Death of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI
The Sisters of Saint Joseph join the church universal in acknowledging the death of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. The Sisters remember with fondness his visit to the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel (Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney) during his visit to Australia for World Youth Day 2008 when he prayed at Mary’s tomb and gifted us […]
St Mary MacKillop’s Human Right of Way
We commemorate Human Rights Day on 10 December 2022. The presumed inalienability of human rights continues to be at odds with the realities of its accessibility in our contemporary context. There is a false assumption that we as a collective society have achieved justice for all. Unfortunately, many marginalised voices in our community remain silenced […]
Mary MacKillop and Advent
During a recent trip to Melbourne, I attended Mass at St Francis’ Church in the city. This is a special church as it is Victoria’s oldest Catholic Church, where Mary MacKillop’s parents were married, and where Mary had the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion. Visiting St Francis’ Church, which was a significant […]
Feasts of All Saints and Souls
The feasts of All Saints and All Souls are celebrated on 1 November and 2 November respectively. Over the first two days of November, we are invited to pray with and for everyone. We can pray with one another and the saints, as we are also reminded to remember and pray for all departed souls.
St Mary MacKillop in the Pandemic and Post-Pandemic
The pandemic was a time that surprised the world. It was never thought that the COVID-19 virus could challenge humanity on the domination of Earth. A fixation on daily death numbers, anguish, despair, pain, violence, lack of food and work, medicine, etc. all reigned. But all believers in God had hope in God. It is […]
Mary MacKillop’s Canonisation Anniversary
Canonisation celebrations at Mary MacKillop Place, 2010. For the canonisation of Mary MacKillop, all roads led to Rome on 17 October 2010. For those of us in Australia, all roads led to Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney. At the time, I was blessed to be working at Mary MacKillop Place as a member of […]
Making A Difference – A Reflection on St Mary MacKillop
Never see a need without doing something about it.Mary MacKillop In 1866, together with Father Julian Tenison Woods, Mary MacKillop founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart and opened a school to provide free education for the children of Penola, South Australia. From this small beginning, Mary went on to establish Catholic […]
The Foundations of the Josephite Charism across NSW
Our First Three Seedbeds The story of the presence of the Sisters of Saint Joseph in New South Wales (NSW) grew from three distinct seedbeds – with the planting of the Josephite charism by our pioneering Sisters. These small seedbeds were planted with love, grew out of the soil of trust in God’s Providence and […]
Mary MacKillop Place – Out of the Ordinary
At the heart of Mary MacKillop Place located in North Sydney, New South Wales, is the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel. The Chapel was built in 1913 in memory of Mary MacKillop and shortly after, it was dedicated by the Archbishop Michael Kelly in 1914. Mary’s body was exhumed from the Gore Hill Cemetery and reinterred […]
Keeping St Mary MacKillop’s legacy alive
I’m so thankful to be part of the Josephite family and share stories with you about the work we’re doing at Mary MacKillop Today. Like you, I am truly inspired by the extraordinary ‘can help’ spirit of Mary MacKillop and the Sisters of Saint Joseph who travelled to set up schools in Australia’s remote communities. […]
Saint Mary MacKillop Feast Day 2022
A Message from Sr Monica Cavanagh, Congregational Leader, Sisters of Saint Joseph. Greetings for the feast of Saint Mary MacKillop (8 August). As we join in celebrating Mary MacKillop’s feast this year, we are called to embrace the values that were at the heart of all she did. Her deep love for those she […]
Looking forward to the next 150 years at Perthville
The Sisters of Saint Joseph marked the 150th anniversary of when the first Sisters of Saint Joseph arrived in Perthville to begin ministry in New South Wales on 16 July 2022. The first community of sisters, Teresa MacDonald, Joseph Dwyer and Hyacinth Quinlan, and an enquirer, Ada Braham, arrived at Perthville near Bathurst at the […]