Mary MacKillop Feast Day Celebrations 2025
July 22, 2025
Mary MacKillop Place, the Sisters of Saint Joseph and Mary MacKillop Today extend a warm invitation to celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop on Friday, 8 August 2025.
We look forward to welcoming everyone, including our pilgrims and supporters, to Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney.
Peter – The Youngest MacKillop
July 21, 2025
Peter MacKillop.
Born at Merri Creek, Victoria in 1857, the eighth and youngest of the MacKillop children was baptised Peter in his parish church of St Paul’s Coburg. His sister Lexie lived at home, while his oldest sibling Mary was establishing her new Congregation. Peter was loved by all his siblings.
Father Julian Tenison Woods arranged for Peter to be educated at the Jesuit College at Sevenhill in South Australia, supported by Fr Reynolds. He spent breaks with the MacLean family or the Kilsbys on the Murray. Peter, humorous and literate, hated his school life and wrote to Mary telling her so, saying he wanted to go to work. Peter wrote he suffered from fits – we would say epilepsy.
Virtual Pilgrimage to mark Flora MacKillop’s Death Anniversary
May 28, 2025
To mark the anniversary of Flora MacKillop’s (Mary MacKillop’s mother) death on 30 May 1886, you are invited to join in this ‘virtual pilgrimage’ to Eden and Green Cape, New South Wales. This excerpt comes from the South-East of New South Wales Pilgrimage which traces the two journeys (1899 and 1901) of Mary MacKillop into this area.
Mary goes to Rome: Mary MacKillop Pilgrimage
May 9, 2025
Like Mary MacKillop, I went to Rome! In January this year, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Jubilee of the World of Communications in Rome. Although Mary and I went to Rome for different reasons and over 150 years apart, we both journeyed with the theme of hope in common, we have the same name, travelled by ourselves, and we both saw the Pope.
Mary was going to Rome with hope to seek approval for the Sisters’ Rule of Life and had the opportunity to meet with Pope Pius IX. I was going to Rome to attend a gathering for Young Catholic Communicators for the Jubilee Year, with the theme being Pilgrims of Hope and had the opportunity to see Pope Francis.
Mary MacKillop continues to be Ecumenical in Bendigo
April 8, 2025
A statue of Mary MacKillop was recently placed in the Grand Stupa Buddhist Shrine of Universal Compassion in Bendigo (Victoria) together with a statue of St Francis of Assisi that was already there but in need of restoration.
The ceremony for the installation of Mary MacKillop was held in the Peace Garden of the Shrine. Following morning tea, Mr Ian Green (Chairman of the Grand Stupa) welcomed all and explained the vision of the Grand Stupa. Sr Monica Cavanagh, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, told something of the life of Mary MacKillop and her perseverance against the odds and the virtues that made her a saint; prayers followed as Bishop Shane Mackinlay of the Diocese of Sandhurst blessed both statues.
Jubilee 2025: Year of Prayer, Full of Hope
February 28, 2025
On Christmas Eve 2024, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican marking the beginning of the Jubilee Year. The theme for 2025 is Pilgrims of Hope for a world suffering.
The Jubilee invites us all to embark on a journey of faith and transformation. A special year of prayer, full of HOPE. Hope that the people of the world will have a listening ear to the Holy Spirit. Hope that we will love each other as God loves us.
30th Anniversary of Mary MacKillop’s Beatification
January 18, 2025
Thirty years ago in 1995, I found myself in the very privileged role of President of the Australian-New Zealand Federation of Sisters of St Joseph, which was comprised of the diocesan congregations of Perthville, Lochinvar, Goulburn, Tasmania and New Zealand.
Randwick Racecourse in Sydney was the ideal place for Mary MacKillop’s beatification ceremony. On entering the course precinct, the buzz of anticipation and excitement was tangible. Thousands of Australians and people from far beyond filled the venue. There seemed to be instant camaraderie between complete strangers, all with the same reason for being at Randwick that historical day.
Celebrating Mary MacKillop’s Birthday
January 14, 2025
As we celebrate Mary’s birthday again on 15 January 2025, it is very fitting that her birthsite has recently been upgraded and made more accessible to visitors.
The birthsite in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, became a building site in 2022. St Vincent’s Private Hospital, that occupies the site, planned to build additional wards and theatres into the space. The original monuments commemorating Mary’s beatification and canonisation were temporally removed to make way for the building.