Sr Elizabeth Snedden RSCJ

Dip. Tchg
BA (hons)   (University of Canterbury)
MTheol (hons)  (Melbourne College of Divinity)
DTh (MCD University of Divinity)

Lecturer in Pastoral Theology and Systematic Theology

E-mail: ejsnedden@xtra.co.nz

Born in Auckland in 1940, daughter of a Presbyterian newspaper journalist, the eldest of five children.  I was educated first at the state primary school in Orakei until the age of eight. Then I began at Baradene College of the Sacred Heart, Remuera, and promptly fell in love with God, the charism of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, learning, libraries, reading and languages.

Undergraduate studies I began at the University of Auckland, (French, Latin, German, English and Philosophy) for two years before going to the Noviceship in Sydney . After first vows I did my teacher training at Loreto Hall Catholic Teachers’ Training College for a year and a bit before beginning, back at Baradene and Kincoppal-Rose Bay in Sydney, my long career as a secondary school teacher of RE and languages. I did not return to university until after Final Profession in Rome in 1969. I was able to complete my B.A. at the University of Canterbury and returned there to do M.A. papers in 1972, specializing in French and German, credits which were later converted to BA Honours.

I did a Goethe Institut Fortbildungskurs in Munich in 1975 and returned to secondary school teaching at Erskine College in Wellington, and Cottesmore College in Christchurch (both schools since closed but though I was there at the time in both cases, no causal connections should be made!) It was a great joy to be able to return to Munich in 1979 on an exchange to the Sophie Barat Haus, a student hostel within the University of Munich run by our congregation. I had my RSCJ community to come home to there at intervals during a two year programme at Ecole de la Foi et des Ministères, in Fribourg , Switzerland 1980 – 82.

From 1999 I studied Theology at Yarra Theological Union within the Melbourne College of Divinity and gained an MTheol in 2001. This led to an Australian Postgraduate Award for doctoral studies which enabled me to do research in Melbourne and spend 2003 as a guest of the Lonergan Center at Boston College . However six years – 2005 to 2010 – on the leadership team of the Society of the Sacred Heart came as a disruption, and I finally received my Doctorate in Theology in May 2013 from the newly established MCD University of Divinity in Melbourne.

I have taught Theological German, Eschatology and Soteriology at Yarra Theological Union within the Melbourne College of Divinity. In Auckland recently I have been teaching a couple of courses each year for the Catholic Institute of Theology. I really do enjoy working and learning with consenting adults! Another chance to learn a lot was two years on the Gender Issues Advisory Committee of the NZ Bishops’ Conference with Fr Stuart Sellar.

Extra-curricular interests for me have always included adult formation for mission with school staff and Board members, and developing and implementing processes for formative evaluation based initially on shared praxis and more recently on Appreciative Inquiry. To develop skills in these areas I have followed courses in Androgogy (principles of adult learning) and Facilitation and worked with the Goals Committee of the ANZ Association /Network of Sacred Heart Schools for many years.

Research Interests:
Lonergan, religious experience and divine desires.