​Kate, Stuart, Lydall, David and Linda


Open Sanctuary was founded by Linda Chapman, a priest in the Anglican Church.   We are overseen by a group of six, Linda Chapman, Lyndall Magnusseson, Stuart Absalom, Kate Taylor and David Oliphant.   What holds us together is contemplative silence, respect and friendship, and concern for the world and our environment.


Linda Chapman OAM is a retreat leader, meditation teacher, spiritual director and an oblate of the Benedictine World Community of Christian Meditation.   As an environmental and social justice advocate, Linda recognises the need to marry contemplation and action.   For Linda, the heart of Open Sanctuary is the recognition of our common humanity and our common home and silence as our first language.

Lyndall Magnusseson comes from an Eastern Tradition and finds that the sharing, respect and learning from the Open Sanctuary community, makes it a place for the deepening of being, of the true self of who you are. She finds that the church's location  in such  a beautiful landscape, overlooked by the sacred mountain of Gulaga,  adds to the welcome for all who come and  to the core of the contemplative nature of Open Sanctuary.

Stuart Absalom

David Oliphant is a retired priest in the Anglican Church who also served as a Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church.  He is interested in religion, spirituality and philosophy. He is currently writing a book about Christ and his centrality for our twenty first century world.

Kate Taylor.  ​My practice is Tibetan Buddhism, I find the open acceptance of all spiritual paths within Open Sanctuary profoundly important in present times.