The Work is Truly a Missionary One ...
“Let St Joseph’s true children remember their mission to seek first the poorest, most neglected parts of God’s vineyard"
-Mary MacKillop 1890

Wednesday 8 August was celebrated in a special way this year in Dili with the blessing and opening of a new building of Mary MacKillop Institute, the name by which we are known in East Timor.

At the request of Bishop Gaetano Galbusera, bishop of Ucayali, Marj Crossman rsj and Dora Garcia rsj sadly left the parish of Tournavista where we, the Sisters of St. Joseph, have been for just two years, to take up ministry in the parish of Curimana.

The Josephite Justice Office thanks all those who responded to the invitation to pray in vigil during the weekend of Humanitarian Sunday (18-19 August) with the First and Last Peoples of Australia and invites further action.

20 Sisters of St. Joseph from Mexico, Canada, Peru, Argentina and Brazil formed the delegation for the Congregations of Saint Joseph UN NGO at the recent Rio+ 20 conference in Brazil.

The Sisters of St Joseph join with the Christian Church leaders in Australia in the expression of "grave concern at the passing of asylum seeker legislation."

The Sisters of St Joseph, the third religious community to publicly voice their concern about the rapid escalation of coal seam gas exploration, have launched an online petition addressing this issue.

Margaret Ng rsj was among the fifteen members of Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH) who spent a week (19-24 August) in Canberra speaking to Members of Parliament and Ministerial staff, as well as Church leaders, in their continuing endeavours to ensure trafficked people access their human rights.

The year 5 and 6 students from Mary MacKillop Primary School, South Penrith helped bake sweets for the feast of St Mary MacKillop and the slices were then donated to Penrith Community Kitchen to feed disadvantaged people.

In recent years, some of the Tasmanian schools with Josephite connections have established ‘Junior Joeys’ groups, committed to promoting Josephite values.

Being a volunteer means having the opportunity to forget yourself and try to work in the same spirit as Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop ‘Never see a need, without doing something about it’. Meeting the challenges presented can be confronting but extremely rewarding.

Marian College Christchurch has had a difficult 18 months, losing the use of their school site in the Feb 2011 Christchurch earthquake and moving to a new site this year. Now settled, in the spirit of Mary MacKillop and Catherine McAuley, the students started to look to meet local needs in their new community.

Holy Rosary School, Windsor, on Brisbane's northside originally established by the Sisters of St Joseph will take on the new name, and a new direction, from the start of 2013 when it will become the first school in Australia to be known as "St Mary of the Cross School".

We have been in the habit of asking St Mary MacKillop to ‘intercede’ for us. Ann Gilroy rsj explores why asking Mary to pray with us, rather than for us, might be more helpful.

On August 5th, the joy and pride of Fr Ed Moloney and his Maryborough parishioners were palpable as they celebrated the blessing of a beautiful new stained-glass window which honours Mary MacKillop and her visit to this district in July 1891.

Mary MacKillop was first of all a woman of prayer, of contemplation and it is compassionate action that spills over from contemplation, not the other way around. Mary writes, ”All depends on prayer. Begin with it and end with it.” (1890:S & L Kane:62). This was her fundamental approach to mission.

Important dates for your calendar including Social Justice Sunday on 30 September

We celebrate Social Justice Sunday on 30 September. This year’s Social Justice Statement is titled: ‘The Gift of Family in Difficult Times: The social and economic challenges facing families today’.