Tracy, Tricia and Louise reflect the origins of the Australian Women Preach and discuss what’s next for the team behind the podcast.

Tracy McEwan (PhD) is a theologian and sociologist of religion and gender at the University of Newcastle. Her writing and research interests include women in Catholicism; gendered violence; church participation, generations, and life stage. Tracy’s monograph Women and the Catholic Church:Negotiating Identity and Agency will be published open-access with Bloomsbury Academic on 24 April 2025 ⁠https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/women-and-the-catholic-church-9781350424821/⁠

Patricia Gemmell is a wife, mother and grandmother, and semi-retired teacher of French, Latin and Italian.  She also has a Masters degree in Theology.  She belongs to the Grail, an international movement and community of women, and recently served 8 years on their National Leadership Team.  An active member of her parish community in Sydney for nearly 40 years, she is currently the co-ordinator of their Laudato Si’ Action Platform group.  Caring deeply about church reform she has been fully engaged in both the Australian Plenary Council and the Synod on Synodality and is also one of the working team responsible for Australian Women Preach, a weekly podcast of a woman preaching on the Sunday gospel.  

Louise Maher worked for many years in radio as a journalist, producer and presenter, including 25 years with the ABC. She created a podcast series for the Australian War Memorial and an oral history app for the National Portrait Gallery. Louise is an Accredited Editor and has a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing from Sydney University.