History Department at the University of Adelaide from 1996-2000 and was also a postdoctoral research fellow at the Australian National University from 1994-2000. She also taught at the University of WA,Murdoch University and Edith Cowan University. [5]
In 2000 Massam took up a role at what is now Pilgrim Theological College in Melbourne (formerly United Faculty of Theology). She was the first Catholic laywoman to be appointed to the ecumenical faculty. [5] Massam served as Pilgrim Theological College's academic dean in 2016 and again from 2018-2020. [2]
Massam's teaching and research interests lie in the areas of Australian religious history and spirituality (especially Benedictine traditions) with a particular interest in cultural and theological understandings of prayer and work. Her work is influenced by postcolonial and feminist perspectives and she has published widely in these areas. [2] [6]
In 2020 Massam's book A Bridge Between:Spanish Benedictine Missionary Women in Australia,was one of three books shortlisted for a national prize in Australian history,the New South Wales Premier's History Awards. [7] [8] The book stems from a long collaboration with the Aboriginal Corporation of New Norcia and Benedictine communities that served the monastic town of New Norcia,in Western Australia. Massam was invited to discuss the book and the Spanish Benedictine women with historian Meredith Lake,on ABC's Soul Search program. [9] [10] The book was also discussed when she was interviewed for the Love-Rinse/Repeat podcast. [11]
Massam was elected as a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in 2017. She is the secretary of the Religious History Association [4] and is also a founding member and current co-convenor of the Australian Collaborators in Feminist Theologies. [2] [12]
The Global Church Project included Massam in its list of 20 Australian and New Zealander Female Theologians you should get to know in 2020. [3]
Benedict of Nursia, often known as Saint Benedict, was an Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian who is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old Catholic Churches. He is a patron saint of Europe.
New Norcia is a town in Western Australia, 132 km (82 mi) north of Perth, near the Great Northern Highway. It is situated next to the banks of the Moore River, in the Shire of Victoria Plains. New Norcia is the only monastic town in Australia, with its Benedictine abbey founded in 1848. The monks later founded a mission and schools for Aboriginal children. A series of Catholic colleges were created, with the school that became St Benedict's College in 1965 later gaining notoriety for being the site of sexual abuse that took place in the late 1960s and 1970s.
The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university of specialisation in divinity. It is constituted by eleven theological colleges from eight denominations. The University of Divinity is the direct successor of the second oldest degree-granting authority in the State of Victoria, the Melbourne College of Divinity. The university's chancery and administration are located in Box Hill, a suburb of Melbourne in the state of Victoria.
Kalumburu and Kalumburu Community are both bounded localities within the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley in Western Australia. Kalumburu Community is the northernmost settlement in Western Australia.
Count Redmond Garrett Prendiville a former Australian metropolitan bishop, was the fifth bishop and second Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Perth. In 1933, at the time of his consecration, aged 32, Prendiville was reputedly the youngest-ever Catholic archbishop.
The Aquinas College Chapel, formally known as the Chapel of St Thomas Aquinas, is a heritage-listed building located on the Aquinas College property in Salter Point, in the city of Perth, Western Australia. The building is owned by the Christian Brothers as part of the Aquinas College property.
Mgr Anselm Bourke, born Nicholas Bourke, was a Roman Catholic priest of Irish origins. He was prominent in Catholic education for several decades, and also founded the West Perth parish of the Church in 1901. He made his profession as a Benedictine monk in 1858, but got dispensation from his monastic vows from the Vatican in 1871; therefore, he cannot be called a Benedictine.
Phyllis Zagano is an American author and academic. She has written and spoken on the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church and is an advocate for the ordination of women as deacons. Her writings have been variously translated into Indonesian, Czech, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Mary Ellen Cuper was an Australian telegraphist and postmistress. She was born as Ellen Pangieran in Western Australia and was sent to New Norcia for education after her father deserted the family. She first married at age 15, but her first husband died shortly afterwards; she later married Benedict Cuper. Cuper was trained as a telegraphist by Rosendo Salvado and became the first postmistress of New Norcia. In addition, she trained Sarah Ninak as a telegraphist, who took over as the New Norcia postmistress temporarily. Cuper died at age 30, due to tuberculosis.
The New Norcia Hotel is a historic building in New Norcia, in Western Australia's Wheatbelt region. Part of the Benedictine Monastery Precinct, it opened in 1927 as a hostel for travellers and families of boarders at the New Norcia colleges, but later opened to the public. It closed in January 2020.
Yued is a region inhabited by the Yued people, one of the fourteen groups of Noongar Aboriginal Australians who have lived in the South West corner of Western Australia for approximately 40,000 years.
Sister Mary Coloe is an Australian religious sister and New Testament biblical scholar who specializes in the Gospel of John. She is a member of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, a Roman Catholic religious order dedicated to teaching and service to the poor. She is a professor at Yarra Theological Union, in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia.
Maryanne P. Confoy RSC is an Australian religious Sister of Charity who has also been a teacher and scholar, working primarily in the areas of ministry and spirituality.
Elaine Stuart Lindsay is an Australian academic. She was instrumental in the development of the Women-Church journal which provided publishing opportunities in feminist theology for Australian women.
Janina Hiebel is a German-born biblical scholar now residing in Australia who works at the University of Divinity in Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests are in the period of the Babylonian Exile, particularly the book of the prophet Ezekiel.
Veronica Therese Willaway OSB also known as Sister Veronica, is a Yued Noongar woman from New Norcia in Western Australia. She spent her childhood at St Joseph's school and orphanage, an institution for Aboriginal girls in New Norcia, before deciding to become a Benedictine sister herself.
Anne Frances Elvey is an Australian academic, editor, researcher and poet.
Madeleine Sophie McGrath was an Australian historian and religious Sister of Mercy, who was the Director of the Golding Centre for Women's History, Theology and Spirituality at the Australian Catholic University from 2003 to 2020.
Kim E. Power is an Australian academic, feminist theologian and church historian, who was a co-founder of the Golding Centre for Women's History, Theology and Spirituality at the Australian Catholic University.
Mary Rose MacGinley pbvm was an Australian Presentation sister, academic and historian of women religious. She was the co-founder of the Golding Centre for Women’s History, Theology and Spirituality at the Australian Catholic University.