Matthew Philipp Whelan is associate research professor of theology at Duke Divinity School. His research and teaching focus on Catholic social teaching, Latin American and liberation theologies, and ecological theology and ethics.

Dr. Whelan is the author of the award-winning Blood in the Fields: Óscar Romero, Catholic Social Teaching, and Land Reform (Catholic University of America Press, 2020). The book explores Romero’s advocacy for just land distribution—rooted in the Christian tradition and Catholic social teaching—as a lens for understanding his witness and that of contemporary land and environmental defenders. It has just been translated into Spanish. His second book, Christianity and Agroecology (Cambridge University Press, 2025), draws on the transdisciplinary field of agroecology to clarify and deepen Catholic social teaching’s natural law ethic. He is currently co-authoring (with Natalie Carnes) a third book project, Why This Waste? Poverty, Luxury, and Witness in the Christian Tradition, which examines how Christians should navigate art and excess in a world in need. Finally, in addition to these, he is co-editing (with David Días Arias, Gema Santamaría, and Kevin Coleman) the volume Nuevas dimensiones políticas y geopolíticas del cristianismo y la derecha política en las Américas, which examines the influence of Christianity upon the transnational far right in the Américas.

Dr. Whelan’s articles have appeared in Modern Theology, Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, International Journal of Systematic Theology, Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Journal of Moral Theology, Communio, Nova et Vetera, Crosscurrents, among other venues.

Daniela Alba is originally from Bogota, Colombia (mhuysqa territory) and currently works in Rome as the advocacy coordinator at the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (SJES) of the Society of Jesus. She is dedicated to advocacy on gender-based violence and cross-cultural issues, focusing on those with lived experience of forced displacement.

María Candelaria Rodríguez Hernández is a Tseltal woman from the community of Santa Cruz la Reforma in Chiapas, Mexico. In 2010 she began learning and collaborating within the Yomol A’tel organisation, where she has developed expertise in finance, accounting, and microbusiness, and has since become a Financial Education facilitator, working primarily alongside groups of Indigenous Tseltal women. She coordinates the Comon Sit Cat’eltic microfinance institution, overseeing the sound management and circulation of the shared fund belonging to its member families. Her work is guided by the dream that more women in Tseltal communities will achieve economic autonomy.

Sr Mūmbi Kīgūtha, CPPS, a Sister of the Precious Blood born and raised in Kenya and now residing in the USA, has extensive experience working with vulnerable populations across the globe, including assignments with several U.N. agencies. She currently serves as President of Friends in Solidarity, supporting development efforts in South Sudan, and directs Watawa wa Taa, an initiative dedicated to reimagining and revitalizing religious life for African women religious. She also co-directs Kuibuka, which offers formation workshops on sexual and spiritual abuse for African sisters.

A reconciliation consultant, speaker, writer, and facilitator, Mūmbi brings a unique blend of pastoral, professional, and intercultural expertise. She holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Commerce from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa; a graduate degree in Justice Ministry and a Certificate in Pastoral Ministry from Catholic Theological Union. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Transformative Social Change.

Rutendo Lerato Ngara is an African Indigenous Knowledge Systems practitioner, transdisciplinary scholar and speaker from Southern Africa. Her work bridges science, culture, cosmology, healing and ancestral wisdom, drawing on African philosophies such as Ubuntu to cultivate more relational and regenerative approaches to socio-ecological transformation.

She will accompany the gathering with a brief opening and closing spiritual moment, offering a contemplative frame rooted in African Indigenous wisdom.