Speakers
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Prof. Dr. Francis-Vincent Anthony (Indien)Born in Mumbai, India. He is currently Professor of Practical Theology at the Salesian Pontifical University. He received his Doctorate in Theology, with specialization in Youth Ministry and Catechetic from this same university (1993). He is credited with introducing empirical-theological research in the Italian and Indian context with several publications and has participated in different international research groups on religion, education, and democracy. |
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Prof. Dr. Sandra Arenas (Chile)Doctor (Ph.D.) in Systematic Theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. From 2013-2020, she was a professor at the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In January 2020, she became Dean of the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy at the Catholic University of Temuco, Chile. Her main areas of work are: Vatican II studies, ecclesiology and ecumenism. |
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Prof. Dr. Carolina Bacher (Argentinien)Doctor (Ph.D.) in Theology from the Catholic University of Argentina (2019), with specializations in Social and Educational Organizations. She works as an associate professor for Pastoral Theology at the Catholic University of Argentina and as a researcher at the Catholic University Silva Henríquez (Chile). She was also invited as an expert for Argentina’s national and local synodal consultation processes and is a member of “Teologanda”, a Latin American women-theologians organization. |
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Prof. Dr. Bernardo Brown (Argentina/Japan)Doctor (Ph.D.) in Cultural Anthropology from Cornell University. He works as an assistant professor of International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. He is also part of the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) and is specialized in the culture and history of Catholic Sri Lanka and more broadly on the Anthropology of Christianity in South and Southeast Asia. |
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Dr. Catalina Cerda-Planas (Chile/Germany)She is currently a researcher in the area of mission and education at the Institute for Global Church and Mission in Frankfurt am Main and a researcher at the Catholic University Silva Henríquez (Chile). She holds a Master’s degree in Fundamental Theology and Political Sciences and just completed her Ph.D. in Practical Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the Julius Maximilians University in Würzburg, Germany. Her work focuses on studies on religion and youth, pastoral theology, and empirical theology. She is currently leading the „Synodal Way – World Church Perspectives” Study conducted by IWM and KAAD. |
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Prof. Dr. Kristin Colberg (USA)She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, Master of Divinity from Yale University Divinity School and a doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. She has been teaching as an associate professor at St. John’s in Collegeville since 2012. |
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Dr. Paula Depalma (Argentina/Spain)She is a native from Argentina and received her doctorate in Teología dogmático sacramental in 2015 from Pontificio Ateneo Sant‘ Anselmo in Rome, Italy. |
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Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Bernhard Emunds (Germany)Studies of Catholic Theology, History and Economics in Bonn, Paris and Frankfurt. Doctor rer. pol. (Ph.D.) in Economics from Goethe University, Frankfurt. He is professor of Christian Social Ethics and Social Philosophy at the Graduate School of Theology Sankt Georgen in Frankurt and the director of the Nell-Breuning Institute. |
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Dr. Ziad Fahed (Lebanon)He has a Doctorate in Theology and is Director of University Mission Office & Full Professor at Notre Dame University-Louaize, Lebanon. His main research interests are religions and politics, Interreligious dialogue and pluralism, the role of the Church during the war in Lebanon, the theology of the mission, and the contribution of the Church in building the Lebanese political system. At the present, he is studying the impact of monotheistic religions on Lebanese society, as well as the challenges they pose to the coexistence among different Lebanese religious communities. |
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Dr. Nora Kalbarczyk (Germany)Studied Islamic Studies and German Studies in Berlin and Cairo with a scholarship from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. After completing her master’s degree, she worked as a research assistant in a German-British research project (Ruhr-Universität Bochum/University of Cambridge), earning her doctorate with a thesis on Arab-Islamic legal hermeneutics in 2016. Subsequently, she worked as a consultant in Islamic Studies at the Christian-Islamic Encounter and Documentation Office (CIBEDO), the German Bishops’ Conference’s specialist office for Christian-Islamic dialogue. Since March 2021, she has been Secretary General of KAAD, the institution that suggested the now ongoing „Synodal Way – World Church Perspectives” Study. |
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Prof. Thlic. Miloš Lichner, D.Th., SJ (Slovakia)The Jesuit priest is a professor at Trnava University in Slovakia and currently holding the position of Vice-Chancellor for foreign affairs and marketing. He specialized in Latin patrology with particular focus on the theology of St. Augustine and the post-Augustinian tradition along with early Christian dogmatic theology. He is the President of the Slovak Patristic Society as well as the former President of the European Society for Catholic Theology. |
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P. Dr. Dr. Markus Luber SJ (Germany)The Jesuit priest received his doctorate in missiology in 2005 from Pontifical Gregorian University/Rome and his doctorate in philosophy in 2020 from Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main. He has been working at the Institute for Global Church and Mission since 2009 and is currently its acting director. He oversees the research field of „Intercultural Theology“ and is also one of the coordinators of the institute’s annual international conference 2023. |
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Prof. Dr. Josée Ngalula (Kongo)A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sister Josée Ngalula joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Andrew. After studying philosophy at the Major Seminary of Lubumbashi, she pursued further theological studies (doctorate) at the Catholic University of Lyon in France. She is currently Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Institut Saint Eugène de Mazenod, Kinshasa, and of Missiology at the Institut Africain de Sciences de la Mission, Kinshasa. She is also Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Université Catholique du Congo, Kinshasa, and is active in the formation and continuing education of the laity in the Archdiocese of Kinshasa. |
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Prof. Dr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator SJ (Nigeria)He is a member of the AOR Province and is a native of Nigeria. He received his doctorate from the University of Leeds in England in 2004 and was rector of the Hekima community. From 2009 to 2014, he was appointed provincial superior of the East African Province of the Society of Jesus (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan). Currently, he serves as the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar president. His research focuses on theological ethics and ecclesiology of the global South, with particular expertise in African theology. |
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Prof. Dr. Yuriy Pidlisnyy (Ukraine)A native of Ukraine, he studied foreign languages in Ukraine and Philosophy in Liechtenstein. He received his doctorate in 2004. Since 1998 he has been working at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in different positions: founding director of the Institute for Marriage and Family, director of the UCU Library, teaching philosophical courses in different programs and departments. Currently, he is working as Chair of the Political Science Department and director of the BA Program „Ethics-Politics-Economies” at UCU. |
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Prof. Dr. Chibueze C. Udeani (Nigeria/Germany)A native of Nigeria, he studied Philosophy and Theology in Nigeria and Austria. In 1997 he received his doctorate in Theology from Innsbruck University. He completed his habilitation project „Intercultural Hermeneutics in Understanding Culture and Religion“ in 2011 at the University of Vienna. Since September 2012, he has been chair of the department of Missiology and Dialogue of the Religions at Julius-Maximilians-University Wuerzburg, Germany. |
