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An international gathering of religious progressives to affirm
the contribution of reasonable and tolerant religion to public discourse in our society.
Reverend Stephanie Dowrick was ordained as one of Australia's very few Interfaith Ministers in New York by the New Seminary at St John the Divine Cathedral in 2005, marking a watershed in a life that, as she says, "Seems quite astonishingly and persistently to have been preparing me for exactly this - a ministry to all regardless of their faith background."
Stephanie is best known for her life-changing books. She has had five No.1 bestsellers in Australia and overseas, and has the rare distinction of writing both fiction and non-fiction with great success. Her non-fiction books bring together her psychological, social, spiritual and ethical concerns, and include Intimacy & Solitude, The Universal Heart, Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love, Free Thinking, Creative Journal Writing, and Choosing Happiness: Life & Soul Essentials. She is also a columnist for Good Weekend Magazine where she has been writing the "Inner Life" column since 2001, and is a frequent guest on ABC Radio National.
Choosing Happiness was published in Australia (Allen & Unwin) and the UK (Rider/Random House) in 2006 and will be released in the USA in 2007 by Tarcher (Penguin US).
For many years, Stephanie combined her writing with a small private psychotherapy practice. She had trained as a psychotherapist while still working as a publisher. Born in New Zealand, she had left for Europe as she was turning 20, and had begun her publishing career in London in the early 1970s. In 1977, while still in her 20s, she founded The Women's Press, which was to become one of the two largest and most successful feminist publishing houses in the world. Moving from publishing to writing, while also training as a psychotherapist, then coming to Australia in 1983, was, she says, "More change than I really wanted! But again, I see this - along with becoming a mother and raising my children - as the inevitable and very necessary preparation for the work I do now."
Since the mid-1990s, Stephanie has increasingly focused on writing, teaching and conducting retreats on spiritual themes. She has worked with a huge variety of groups and individual seekers, including Catholic women religious, school communities, Buddhist, interfaith and non-denominational groups, lay people and religious seeking a deeper experience of contemplative and grounded daily practice.
From June 2006, and with the support of the Pitt Street community and especially Reverend Ian Pearson and Jolyon Bromley, Stephanie has been offering regular monthly interfaith services at Pitt Street Uniting Church. These services combine teachings, prayers, music, talk and insights from a variety of faith traditions, focusing on and developing a particular theme, and allowing people to experience a heartfelt spirituality that is familiar but entirely non-exclusive. Stephanie's own home faith is Christian. She was raised Catholic (and "is not NOT a Catholic!"), spent years as an active member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), has had many years of experience of meditation-focused traditions, especially Buddhism, Sufism and, more recently, Raja Yoga. Her training as an Interfaith Minister drew on her love for the original scriptures of all the great world faiths, and her awe at the "power of loving revelation" across all cultures and time.
Stephanie
Dowrick lives in Sydney. She is the mother of a son and daughter. For more details about her or her work please visit
www.stephaniedowrick.com