Dr. Karlijn Demasure
Karlijn Demasure holds a doctorate in practical theology from KULeuven (Belgium, 2003). She was the president of the Interdiocesan Service for Pastoral Care in Flanders (Belgium, 2003–2007). In 2008, she became a professor at the Faculty of Theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. She held the Sisters-of-Our-Lady-of-the-Cross Chair in Christian Family Studies from 2008–2014 and was appointed dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences and Philosophy (2010–2014). From 2012 until 2014, she was the president of the “Société Internationale de théologie pratique.” She was a professor at the Gregorian University in Rome (Italy) and the Executive Director of the Center for Child Protection at the same university (2014–2019). In 2019, she returned to Canada, where she founded the Centre for Safeguarding Minors and Vulnerable Persons at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. She is now professor emeritus at the same university and works with a research team on the international project: Towards a Trustworthy Church.
Her field of research is sexual and spiritual abuse, trauma, and pastoral care for victims and survivors.
Karlijn Demasure has been accompanying survivors of sexual abuse for more than 25 years.
Dr. Axel Liégeois
Axel Liégeois is full professor of care ethics and practical theology in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at KU Leuven, the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. He holds the Brothers of Charity chair in theology, mental health and disability. He is also seconded as ethics advisor to the Brothers of Charity organisation in Gent, Belgium, where he coordinates ethical reflection and ethics committees for a vast network of care facilities. His teaching and research focus on ethics in spiritual accompaniment and in the care of persons with mental health problems or intellectual disabilities. His passion is accompanying persons in their own ethical reflection and deliberation. A recent publication is Ethics of Care : Values, Virtues and Dialogue (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021).
Dr. Juan Narbona
Juan Narbona (Seville, Spain, 1976), Phd on Social Communication, is Associate Professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome). He teaches “Digital communication”; “Industry and communication markets” and “Storytelling of values”. His main areas of research are: Trust and institutional communication and Faith communication and digital narratives. Is also member of the Interdisciplinary Forum on Anthropology (https://www.ifanthropology.org/). Author of the books: “Inspiring trust”, “Comunicare la fede: strategie digitali per realtà religiose” and “Industria e mercati della comunicazione”.
Dr. Marie-Jo Thiel
Professor of philosophical and theological ethics at Strasbourg University’s Faculty of Catholic Theology, emeritus since 2022, Marie-Jo Thiel is a doctor by training, and a researcher at UR 4377. She founded and directed the CEERE (Centre européen d’enseignement et de recherche en éthique) from 2005-2022. She is a former president of the European Association of Catholic Theology. She is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Fribourg (CH). She has written numerous books and articles, notably on bioethics (life, death, disability, old age… published by Bayard and Presses universitaires de Strasbourg) and sexual abuse and violence (published by Bayard, Salvator, DDB…).
On bioethics : L’automne de la vie (PUS, 2013), Ethical challenges of Ageing (RSM, 2013), Les enjeux éthiques du handicap (PUS, 2014), Ethische Fragen der « Behinderung ». Ethical Challenges of Disability (Lit, 2014), Souhaitable vulnérabilité ? (PUS 2016), Au nom de la dignité de l’être humain. Bayard, 2013. Faites que je meure vivant ! Vieillir, mourir, vivre. Bayard, 2013. La Santé augmentée : réaliste ou totalitaire ? Bayard, 2014. Le défi de la fraternité. The Challenge of Fraternity (Lit Verlag 2018).
On sexual violence and the Church’s systemic crisis: L’Église catholique face aux abus sexuels sur mineurs (Bayard, 2019) ; Abus sexuels : écouter, enquêter, prévenir les abus sexuels, Strasbourg (PUS 2022 ; rééd. APUS Sept. 2023) ; Plus forts, car vulnérables ! Quand la vulnérabilité interroge la crise des abus dans l’Église. (Avec la contribution de Patrick Goujon). Paris, Salvator, 2023. Se réformer ou mourir. Sept théologiennes prennent la parole sur l’avenir de l’Église. Salvator, 2023.
Dr. Matthew Pawlak
Matthew Pawlak is the Academic Network Leader of Trust and Society – The Global Network on Trust. He is responsible for defining and implementating T&S’ vision, strategy, and goals—working in close collaboration with the T&S coordination team—as well as building relationships and collaborations with trust researchers, practitioners, and networks. He holds a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge and is the author of the award-winning book Sarcasm in Paul’s Letters (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
Mgr. Pierre-Olivier Tremblay
Mgr. Pierre-Olivier Tremblay, 53 years old, bishop of Hearst-Moosonee, is a Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate and has been a priest since 1999. In 2003, with a group of young people, he founded a missionary Christian community called Le Tisonnier de Québec. He completed a doctorate in practical theology on this subject. From 2010 to January 2016, he served as pastor of Sacré-Cœur Parish in Ottawa, located in the heart of the University of Ottawa. He was the rector of the Notre-Dame-du-Cap Shrine in Trois-Rivières from 2016 to 2020. He was ordained auxiliary bishop in Trois-Rivières in 2018. On June 24, 2022, he was appointed bishop of Hearst-Moosonee in northern Ontario. His interests include the future of the Church, mission work, small groups, youth, secularity, and the modern world.
Dr. Josée Ngalula
Dr Josée Ngalula is from DR Congo and belongs to the Sisters of Saint Andrew. She taches Systematic theology in Kinshasa. She is currently the Director of the Observatory of Violence and Religious Fundamentalism in DR Congo (OVIRCO) at the Catholic University of Congo. She is the first-ever African woman to be a member of the International Theological Commission (ITC). She belongs to the following institutions and research groups: African Synodality Initiative (ASI), Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN), Tsena Malàlaka (ecumenical theological network of women theologian). Her fields of research are: Christian Lexicology in African Languages, Religion and Violence, African Theologies, Women in theology and in the Church.
Dr. Sheila M. McMahon
Sheila M. McMahon, Ph.D., M.Div., MSW, LCSW is currently the Visiting Scholar and Director for the Restorative Justice and Catholic Social Thought program at the Center for Restorative Justice, University of San Diego. Her research and practice interests center on campus-based and community-level interventions, such as restorative justice (RJ) and transformative justice (TJ), to prevent and address sexualized violence, build a sense of community, and strengthen individual and collective well-being. She is engaged in collaborative research locally and nationally which focuses on the role of trauma-informed, system-aware restorative justice (RJ) responses to sexual harm. She was the PI for the first study in the U.S. about early adopters of RJ and TJ for campus sexual misconduct; participated on the research team for the U.S. National Restorative Justice Research Community (RJRC), an interdisciplinary academic community that supports research on restorative justice to improve outcomes and address inequities in the U.S. criminal legal system; and served as Co-PI for a pilot study on restorative justice responses to military sexual trauma (MST). As a program evaluator, she is the PI for an empowerment evaluation (EE) process that examines RJ implementation on Catholic university campuses in the U.S. Trained at Harvard Divinity School and later at Rutgers University Center on Ending Violence, Sheila is a licensed clinical social worker in the U.S. and her work is guided by the insights of the survivors whom she has accompanied over the past two decades.
Dr. John Sheveland
John N. Sheveland earned a Ph.D. in Systematic and Comparative Theology from Boston College in 2006 and an M.A.R. in theology from Yale Divinity School in 1999. He is Professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA., USA. Current teaching and research center around comparative theology responsive to violence, theological reflection upon traumatic wounding, child sexual abuse and safeguarding, Synodality, the theology of Karl Barth, and Asian theologies. John currently serves on the National Review Board of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and on the review board of the diocese of Spokane. He received in 2013 a Faculty Diversity Leadership Award and in 2015 an Exemplary Faculty Award from Gonzaga University. He has served on the board of directors of the Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies and the College Theology Society. John is a book review editor for the journal Horizons. His articles appear in a variety of journals and books, and he is the author of Piety and Responsibility (Ashgate, 2011; Routledge, 2017), editor of the book Theology in a Post-Traumatic Church (Orbis, 2023), and editor with Cristina Lledo Gomez of the forthcoming book Vulnerability and Flourishing (Orbis, 2025).
Dr. Jochen Sautermeister
Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. rer. soc. Jochen Sautermeister, professorship of moral theology, faculty of catholic theology, University of Bonn, Germany. Member of the curatorial of the Institut für Prävention und Aufarbeitung (IPA). Studies in catholic theology (Diplom), psychology (Diplomas), philosophy (Magister). Practical experience in counseling of marriage and family (Diplom). Relating research topics: personal identity and integrity; moral psychology; pastoral psychology; sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, abuse of authority.
Dr. Valère Nkouaya Mbandji
Valère Nkouaya Mbandji, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Canon Law at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. He holds a doctorate in Canon Law and a bachelor’s degree in civil law (LL. B). He is also a graduate of the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution (Ottawa 2017). He is the Director of Studies and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law. His field of research focuses on the protection of minors and vulnerable adults in canon law. He has a particular interest in the interaction between canon penal law and the various “secular” criminal laws. He is the author of several articles on the penal law of the Church. He currently works with a research team on the international project: Towards a Trustworthy Church.
Dr. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala
Dr. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala is a feminist theologian, award-winning writer and activist. She has a doctorate in Medicine and specialisations in Tissue Banking and Biomedical Ethics. She has represented India at the UN for an IAEA Inter-Regional Project on Tissue Banking for almost two decades, and is the first woman to be elected President of the Asia Pacific Association of Surgical Tissue Banks. She also served as Director of the Government of India’s Regional and State Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation, and continues to be active in the field, promoting and assisting in the establishing of tissue banks in the country. Her pioneering work in tissue banking has been featured in the Limca Book of Awards.
As a woman in the Catholic Church she played a key role in the genesis of the Catholic bishops (CBCI) Commission for Women and remained a member of the core team for over two decades. She helped draft the CBCI Gender Policy of India and is a resource person for the Asian Bishops on issues related to gender, feminist theology and inter-religious marriage. She is a member of international reform groups, interfaith platforms for peace, and a founding member of feminist collectives including ‘Sisters in Solidarity’ (SIS), a group that supports women survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Currently she is Secretary of Ecclesia of Women in Asia (EWA), a collective of Asian women theologians. She is featured in Women in Leadership: Success Stories from Around the Globe, a “Global Women Leaders Project”.