Staff

Fr Sacha Bermudez-Goldman SJ
Director of JRS

Originally from Nicaragua, Sacha undertook his secondary and tertiary studies in the US, where he completed a Masters in Engineering in Texas and worked as an engineer. He served as a lay missionary teacher in Tanzania and Cambodia for seven years, entered the Society of Jesus in February 1999, and was ordained to the priesthood in June 2007. He has worked as a volunteer with asylum seeker and refugee organisations in Sydney and Melbourne, and was chaplain at the Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne for a year. In 2007-2008 he worked with MAGiS, the Ignatian young adult ministry, and MAGiS08, the Ignatian program for World Youth Day. Sacha joined JRS as director in September 2008.

Dr Maryanne Loughry RSM
Associate Director

Dr Maryanne Loughry is a Sister of Mercy and has been associated with JRS since 1986, working as a psychologist and trainer in Indochinese refugee camps in the Philippines and Vietnamese Detention Centres in Hong Kong. She has conducted research, programme evaluations and humanitarian training in the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans, South East Asia and the UK. Dr Loughry is a visiting research scholar at the Centre for Human Rights and International Justice, Boston College and the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. Prior to this she was the Pedro Arrupe tutor at the University of Oxford Refugee Studies Centre. She is a member of the Australian Government's advisory council for Immigration Services and Status Resolution and serves on several international boards, including the academic board of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) and the Governing Committee of the International Catholic Migration Committee (ICMC). She is currently researching the psychosocial effects of climate-induced displacement in the Pacific, and was made a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in 2010.

Louise Stack
Project Co-Ordinator

Louise assists in the development and management of a JRS-run housing project for asylum seekers. She is a lawyer who has practised in Australia and the United Kingdom and has a Masters of Social Development in Refugees and Forced Migration from UNSW. She has previously been a volunteer for the JRS and for Austcare, and has also spent time in Tanzania as a volunteer for a local orphanage.

Cecilia Silva
Project Assistant

Cecilia holds an education degree from her native country, Peru, where she worked with various communities in the field of the arts, particularly in street theatre. After moving to Australia two decades ago, she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts and further pursued her interest s in education and community arts. Her interest in the arts as a powerful tool for healing has increased since completing a post graduate degree in Transcultural Mental Health. 

Kim Mandelik
Office Manager

Originally from New Zealand, Kim moved to Australia 16 years ago and is now an Australian citizen. The mother-of-three has worked in administrative positions for several businesses, and joined JRS in February 2009. 'I have have found it to be very rewarding, and met the most wonderful people who continue to inspire me with what they have been through and how they face adversity.'