With excitement in the air for a special visitor on 2 December 1970, yellow and white banners hung outside the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel, the Convent and Training School with streamers strewn across the street. A crowd of eager onlookers lined the streets in the early morning. A motorcade of shiny black cars and policemen on motorbikes drove up Edward St and rounded the corner arriving in front of the Chapel. The Sisters waited near the Chapel gates in quiet anticipation and mounting enthusiasm…
December marks the 55th anniversary of the first Papal visit to Australia, and the man who visited North Sydney in the flowing red Ferraiolo was Pope Paul VI, who began his pontificate in 1963. His visit was part of the Apostolic Pilgrimage to the Asia Pacific region from 25 November to 5 December 1970, which included visits to the Philippines, Indonesia and West Samoa. As part of his Australian visit with the Apostolic Delegation from 30 November to 3 December 1970, the Pope attended a Mass for Religious and Clergy at St Mary’s Cathedral, the Episcopal Conference of Bishops, a Civic Welcome on Sydney Town Hall steps and later an Ecumenical Service. There were also Bicentennial and Youth Masses at Randwick Racecourse, visits to Admiralty House in Kirribilli and the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Camperdown, as well as the visit to the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel to meet the Mother General – Mother Adrian Ryan and Religious Superiors of other Congregational Orders.
Preparations were made well in advance with the organisation of security, photography, traffic control and decorations. AWA sound men set up amplifiers and the microphone to be used for the Papal address, and photographers came to photograph the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel and Mary MacKillop’s grave. Special identification cards were worn by all Religious in attendance.
The Pope was greeted by Mother Adrian Ryan (1959-1971) and her assistant Mother Leone Ryan (1947-1959) outside the gates of the Chapel. On the Pope’s arrival in the Chapel, a choir of novices in the gallery sang Palestrina’s Tu Es Pretus. The Major Superiors of numerous orders (men and women) filled the pews along with senior Sisters from the Mother House. In a spirit of inclusiveness, a row of wheelchairs was positioned up front for some elderly and infirm sisters, enabling them to see the Pope and receive a rosary, a treasured gift. The Pope spoke and prayed with Sr Bernadine, a revered Sister who had recently celebrated her 100th Birthday.
In his Chapel address, Pope Paul VI spoke about the importance of Catholic schooling and education with “the special aim of creating for the school community an atmosphere enlivened by freedom and charity … and of bestowing a culture illuminated by faith”. [1]
He then gave a short prayer and visited and blessed Mary MacKillop’s grave.
Pope Paul VI presented Mother Adrian with a statue of Our Lady, and the Congregation gifted him a Rochet, a vestment in Irish crochet, presented in a case made from Australian timber with a boomerang carved in a corner of the lid. The Rochet was hand made by a Queensland Sister originally given to Mother Leone with a request to give it to a Pope who would canonise Mary MacKillop. Mother Leone chose to give it to Pope Paul VI for this historic occasion. It would be another 40 years before Mary officially achieved Sainthood.
During Pope Paul VI’s Sydney visit, he met with First Nations delegates from the Northern Territory, where he acknowledged the importance of human and civil rights for all ethnic minorities, and the Church’s respect for Indigenous culture. His comments following in the wake of Indigenous Australians recent recognition in the Census and voting rights in the 1967 referendum.
At the Youth Mass at Randwick on 2 December thousands were in attendance, the Pope in his Homily proclaimed, “It was not as isolated individuals that God saved us; his plan for us was to form a united and peaceful people. You will find your happiness essentially in sharing it with others…” [2]
Mother Adrian wrote after the Papal visit, “The striking part of the whole visit was the outstanding humility and outgoing sympathy of the Holy Father himself. From beginning to end he gave himself to the people”.
Jillian Bartlett
Congregational Archives
[1] From the Address given by Pope Paul VI to Religious: St Joseph’s Convent, Mount St North Sydney, 2 December 1970. SOSJ Congregational Archives.
[2] Mass to the Young People: Homily of the Holy Father Paul VI, 2 December 1970, Australia, Sydney. The Holy See, Vatican City, 1970. https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/homilies/1970/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19701202.html.