Adelaide to host renowned theologian
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When Pope Francis died earlier this year, the American television network CNN ran an interview with Dr Christina Kheng to talk about the pontiff’s legacy and hopes for the incoming Pope Leo XIV.
Christina is from Singapore and teaches theology and pastoral leadership at the East Asian Pastoral Institute, the Loyola School of Theology, the Pontifical Gregorian University and more. She has studied variously at Australian Catholic University, Harvard and the National University of Singapore.
She sits on the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences’ Commission for Synodality, has been a member of the Methodology Commission for the Synod on Synodality from 2021-2024 and served as a facilitator at the Synod General Assembly in Rome.
When it comes to theology, it’s fair to say she is a big deal.
Which was backed up, inadvertently perhaps, during the CNN chat. There on screen as Christina spoke was a photograph of her having a one-on-one discussion with Pope Francis.
It was taken during the Synod of Bishops assembly sessions in Rome, held in 2023 and 2024.
“Pope Francis was there almost every day,” Dr Kheng said.
“And he engaged attentively through all the sessions. He’s so generous with his time that he comes 15 minutes before everybody else. He comes in a wheelchair and he knows people want to see him.”
“I met him many times because of my involvement in the Synod and through various committees and audiences.
Should you want to know almost anything about synodality and, in particular, the Adelaide Synod to be held next May and June, Dr Kheng is just the person to talk to.
And she will be here during the last week of February as part of Dialogue Week.
It will be her first time to South Australia and already she has a packed schedule. Dr Kheng will talk to a gamut of groups beginning with the clergy and leading on to the public, Religious, leadership teams and commissions.
Getting the clergy involved at the start is deliberate.
“Since 2021 the focus has been very much on the bishops and the laity obviously because we want to get them to participate. We probably underestimated the amount of time and guidance and accompaniment we should have paid to the clergy,” Dr Kheng said.
Another challenge is creating awareness in the wider community. Hop onto the streets of Singapore or Adelaide and the average person would know very little about the Synod, she said.
“But the small handful of people who do know it are really fan champions of it because once they get it, they realise this is the way of being Church and this resonates with the way of being Church that they’ve always felt. So once people understand it, then there’s no going back.”
Not forgetting her expertise, it’s the passion for the Synod that stands out with Dr Kheng.
She talked about co-responsibility for the life and mission of the Church, the importance of fostering community and about how “listening is loving”.
She said in many Asian cultures “we don’t listen to people below us, we listen only to people above us”.
“Don’t draw lines that block our ears against the other side” is her message here which is picked up in her book ‘Welcoming the Spirit’, a 100-page tome published two years ago and which she very much enjoyed writing.
She will arrive in Adelaide, she promised, with not only an open mind but with a lovely Asian saying ‘we take off your shoes’, meaning to always listen first.
Dr Christina Kheng will address a public forum on February 25. Details can be found via togetherontheway.au/dialogue-week
