Rev Austin Cooper OMI was ordained in 1956 and has a M.A. from the Catholic University of America, and a Ph.D. from Monash University, Melbourne. He has been involved in the teaching ministry for the greater part of his life. He is a member of the community at St Mary’s, the House of Studies of the Australian province of the Oblate Fathers, and he lectures in Church History and Christian Spirituality at Catholic Theological College, Melbourne, Australia. He is also a visiting lecturer at the Centre for Christian Spirituality in Sydney, Australia, and the (Anglican) Institute for Spiritual Studies in Melbourne