Anne Arabome is a member in good standing of the Sisters of Social Service in Los Angeles, California.

She is presently the Associate Director of the Faber Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. The Faber Center is dedicated to providing faculty and staff with support and guidance in leading a reflective life. Through retreats, reflection groups, and spiritual direction, faculty and staff connect to their spiritual core and God (https://www.marquette.edu/faber-center/).

She is

• a faith-filled and active Catholic woman religious, with a deep sense of vocation and call to serve God and the people of God in the church and in the world with compassion and dedication;
• a highly creative and motivated Catholic woman religious, committed to ministry and scholarship within diverse traditions of Christianity;
• passionate about justice for oppressed and marginalized people – a passion that has led Anne to work with vulnerable African women to uphold their dignity as Imago Dei and to improve their lives in church and society.

• Co-founder (in 2015) of “Wellspring Africa,” a US-based non-profit charity in support of HIV/AIDS orphan girls in Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya.
• Co-founder (in 2021) of “Daughters of St. Josephine Bakhita Project” – an interfaith project to transform the lives of vulnerable girls and young women in The Gambia through training programs, entrepreneurial skills, and dignifying employment under the patronage of St. Josephine Bakhita. This initiative is a trans-continental project connecting the goodwill and generosity of several people across Africa and between Africa and North America in order to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable and exploited young women and girls.

Her ministerial and research interests include ethical and theological issues that shape the spiritual and devotional lives of African women in African and North American Diaspora; spirituality of minority groups in the 21st century; contemporary and contextual expressions and applications of Ignatian spirituality and practice; justice-informed ministry, counseling, and accompaniment; social justice; and the interplay of religions, spirituality, cultures, gender, church, and society.

Of Nigerian parentage and origin, she is a naturalized US citizen. She holds

·       a PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of Roehampton in London, UK. Dissertation title: “‘Bridge over troubled waters’: a critical reevaluation of gender in religion with particular emphasis on the role, identity and mission of African women in Christianity in rhetoric and practice within the Roman Catholic Tradition.” 2015 – 2016.

·       a Doctor of Ministry in Spirituality (DMin) from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, USA. Dissertation title: “Gifts and Challenges of African Nigerian Women in Diaspora to the Parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago.” 2008 – 2011.

·       a Graduate Certificate in Pastoral Studies from the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Illinois. 2008 – 2009.

·       a Masters in Religious Studies and Pastoral Counseling from Mt. St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles, California. 2002 – 2004.

She has published several articles and book chapters on Theology, Gender, Ecclesiology and Church Leadership; Feminist, Womanist, or Mujerista Ethics; and Women’s Spirituality and Spiritual Practice, including:

·       Why do You Trouble this Woman? Women and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Paulist Press, forthcoming in 2022)

·       “A Beautiful Life: Portrait of Inculturated Religious Life in Africa” (A commissioned article written for “Women Religious Theologians Symposium,” a community of sister scholars engaging the global issues of religious life today under the auspices of the International Union of Superiors General [UISG], due out in January 2022).

·       “I can’t breathe because God can’t breathe” in National Catholic Reporter (https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/i-cant-breathe-because-god-cant-breathe) June 10, 2020.

·       “Who is Christ for African Women?” in Catholic Women Speak: Bringing Our Gifts to the Table, ed. The Catholic Women Speak Network (Paulist Press, 2015).

·       “How Are Theologians Challenged by their Engagement with the Sense of the Faithful in the Global/Local Church,” CTSA Proceedings 70 (2015): 60-71 (Keynote address at CTSA convention; also published in chapter 25 of Bradford E. Hinze and Peter C. Phan, eds., Learning from All the Faithful: A Contemporary Theology of the Sensus Fidei (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2016).

·       “When a sleeping woman wakes” in The Church We Want: African Catholics Look To Vatican III, ed. Agbonkhiameghe E. Orobator (Orbis Books, 2015).

·       “African Spirituality for a New Ecclesia in Africa” in The Church We Want: Foundations, Theology and Mission of the Church in Africa, ed. Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator (Paulines Publications, 2015).

·       “Reimagining African Theology: The Promise of a New Generation” in Theological Reimagination: Conversations on Church, Religion, and Society in Africa, ed. Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator (Paulines Publications, 2014).

·       “The Sacrifice of Africa and the Midwives of a New Church and a New Africa” Modern Theology 30 (2): 408-413 (2014).

·       “Dreams from My Mother, Prayers to My Father: Rethinking the Trinity of God, Woman, and Church” in Feminist Catholic Theological Ethics: Conversations in the World Church, eds. Linda Hogan and A. E. Orobator (Orbis Books, 2014).

·       “‘Woman, You are Set Free!’ Women and Discipleship in the Church” in Reconciliation Justice, and Peace: The Second African Synod, ed. Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator (Orbis Books, 2011).

·       “Gender and Ecclesiology: Authorities, Structures, Ministry” in Gender in Theology, Spirituality and Practice,Concilium 2012/4, ed. Lisa Sowle Cahill, Diego Irarrazaval, and Elaine M. Wainwright.

·       “Making Justice at Home or Justice Begins at Home” in Practicing Reconciliation, Doing Justice, Building Peace: Conversations in Catholic Theological Ethics in Africa, ed. Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator (Paulines Publications, 2013).

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