Mary is a Presentation Sister, teaching at Yarra Theological Union (YTU) since 2014 primarily in New Testament. Before this Mary taught in both primary and secondary schools and then over twenty years at Australian Catholic University.
Mary completed her doctorate on the Gospel of John in 1999, supervised by Professor Frank Moloney sdb. This was published by Liturgical Press in 2001. For this she was awarded a large Australian Research Grant in 2002 resulting in a second monograph on the Gospel of John.
Mary has successfully supervised two doctoral student and several Masters students. She has two monographs on John, and edited two books. She has over fifty essays and article in edited books and Journals. Mary is very active in research, giving papers at international conferences, and serving many years on the executives of the Australian Catholic Biblical Association (Secretary, President-elect) and the Fellowship for Biblical Studies (Treasurer, Review Editor and President). Mary has also written three books on the New Testament for teachers, and 3 books on the Sunday Gospels, which have also been published on-line.
Mary has taught New Testament studies in Melbourne and at the seminary in Brisbane. She has also taught at Boston College, the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, and in Jerusalem. Her experience in secondary schools has helped her to ensure her classes engage students in their learning.
Mary has written shorter pieces for Melbourne and Brisbane Church publications and has made a video to help in the formation of ministry boards. A number of her lectures have also been videod and are available through her home page. She has also been a guest on two radio programs.
In 2013 Mary was invited by the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity to participate in a six year international dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Church of Christ. She is frequently invited to give workshops/lectures to school staff, Parishes, Boards, and Deaneries, and to offer workshops for priests.