Kindness and Support to the Suffering....
“Try to keep God with us by charity of thought, word and act.”
- Mary MacKillop 1890

Care for the aged is a particularly significant expression of the mission of Jesus and the ministry of the Church -- one that witnesses for the whole of society to the special value of each life, including those who are frail and dependent. In this webcast Therese Carroll rsj offers an approach to ministry of aged care based around the themes of "presence", "journey" and "telling the story".

Inspired by both Mary MacKillop and the popular TV programme 'The Great Race', the staff of Penola Catholic College, Broadmeadows have organised and enjoyed their own 'Great Race' around Melbourne - and discovered that their school campus is just one of many places in Melbourne that bear Mary MacKillop's footprints!

By becoming a friend of Mary MacKillop Place, you can help to sustain this place of pilgrimage for those who come after us.

On the road since March this year, Julianne Murphy rsj has visited schools, towns and cities across Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. During this time she has clocked up 15,500 kilometres, met with more than 15,600 children and visited 66 schools. "The Roadshow was set to end in late October," says Sr Julianne, "but there are so many bookings it now looks like we'll still be going throughout most of November."

Inspired by Mary MacKillop's vision to respond to need, and her commitment to the poor and marginalised of her day, members of Sydney's Sudanese community have combined to raise funds for a girls' school in the town of Aweil in South Sudan which they've named Mary MacKillop School for Girls.

Colleen O'Sullivan rsj from the Josephite Ecology Working Group reflects on the relationship between the story of Avatar and our own personal search for meaning and connectedness

At public meetings held recently in Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Kensington, South Australia, Margaret Ng rsj, who is the contact person for the Josephite Counter-Trafficking Project, told of her ministry of support and advocacy on behalf of people who have been trafficked in Australia and internationally.

The Under 60 year old Sisters of Saint Joseph from Peru, Brazil, New Zealand and Australia, who came together in Sydney in July to network and celebrate life together, felt compelled to speak in support of the overwhelming number of despairing Aboriginal people and communities who have pleaded for the last five years for advocacy with regard to the Northern Territory Intervention.

“We see by faith and not by sight” is as true of the mysteries of science as it is of the Mystery of God! With this difference! The mystery of God will always be mystery. Science, however, has the potential to unveil the mysteries of the universe. And so it is with the Higgs- boson particle, writes Colleen O'Sullivan rsj.

The staff and children of Holy Child School, Dallas (in Melbourne’s northern suburbs) are proud that their school was the first in Australia to start a children’s Mary MacKillop group! Read about their Josephite journey and consider starting a group in your school using the free downloadable start up kit.

Diane Phillips rsj and Jane Mitchell bring the story of Mary MacKillop alive for young children as told through the experiences of four ‘retired horses’, each of whom has an interesting anecdote to share.

During the silence of the evening of the 26 July, words that hold great significance and meaning for the Universal Church and for all Australians were added to the tomb of St Mary of the Cross [MacKillop]: Canonised in Rome, 17th October, 2010.

Since the Mary MacKillop website went live in March 2010, more than 23,000 prayers, petitions and reflections have been posted online at Mary’s tomb. If you can’t be at Mary MacKillop Place, Mount Street North Sydney today, join us in prayer by posting yours online or in praying with those who have posted a prayer.

Places of pilgrimage beckon people to touch and get caught up in the atmosphere and spiritual realities that belong to their origins. However, it is not only the site that takes people deep into the heart of their faith, but the journey itself. Come and join us for a day in September reflecting with St Mary MacKillop in Sydney, at The Rocks and at Mary MacKillop Place.

As we celebrate the Feast of St Mary of the Cross, we are invited to reflect more deeply on what it is to walk in the way of the Cross in our time and place.

Important dates for your calendar, including details of the Proclaim 2012 Conference (Sydney) and the forthcoming 'Listening to the Universe: Living responsively’ retreat (September -October)

'Listening to the Universe: Living responsively’ is a retreat presented by Colleen O’Sullivan rsj and Kateri Duke rsj