On 7 August 2024 on the lawn outside Alma Cottage, the day before thousands of people came to Mary MacKillop Place for Mary MacKillop’s feast day, another significant event attended by about 60 people took place.
Sisters, Kelly Humphrey, the newly appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) at ACU, Lisa Buxton, CEO of Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, students from Mount St Joseph (Milperra) and Holy Spirit (Lakemba) Colleges, members of the Josephite Justice Network, Sisters of Saint Joseph lay staff, Mary MacKillop Place and Mary MacKillop Today staff, and the NSW Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) working party, gathered to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sisters of Saint Joseph Letter of Apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
The ceremony began with a warm welcome to Mary MacKillop Place by Ms Carmel Yahl, the General Manager. Our Congregational Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Officer, Cassandra Gibbs, a Gamilaraay and Yuwalaraay yinaar (woman), acknowledged country. She led a water blessing ceremony with the water from the well on site and along with two students from the schools and Lisa Buxton, each person was blessed.
Sr Annie Bond (Mission & Ministries Manager, Mary MacKillop Place) led us in a prayer of the past, the God of our ancestors, followed by Sr Giovanni Farquer (Congregational Leader at the time of the Apology) reading the Apology letter from 8 August 1999. Sr Annie led us in the prayer of the present. Lisa then spoke to her recent painting Mary’s Place reminding us that Aboriginal people named Mary MacKillop Place. She spoke of all the symbols of encounter that are in the painting. This painting is now hung in each room in Anderledy Lodge.
A new Letter of Truth Telling was then read by Sr Monica Cavanagh (Congregational Leader) and the Congregational Leadership Team. The letter urges us to respond afresh, after the Uluru Statement from the Heart, after the failed Referendum for Voice and Recognition, calling us to walk together so that the true spirit of Australia can be ignited and where all can flourish. The Letter can be read here. A video of the full ceremony can be viewed on the SOSJ YouTube channel – click here.
We also heard from Jane Woolford, CEO of Mary MacKillop Today about the Aboriginal scholarships and partnerships with educational institutes. Cassandra spoke about the actions of the RAP and in particular, the relationship that the Sisters have had from their beginnings with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island People. The students from the two colleges spoke of the actions that their schools are taking towards reconciliation.
We finished with God of the future, a prayer full of hope. Everyone present was then invited to affirm the Letter of Truth Telling by placing their thumbprint on the document.
Clare Conaglen rsj
Chair, RAP Committee