Dr. Sara Fairbanks, OP, is an Adrian Dominican Sister. She is currently a professor of homiletics at Aquinas Institute in Saint Louis, Missouri. Before going to Aquinas, she taught systematic theology for twenty years at Barry University in Miami, Florida. Sara holds a Master of Theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis and a Doctorate in Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College, the Toronto School of Theology in Toronto, Canada.  Her areas of expertise are homiletics, theology of lay ecclesial ministry, theology of preaching, practical theology and Christian anthropology.

Sara published Fully Human: Understanding Christian Anthropology:12 Lectures on DVD and CD.Bethesda, MD: Now You Know Media, 2017.She has published extensively on lay ecclesial ministry and lay preaching in numerous scholarly journals, such as, Worship, The Way, Liturgical Ministry, and Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture. She is a contributing author to the series Feasting on the Gospels—Luke Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary(Westminster John Knox Press, 2014). She also contributed two chapters to Theology: Faith, Beliefs, Traditions(Kendall Hunt, 2010).

Sara has given numerous lectures to different organizations, such as, the Catholic Theological Society of America, the National Organization of Continuing Education for Roman Catholic Clergy, the Giving Voice Conference and the Pollok Lectures at the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Sara also works every summer at the Dominican College Preaching in Action Conference as well as the Dominican High School Preaching in Action Conference offering students workshops on the art of liturgical preaching.

Sara has also served as the Director of Vocations for the Adrian Dominican Sisters and publishes“Disco: Discernment Conversations,” a bi-monthly video blog on vocational discernment.