Maria Amaral

Daniel Justin has been Director of Music at St Mary’s Cathedral Sydney since October 2023. Prior to coming to Australia, Daniel spent eight years as Director of Music for the Diocese of East Anglia in the UK, and Master of Music at the Cathedral in Norwich. Daniel was a member of the Liturgy Commission in East Anglia, and responsible for the establishment of a Sacred Music foundation at the Cathedral, incorporating young singers for the first time since the 1960s. He has a passion for Sacred Liturgy and innovating music within the context of Divine Worship.

Friar Benjamin Johnson is a Capuchin Franciscan of the Province of Australia. He is the guardian of their local community and serves on their Provincial Council. He completed his doctorate at the Lateran University in Rome on the relationship between the Eucharist and Marriage in the thought of Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. Fr Ben lectures in sacramental theology at the University of Notre Dame, Australia.

Fr. Bijoy Joseph B.Eng, B.Sc, STL was ordained in Sydney in 2022. He currently teaches Liturgy at the Catholic Institute of Sydney and is assistant priest at St Joachim’s Lidcombe. His interests include the theology of blessings, the history of the liturgy, and pastoral liturgy.

Fr Danai Penollar, BSc, STB, STL, was ordained for the Archdiocese of Sydney in 2007. He is currently Parish Administrator of Mary Immaculate Bossley Park and used to serve as Assistant Director of the Liturgy Office.

Deacon Christopher Roehrig married to Kristen Therese, with 3 children and 3 grandchildren. USMC Veteran, BSc. (Architecture) University of New South Wales, Master Heritage Conservation, University of Sydney, B.Divinity, The University of Notre Dame. Ordained to the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of Sydney on the 9th of November 2018.

Catherine currently works as a K-12 Network Religious Education Officer, Sydney Catholic Schools. She has served on the commission since her appointment as Director of the Catechumenate Office, Archdiocese of Sydney 2012-2017.

Fr Don Richardson B.Th, STB, MA (Liturgy) was ordained in Sydney in 1992. He was appointed Assistant Priest in the parishes of Mt Pritchard, Menai and St Mary’s Cathedral successively.

Fr Benjamin currently serves as the Master of Ceremonies for the Archbishop of Sydney. He arrived at the St Mary’s Cathedral Parish in January 2024 after his first appointment as a priest at St John the Baptist, Bonnyrigg Heights; and serving as a deacon at Our Lady of the Rosary, Fairfield. Having served at the major liturgies of the Cathedral as a Seminarian since 2017 and being ordained here in 2022 by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, he sees the cathedral as a place of awe and wonder and has always been a spiritual home for him.