Our people

I joined the Von Hügel Institute in 2019, retiring in 2024 as Rector of St Mary’s Church Byfleet after 18 years in post. Originally a Modern Languages graduate of St Edmund Hall Oxford, ordained in 2001, alongside full-time parish work I have spent 7 years working on the final week of the life of resistance theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I am now an author, aspirational speaker and fledgling broadcaster.

John's academic work is enriched by his previous professional experience gained internationally prior to ordination in sales, marketing, general management and management consultancy roles. Alongside full-time parish role, he has spent 7 years working on historical and biographical details surrounding the last 9 days of the life of German Resistance theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer in April 1945, in the context of the latter stages of the war in Europe. John completed his Ph.D. at Chester University in 2015. His doctoral dissertation, entitled Bonhoeffer: Responsible Work - A diachronic approach to a synchronic theme: Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology of work was supervised by Dr Stephen Plant (Trinity Hall, Cambridge) and Professor Tom Greggs (Aberdeen). He was awarded funding from the International Bonhoeffer Society for research on Dietrich Bonhoeffer · The Last Eight Days, published by Baylor University Press in November 2024 and Acht Tage im April – Dietrich Bonhoeffers letzter Weg nach Flossenbürg published in May 2025 by PenguinRandomHouse/Gütersloher Verlagshaus. In Spring 2025 John taught the Christian Doctrine module at Roehampton University in their Practical Theology (DTh) Programme.

He is married to Pippa and they live in Surrey. They have two children and three grandchildren. Both enjoy hiking and gardening.

Academic Profile

Publications

- John McCabe, Dietrich Bonhoeffer – The Last Eight Days, Baylor University Press, 2024.

- John McCabe, Acht Tage im April – Dietrich Bonhoeffers letzter Weg nach Flossenbürg,PenguinRandomHouse/Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2025.

Book reviews (published in Theology)

- Kevin O’Farrell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer – A Theology of the Exception, London: T&T Clark, 2024.

- John de Gruchy, Bonhoeffer’s Questions: A life-changing Conversation, London: Fortress, 2019.

- John Hughes, The End of Work: Theological Critiques of Capitalism, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Former Bishop of Ely

Dr. Maria Cimperman is a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (RSCJ). Her Master of Divinity is from the University of Notre Dame, Licentiate in Sacred Theology from Weston Jesuit School of Theology and PhD in Theological Ethics from Boston College. A faculty member at Catholic Theological Union (Chicago, USA), she recently received promotion to full Professor of Theological Ethics and Consecrated Life.

Dr Cimperman is the author of three books: When God’s People Have HIV/AIDS: An Approach to Ethics;  Social Analysis for the 21^st Century: How Faith Becomes Action;  and Religious Life For Our World: Creating Communities of Hope. She also co-edited Engaging Our Diversity: Interculturality and Consecrated Life Today. She presents nationally and internationally.

In addition to theological ethics, Maria’s passion is theology of consecrated life. Dr. Cimperman served for 8 years as the founding Director of the Center for the Study of Consecrated Life at CTU. During 2021-2022, Maria was one of two women religious theologians [with Dr Gemma Simmonds, CJ] and two men religious theologians serving on the UISG-USG [International Union of Superiors General and Union of Superiors General] Synod Synthesis Commission which read and together prepared a synthesis of the responses from religious around the globe for the two Unions.   She serves on the Editorial Board of Review for Religious and the Board of Directors of CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate).  This Fall she will continue at CTU while beginning a position at UISG in Rome coordinating their global Synodality Initiative.

Gemma Simmonds is a sister of the Congregation of Jesus.  She is a senior research fellow at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology in Cambridge, UK, where she is director of the Religious Life Institute, teaching Christian spirituality and pastoral theology. An international speaker and lecturer, she is an honorary fellow of Durham University, past president of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain and chair of trustees of the ecumenical Community of St. Anselm based at Lambeth Palace, London.  Gemma is an ecumenical canon of the Church in Wales and lectured in theology at Heythrop College, University of London from 2005 until its closure in 2018, specialising in Christian spirituality.  She has trained candidates for religious life and ordination in the Catholic and Anglican churches and been a spiritual director and retreat giver for over 30 years.

Gemma has been a missionary in Brazil, a chaplain in the Universities of Cambridge and London and a chaplaincy volunteer in Holloway Prison for 25 years.  She is a regular broadcaster on religious matters on the BBC, Radio Maria England and other radio and television networks.

Recent publications include:

Conspiracy Theories and Ignatian Discernment’ in Martin Dojčár ed., How Do We Discern Conspiracy Theories? (Trnava University Press, 2023)

Contributions on ‘What it Means to be Human’ and ‘Living a Religious Life’ in Peter Vardy ed., The Philosophers’ Daughters, (London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 2023)

‘Religieus Leven: de Toekomst Onderscheiden’ in Henk Witte and Arnold Smeets eds., Religieus leven met toekomst, (Berne Media, Tilburg University, 2023)

Dancing at the Still Point: Retreat Practices for Busy Lives (London, SPCK, July 2021)

Religious Life: Discerning the Future (with María Calderón-Muñoz), Joint Project Report for the Religious Life Institute and Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University, 2020

‘Reflections on Mary and Mission’ in Susan Lucas ed., God’s Church in the World: the Gift of Catholic Mission, (London, Canterbury Press, 2020)

‘Mystical Ecclesiology’ in Mark McIntosh and Edward Howells, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology, (Oxford, OUP, 2020)

‘Perfectae Caritatis’ in Richard Gaillardetz, ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Second Vatican Council, (Cambridge, CUP, 2020)

‘Mary Ward: a Hidden Life in Painting’ in Kathryn Kerby-Fulton and Kate Bugyis eds., Women Leaders and Intellectuals of the Medieval World, (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020)

‘Women at the Grassroots’ Level of Church Leadership’, in Gunter Prüller-Jagenteufel et al., (eds.), Towards Just Gender Relations: Rethinking the Role of Women in Church and Society, Religion and Transformation in Contemporary European Society, vol. 13, (Vienna University Press, 2019), 29-36

‘Hearing the Call: a Theology of Vocation’ in Kevin J. Alban, ed., A Festschrift for Wilfrid McGreal, (Rome, Edizioni Carmelitane, 2019)

The Way of Ignatius: a Prayer Journey through Lent, (London, SPCK, 2018)