Speaking tour in Australia

Joan Chittister’s speaking tour in Australia is reaching a wide variety of people across the country. Her interview on the program “Soul Search” on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has been listened to by 100,000 people, and her speech to hundreds of high school age students at Assumption College was a great success. The school principal noted that the students were “really buzzing on the bus back and the staff took them aside for an hour on return to do a debrief. They’re talking about gathering again after the holidays to keep the discussion going…that never happens!”
 
She also recently spoke in a webinar with John Warhurst, the Australian political scientist, on the subject of Church reform. Her speech at St. Scholastica College, in Glebe, was titled “What is ‘the new’ trying to emerge in Benedictine life?”

This speaking tour was the subject of an article in National Catholic Reporter this month. Peter Kirkwood wrote about the context of Sister Joan’s visit as the Australian Church prepares for a plenary council. The piece can be read here.