Remembering Mary MacKillop’s mother Flora

Flora MacKillop.

On Sunday 8 May, many families throughout our country will be celebrating the wonder and joy of experiencing motherhood and being mothered.

For others, Mother’s Day brings sadness and a sense of loss. In troubled places throughout the world mothers are separated from children, and children are living with the awful memory of losing their parents through massacre and war.

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A pilgrim’s ‘light-bulb’ moment

A Mary MacKillop Walk group pausing to remember Doctor John Benson at his Memorial in Kensington, Adelaide SA.
Mary MacKillop Museum visitors pondering the stories of the Barr Smiths and Emanuel Solomon.

Recently, the staff and volunteers of Mary MacKillop Museum in Adelaide were delighted to welcome a busload of interstate pilgrims, one of whom, after spending quite some time in the museum, was hungry for ‘the more’.

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The Hope and Faith of Mary MacKillop

Why do you think that everything is hopeless, that no one can take away your own tombstones? Why do you give in to resignation and failure? Easter is the feast of tombstones taken away, rocks rolled aside. God takes away even the hardest stones against which our hopes and expectations crash: death, sin, fear, worldliness.
Pope Francis, Homily, April 2019

The massacre of the innocent, the ravages of war and the displacement of people engender fear, desperation, and a sense of hopelessness. We also feel the pain of the flood victims left homeless and poverty stricken. Devastation and hardship call upon every ounce of faith and hope we have, to claim and look forward to a brighter future.

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A Letter to Mary MacKillop

Photo by lilartsy.

To commemorate the anniversary for when Mary MacKillop received Constitutions of the Institute (Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart) and when Central Government was accepted on 21 April 1874, Sr Maria Casey shares what she would have written to Mary if she was alive today.

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Lent and the life of Mary MacKillop

Jane Woolford, CEO of Mary MacKillop Today.

CEO of Mary MacKillop Today, Jane Woolford, shares her personal reflections in this Lenten season.

There is no doubt that hardship is all around us. Right here in Australia, people are enduring devastating damage from the floods. We are still feeling the difficult impacts of the pandemic, and overseas we are seeing a horrendous war play out with children and families caught in the crossfire.

During Lent, we reflect on the themes of sacrifice, justice and almsgiving.

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A woman ahead of her time

Celebrating International Women’s Day (8 March) is a great impetus for women around the globe to creatively and courageously encourage further, the growing surge for progress in the tussle for recognition and equality.

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Mary MacKillop’s Experience with Illness

Sculpture by Linda Klarfeld, located at Australian Catholic University, North Sydney NSW.

Recently I have heard our culture described as being ‘crippled with emotion and needing intensive care for hope’. There are many types of illness including, physical, emotional and psychological, pervading the environs that we mix in.

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Birth of Mary MacKillop – 15 January 1842

Birth site of Mary MacKillop in Fitzroy, Melbourne.

In 1891, during a worldwide depression, the people of Melbourne city suffered greatly. Those who were rich lost their investments, those who were poor lost their work, the poorest were homeless and slept on the streets. The Archbishop of Melbourne had a heart for the poor and he talked to Mary MacKillop, the new Josephite in his diocese, about his worries.

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