Opening of New Convent at Penola
October 30, 2012
On Sunday October 28 the new convent in Penola and Stage 1 of the Mary MacKillop Stable School Park were blessed and opened. The children from the Mary MacKillop Memorial School Penola with Archbishop Leonard Faulkner, Father Paul Gardiner and the Parish Priest, Father Peter Fountain, thoroughly blessed each and every room of the convent!
The convent is next to the site where Mary MacKillop established her first school.
On the Saturday evening forty Sisters of Saint Joseph who came to Penola for this great occasion gathered in the convent. Marion Gambin rsj, South Australian Provincial, presented the two sisters who form the Penola community, Chris Symonds rsj and Mary McNamara rsj, with a plaque and image of "Winella" the name of the cottage that Mary MacKillop first lived in. The new house is now named "Winella".
Recorded highlights of the ceremony, including words from Marie Foale rsj and the address given by Ann Derwin rsj, Congregational Leader, can be heard on the ABC Adelaide website.
