Kathryn Boyle
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Kathryn Boyle has been involved in education for over 40 years. She began her career as a secondary teacher within the Catholic Education system in Melbourne and held roles as Year level Coordinator as well as REC in a number of schools.
She worked for many years with St Columban’s Mission Society as Mission and Justice Education Officer. The Columban Fathers work in disadvantaged communities in many countries worldwide and Kathryn was privileged to be able to experience a number of these. Whilst engaged in this work she also pursued an academic pathway, undertaking two Master’s Degrees: one in Scripture with a thesis on Luke’s Passion Narrative and one in Catholic Social Teaching with a thesis on Pope John Paul II’s particular contribution to the corpus. In more recent years she was a full time lecturer at the Australian Catholic University in the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy. She has recently retired from full time employment but not from the passion to engage people in the demands of acting to bring about greater justice in the world. |
About Kathryn's Keynote:
As Christians engaged in service learning we take as our model the leadership of service which was a dominant trait of the ministry of Jesus. He sought always to be inclusive, empowering, welcoming and healing; to create for people a life which was “more just and worthy of the human person” (Pope John Paul II, Confronting the Challenges, 3 (A document introducing Centesimus Annus).
His unique relationship with God and his deep understanding of God’s dream for the world, leads us to examine both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures to discern what they tell us of that dream and how we should act in making it a reality in our own age.
In this Keynote Address we will examine the threads of the understanding of ‘justice’ in Scripture which call Christians to a very specific three-fold response in action. Providing the opportunities for people to engage in service learning, to offer themselves to others in service, allows them to develop deep understandings of the structures which can hinder human flourishing and an equally deep commitment on a personal level to stand in solidarity with all humanity, especially those who are most marginalised. The transformative nature of service learning both for those to whom service is given and for those who offer themselves cannot be underestimated. This is what leads to faith personified in action.
His unique relationship with God and his deep understanding of God’s dream for the world, leads us to examine both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures to discern what they tell us of that dream and how we should act in making it a reality in our own age.
In this Keynote Address we will examine the threads of the understanding of ‘justice’ in Scripture which call Christians to a very specific three-fold response in action. Providing the opportunities for people to engage in service learning, to offer themselves to others in service, allows them to develop deep understandings of the structures which can hinder human flourishing and an equally deep commitment on a personal level to stand in solidarity with all humanity, especially those who are most marginalised. The transformative nature of service learning both for those to whom service is given and for those who offer themselves cannot be underestimated. This is what leads to faith personified in action.