About Sandie

Dr Sandie Cornish is a practitioner and academic in the field of Catholic Social Teaching.  She is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Theology at the Australian Catholic University and a member of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development. She was one of the periti for the Fifth Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Australia. 

Sandie has been Director of the Office for Justice, Ecology and Peace of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Director of Quality and Community Engagement for the Sydney College of Divinity, Province Director of Mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Australia and New Zealand, and has worked with the Good Shepherd Sisters in research and social policy. She also worked with the Australian Jesuits assisting in research, policy, planning, and formation in their social ministries. As the Social Justice Education Coordinator for the Diocese of Broken Bay, she had responsibility for the coordination of adult faith programs in social justice, and the development of academic programs in Catholic Social Teaching offered in distance mode through BBI-TAITE. Sandie led the Hong Kong based international human rights agency, the Asian Center for the Progress of Peoples, and served as the National Executive Officer of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council for five years. She played a significant role in each of the major research and consultation activities of the Bishops’ Committee for Justice, Development and Peace during the late 1980’s and 1990’s.

Sandie holds a PhD in Practical Theology, a Licentiate in Catholic Social Doctrine and Ethics from the Pontifical Gregorian University, a Master of Public Policy, and a Bachelor of Economics.