Sandie Cornish

Dr Sandie Cornish is a Senior Lecturer in Theology at the Australian Catholic University and a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. She has PhD in Practical Theology, Licentiate in Catholic Social Doctrine and Ethics, a Master of Public Policy, and a Bachelor of Economics. Her roles in diocesan, national and regional faith based social justice organisations have included organisational leadership, strategic planning, policy analysis, advocacy, social research, and formation for mission.

Sandie was a peritus and member of the Drafting Committee for the Fifth Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Australia. She Chaired the 2023 Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania General Assembly Secretariat, was a member of the Oceania Writing and Discernment Group for the Synod on Synodality. She served the Synod’s international Assemblies as an expert facilitator and coordinated Study Group 2 on hearing the cry of the poor and the earth.

Recent publications:
Cornish, Sandie. “Lessons from the Synod Documents for the Content of Catholic Social Teaching.” International Journal of Practical Theology, advance online publication, May 12, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijpt-2025-0015.

Cornish, Sandie. 2026. “Catholic Social Teaching, Women, and the Synod.” Journal of Moral Theology 15 (SI1): 112–34. https://doi.org/10.55476/001c.161533.

Cornish, Sandie. ““Joys and Hopes, Griefs and Anxieties” in Australian Catholicism.” In Vatican II in North America, Australia, and Oceania, edited by Catherine E. Clifford, Massimo Faggioli, Richard Lennan and Ormond Rush. Vatican II: Event and Mandate, 361–75. Leuven: Peeters, 2025.

Cornish, Sandie. “Is Pope Francis’s Social Teaching Post-Cardijn?” The Irish Theological Quarterly 89, no. 4 (2024): 340–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/00211400241279435.

Cornish, Sandie. “The Habitus, Reflexivity and an Ignatian Spirituality that Does Justice’ in Robert Dixon and Mary Eastham eds., Encountering God: Practical Theology and the Mission to Heal, Coventry Press, Bayswater VIC, 2023, 129-150.

Cornish, Sandie. “Synodality and Local Social Teaching.” The Australasian Catholic Record 99, no. 1 (2022): 76–85. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.348225932280818.

Cornish, Sandie. “Beyond Principles Alone” in Greg Craven, Shadow of the Cross: Catholic Social Teaching and Australian Politics, The Kapunda Press, Redland Bay, QLD, 2021, 81-98.