“All of my predecessors were priests and bishops,” Sr. M. Isabell explained with a smile. The Schoenstatt Sister of Mary was referring to her appointment as President of the Catholic Institute of Sydney, Australia, the country’s only ecclesiastical faculty, which confers Pontifical degrees in Sacred Theology. The faculty was established in 1954 for Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. Sr. M. Isabell Naumann, a German-born member of the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary (ISSM), was appointed President of the Catholic Institute of Sydney in 2018 by Archbishop Anthony Fisher, OP. Prior to her appointment, Sr. M. Isabell worked for many years as professor at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. Her appointment as president of the Institute still came as a surprise.
For centuries, men have predominantly overseen the academic domain of theology and key committees in the Church, but women have an essential role to play. Sr. M. Isabell Naumann, a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary, shares insights on her journey as a woman in various leadership roles within the Church.
