Matthew Tan lectures in theology and philosophy at Campion College. He received his doctorate in Political Theology at the Australian Catholic University in 2010. His doctoral thesis was entitled “Body of Christ in Seas of Change: The Relationship Between Ecclesiology, Politics and Practice in the Conditioning of 20th Century Roman Catholic Responses to Violence”. He is currently working on two projects, one on the redemption of cyborgified culture and another linking prayer with the production of ecclesial social sites. He also runs the blog “The Divine Wedgie: Church. Culture. Politics”

Scott Stephens is the Religion and Ethics editor for ABC Online. Before joining the ABC he taught theology for many years, and even did a stint as a parish minister with the Uniting Church in Australia. He has written extensively on the intersections among philosophy, theology, ethics and politics, as well as on modern atheism’s dependence on the Christian legacy. Scott is also a regular contributor to The Drum, Eureka Street and the Times Literary Supplement. He has edited and translated (with Rex Butler) two voluhttps://mediablog.catholic.org.au/wp-admin/post-new.phpmes of the Selected Works of the highly influential philosopher and cultural critic, Slavoj Zizek – including The Universal Exception, which was named by The Guardian newspaper one of its “Books of the Year” in 2007.

Virginia Ryan has been an educator for over 30 years. She was the Adult Faith Education and Pastoral Formation Coordinator at The Broken Bay Institute where she was the national co-ordinator for the ACBC eConferences on Paul, Luke, Mary and Jesus the Christ. For three years Virginia edited and wrote for a monthly e-newsletter each month, Mission and Spirituality News which has an audience of about 17,000 subscribers nationally. Virginia is currently a member of the Broken Bay Diocese Catholic School Office Mission Team where she designs and delivers faith formation opportunities for school leadership teams, whole school staff and parents.

Monsignor Paul Tighe one of the Vatican’s most senior media advisors, is Secretary to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Irish-born, Monsignor Tighe worked as the Director of Communications in the Archdiocese of Dublin prior to this Vatican role, where he focusses on developing new media strategies and also with liaising between the Vatican and the international media. His work for the Council is right on the cutting edge of the social media revolution which is changing the way the world — and the Church — communicates. ‘Communication of the Gospel must be at heart of the ministry of a priest and I am pleased to be asked to work in the Council that has a mandate to harness the potential of the media – new and old – as a means of evangelisation,’ Monsignor Paul says. ‘I am equally pleased to be speaking on this vital area in the mission of the Church at the ACMC in Sydney”

Emma Rossi is a Media Executive at the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) She has previously worked as a Reporter/Newsreader at Seven Network Limited and at the Nine Network as a Reporter/Newsreader. She was chair of the Board of Directors for the Sisters of St Joseph Peruvian Project for four years.

Bishop David Walker has been chief pastor to the people of the Diocese of Broken Bay for the past 15 years. His deep love and interest in spirituality forms the backbone to his commitment to promote a truly Australian spirituality, and the fostering of theological and spiritual education. Bishop David’s ongoing support for furthering serious theological study and adult faith formation to the wider Catholic community has led to the development and founding of the Catholic Correspondence Centre, The Centre for Christian Spirituality and The Broken Bay Institute. He is a prominent speaker and has published extensively on faith renewal, spirituality, mysticism, formation of clergy and Church leadership. As a member of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Commission for Mission and Faith Formation, he has undertaken evangelisation of the Scriptures. His promotion of lectio divina through new media has taken the Word of God in to the hearts and homes of people throughout Australia and the world.

Julie Posetti is a journalist and journalism academic from Canberra, who has worked with the flagship ABC current affairs programs AM, PM and the World Today. In 1997, she was posted to the Canberra Press Gallery as a political correspondent for these programs. Her reporting focus has been on social justice issues including Aboriginal affairs and ethnic communities. While she still calls herself a journalist, she moved into academia in 2003 and now teaches radio and television journalism at the University of Canberra. She is currently working on a PhD on the Twitterisation of Journalism while continuing research into multicultural journalism, talk radio and public broadcasting.

The Bishops of Australia have invited the whole Church to a Year of Grace which will commence at Pentecost, 2012. This short video shows the Bishops breaking open the theme “Starting afresh in Christ”.