Mary MacKillop Feast Day Celebrations 2024
Mary MacKillop Place, the Sisters of Saint Joseph and Mary MacKillop Today extend a warm invitation to all to celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop on Thursday, 8 August 2024. We look forward to welcoming everyone, including our pilgrims and supporters, to Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney.
Celebrating St Mary MacKillop’s Feast at Josephite Centres
Some of our Josephite Spirituality Centres will be hosting celebrations for the feast of St Mary MacKillop on Thursday 8 August.
The spirit of Mary MacKillop burns strongly in Timor-Leste
If one was to try to summarise the spirit of Mary MacKillop, we could possibly say that it is a spirit that is compassionate, one that uses education to “heal, include, untether, set right and serve”, one that loves not only those being ministered to, but also those who work beside us, and one that […]
Returning to Rome, 150 Years Later
Mary MacKillop left Rome in 1874 and I returned there 150 years later in 2024. I had only visited Rome once in 2010 for Mary’s Canonisation and was unable at that time to make the pilgrimage of her travels in Rome. I had Mary and her journey in my consciousness as I navigated modern day […]
Pentecost 2024
When Mary MacKillop wrote to Monsignor Kirby in October 1873 on The Necessity of the Institute, she begins by writing, “May the Holy Spirit, my God, direct me in what I am about to write.” In doing so, she invokes the outpouring of the Spirit on this important missionary work that needs to be undertaken […]
Mothering Today
Mother’s Day (12 May) has taken on new meaning for me this year. My wonderful mother is still very much alive and well, but we are beginning a new relationship.
At home among the poor
On 31 May 1867, Father Julian Tenison Woods sent to Mary MacKillop the first Rule of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. This became the founding document, encapsulating the vision for the order and providing the Sisters with important guidelines for their ministry. It had arrived! Here was the fruit of their discussions. Sister Mary MacKillop […]
Mary goes to Ireland
To celebrate 150 years since Mary MacKillop embarked on her first overseas journey (March 1873 – December 1874), the Sisters of Saint Joseph share reflections and details from Mary’s travels to and from Europe – sourced from Mary’s letters and Congregational Archives. This is the final journey in the series. Mary MacKillop went to Rome […]
Mary MacKillop received revised Constitutions in Rome – 150th Anniversary
We commemorate the 150th anniversary of when Mary MacKillop received the revised Constitutions of the Institute (Sisters of Saint Joseph) in Rome on 21 April 1874. In October 1867, Fr Julian Tenison Woods drafted the original Rules of the Institute of St Joseph, with the subtitle, for the Catholic Education of Poor Children. This was […]
Mary MacKillop, Patron of our Diocese of Port Pirie
In the Diocese of Port Pirie in South Australia, there’s a beautiful well-kept graveyard, some seven kilometres out of Port Augusta, with the stunning Flinders Ranges as its backdrop. In good times the roses bloom and the kangaroos keep the lawn mowed and the grave-sites company. But on the area’s outer edge are the older […]
JJAMM 2024
JJAMM (Joseph, Julian And Mary MacKillop) is a gathering of student leaders from Josephite secondary schools around Australia and New Zealand. Learning, laughter, and leadership. The three core ingredients necessary to complete the JJAMM recipe. The JJAMM team was blessed to welcome twenty-five Josephite schools across Australia and New Zealand for a four-day leadership retreat […]
Baptism of Mary MacKillop
In 1839, Rev P. Geoghegan arrived in the colony of Victoria as its first priest. In less than ten weeks, he had erected a wooden church where “friends used to meet Sunday after Sunday to exchange the news of the old world, or to help on some work in aid of faith or Fatherland.” [1] […]