Media Release: National Vocations Awareness Week

August 2, 2020

Drawing on the wisdom of Saint Mary MacKillop through National Vocations Awareness Week (2-9 August 2020).

Each year the Church celebrates National Vocations Awareness Week. This week is dedicated to promoting the various expressions of Christian vocation with a focus on promoting priesthood and consecrated life.

This year, a group of Josephite Sisters and Affiliates have been asked to contribute video content about their Ministries and how they participate in God’s mission today.

“The response has been extremely pleasing, and we are thrilled to showcase the great works of these individuals,” said Kathleen Norman, Communications Manager, Sisters of Saint Joseph. “The first of the content series will be launched on Sunday 2 August in time for the start of National Vocations Awareness Week, and then continue throughout the remainder of this year.”

Drawing from reflection on Saint Mary MacKillop’s experience, Sister Monica added: “My advice to young Australians of faith is – be the voice of the gospel and the face of God in the world today. Be courageous; use your passion and energy to address the critical issues facing the world and church today.”

During these unusual times throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, research shows us there is a new openness to the sharing of faith in 2020. Australians have turned to prayer during the coronavirus with many wanting to spend more time growing their faith once restrictions are lifted.

The Sisters of Saint Joseph believe that Saint Mary MacKillop would offer encouragement during these difficult times. In 1907 she wrote to the Sisters:

We must let no obstacles deter us from proceeding with courage in the path marked out for us. It may sometimes be dark and full of windings, but a beautiful bright light shines at the end of this path and a few more windings will bring us to it. Mary MacKillop 1907

Sr Monica Cavanagh, Congregational Leader, believes strongly that Mary MacKillop is with us:

Her own experience of life leads us to be in deep communion with her. We remember that Mary herself suffered from ill-health and will be close to all those whose health has been impacted by the COVID-19. She was close to death on a few occasions and found comfort in those who shared these times with her. Sr Monica Cavanagh

Saint Mary MacKillop herself wrote about her testing experience of being dangerously unwell:

I was for many weeks dangerously ill, so ill that I nearly died… I was weary of the world and its crosses… The mental conflict had been too much for me.Lesley O’Brien, Mary MacKillop Unveiled, p. 145

Please continue reading the Media Release here (PDF)

For more information, please contact:

Kathleen Norman
Communications Manager
Sisters of Saint Joseph
Kathleen.Norman@sosj.org.au
+61 2 8912 2722   +61 438 006 566

Celebrate Mary’s Feast Day with Mary MacKillop Today

July 30, 2020

Provided below is a message from Mary MacKillop Today to schools about the feast of Mary MacKillop on 8 August 2020.

Mary MacKillop’s Feast Day is coming up in August.

This year is particularly special because it is the 10 year anniversary since Mary was canonised as Australia’s first Saint. Education was close to Mary’s heart and she knew its power to lift communities out of poverty. This is why Mary MacKillop Today is asking schools across Australia to celebrate Mary’s Feast Day with us and raise funds to help give children in Fiji access to early education!

Throughout August, we’re inviting schools to hold their own fundraising activities and set a target of $1,500 (or more!). That’s enough to give a vulnerable community in Fiji the resources they need to build a safe and effective learning environment for eager children.

Once your school is registered, Mary MacKillop Today will provide resources to help your school promote and run a successful fundraiser.

Click the link below to register for your school’s resources today and celebrate Mary MacKillop’s legacy by helping transform lives with the gift of education:

Mary MacKillop Feast Day fundraising activities

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Madeleine Gough, Mary MacKillop Today’s Community Partnerships Coordinator, directly via email madeleine.gough@marymackilloptoday.org.au or telephone on (02) 8912 2708

Nine Days With Mary MacKillop Novena

July 29, 2020

These nine days will offer an opportunity to pray and reflect on scripture, Mary MacKillop and your own lives, all within your own time.

Friday 31 July marks the beginning of our Novena – a time when we can reflect on how the Scriptures, Mary MacKillop’s life and our life intertwine to encourage us in all that we do.

As this Novena is online – you might like to form a group or two to share in this retreat together.

Thank you for praying together as we look forward to celebrating the feast day of Saint Mary MacKillop (Saturday 8 August).

Day One, 31 July: Opening To Our Potter God


Day Two, 1 August: Becoming Good Soil


Day Three, 2 August: Becoming Light for the World

Day Four, 3 August: Becoming Salt for the Earth


Day Five, 4 August: Encountering God  


Day Six, 5 August: Loving Tenderly


Day Seven, 6 August: Acting Justly


Day Eight, 7 August: Walking Humbly


Day Nine, 8 August: Feast Day

 

So Small a Beginning: Part 4

July 8, 2020

Sr Marie Foale speaks about the beginnings of the Institute of St Joseph for the Catholic education of poor children.

She believes that as a young Josephite growing up, she had a sense that one day Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods had made a spontaneous decision to found an order.

Click here to continue reading

Reflection on Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop Continues to Make a Difference.

The Story of Mary MacKillop – Holy Family Primary Granville [1]
As December 1882 drew near, once more Mother Mary had a death in her family. Her 32-year-old sister Lexie, who was a Good Shepherd nun in Melbourne, died.  Lexie had helped Mother Mary in our first school at Penola. I cried in my heart for Mother Mary.

By the end of 1882 we had a foundation in the south coast of New South Wales, Albion Park. Archbishop Vaughan asked us to take over St. John’s School in Kent Street, Sydney. The people were very poor around Kent St, which was ‘a scene of much human misery’. Every day one of the Sisters cooked a substantial meal for the children and a hot drink was ready for them when they arrived at school. Even on Sundays the sisters cooked breakfast for the children and their parents. Our sisters truly were servants for the poor.

Extract from ‘The Letter under the Pillow‘ by Clare Aherne (2016) Chapter 11, pp. 59-60. Carrowmore Publishing Ltd, Ireland.

Mary MacKillop 1882

Mary MacKillop was a woman who championed the rights and needs of the poor in the community. Mary and the early sisters worked exceedingly hard to make a difference to the lives of the deprived. It seems remarkable that the sisters were able to provide such sustenance and assistance when they too relied on Providence. No doubt they sought out donations and went begging for food to enable this marvellous ministry to the poor.

Mary and the Sisters also knew suffering and death.

Let us reflect…

  • What feelings well up in you when you think of Mary’s generosity in these early days?
  • The present COVID-19 crisis paints a grim picture of hardship, sickness and death in the community.
    What has affected your life during this time?
    Have you been able to help others cope with endure their plight?
  • Are we able to extend kindness to our neighbours of all cultures?

Let us pray.

Michele Shipperley rsj

 

Image:
[1] The Story of Mary MacKillop a short film by Holy Family Primary, Granville. Obtained from Cath Family.

Reflection on Mary MacKillop

June 8, 2020

In 1873-1874 Mary travelled from Rome and then to London where the McDougalls invited her to stay at their house in Clapham Park and make herself at home during their absence. Mary then travelled to Paris and to her ancestral home the Braes of Lochaber in Scotland.

Cille Choirille Church and Graveyard – the Braes of Lochaber, Scotland [1]
The servants had been well instructed, and Mary was overwhelmed. At first she was inclined to feel concerned at the luxury, but then she simply had a good laugh at the incongruity of finding herself in ‘a grand, high bed’ in such a place.  She stayed on a week after the McDougalls returned.  Although they were so kind, she was not really at ease in such surroundings, especially as she was some distance from the church. When Mr McDougall had to go to Australia, she was relieved to be able to return without offence to the cheap and convenient lodgings in South Street.”

From there she returned to Fort William, where illness delayed her again for a few days before she could start for Fort Augustus. She was overjoyed to meet on the canal steamer the priest who had consoled her in her loneliness at Versailles. He paid her expenses and handed her over to her relative, Dean MacDonald of Fort Augustus, with whom she then stayed for three days. The story was the same everywhere – helpful priests and kindly welcomes in convents. … Fr Bissett gave her soul ‘the help and encouragement it sometimes so sadly needed.’

Extract from ‘Mary MacKillop: An Extraordinary Australian’ by Paul Gardiner sj (1993) pp. 140-141. E J Dwyer Pty Ltd Australia.

Saint Mary MacKillop commemorative coin [2]
This story of Mary’s journey, while not easy has brought the comfort of assistance, companionship and welcome. The pattern of Mary’s days is akin to our home journey during these past months as we have longed to gather with family and friends and move around outside our locality.

Let us ponder on Mary’s life during the long wait to hear from Rome about the future of the congregation.

  • Imagine Mary’s delight and relief on meeting her relatives and visiting her ancestral home.
  • What are your thoughts about Mary’s choice to move from comfort to cheap and convenient lodgings?
  • How does Mary’s humour, devotion and resilience speak to you in this vingnette?

Mary MacKillop Saint for Australia and the world, pray for us.

Michele Shipperley rsj

 

Image sources:
[1] Cille Choirille Church and Graveyard by Dave Fergusson obtained from Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.
[2] Saint Mary MacKillop commemorative coin obtained from The Perth Mint Australia website.

So Small a Beginning: Part 3

Sr Marie Foale speaks about the beginnings of the Institute of St Joseph for the Catholic education of poor children.

She believes that as a young Josephite growing up, she had a sense that one day Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods had made a spontaneous decision to found an order.

Click here to continue reading

So Small a Beginning: Part 2

May 8, 2020

Sr Marie Foale speaks about the beginnings of the Institute of St Joseph for the Catholic education of poor children.

She believes that as a young Josephite growing up, she had a sense that one day Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods had made a spontaneous decision to found an order.

Click here to continue reading