National Vocations Awareness Week 2022
August 8, 2022
This year’s National Vocations Awareness Week begins on 7 August and concludes on 14 August. During this week, we also celebrate the feast of Saint Mary MacKillop on 8 August.
Indigenous women defend a sacred river in Peru
To commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August), Barbara Fraser, a freelance journalist based in Lima, Peru, shares a story about how Indigenous women are defending a sacred river in Peru.
Like most Kukama women in Peru’s northeastern Amazonian region, Mari Luz Canaquiri’s life centers on the Marañón River.
A Māori Way of looking at the world
To commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August), Sr Makareta Tawaroa reports from Whanganui Aotearoa New Zealand.
I am just another member of our whanau.
This is where I am most at home.
We are part of the land, (tangata whenua)
We are part of the River, (tangata awa).
Being Maori Is knowing who you are and where you belong.
This is who I am.
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 in the Chapel.
However, the story of Mary MacKillop Place begins before this. In 1883, Mary MacKillop was banished from Adelaide and travelled to Sydney where Sisters we already ministering. For a time, Mary resided at the Providence in Cumberland Street, The Rocks.
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.
But as you know, Mary’s work isn’t yet finished. Many children and adults are still unable to break the cycle of poverty because they can’t access education. And together, with our shared calling to uphold Mary’s legacy, I know we can continue her mission today.
Saint Mary MacKillop Feast Day 2022
August 5, 2022A 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 encountered along the journey of life came from knowing that she was the beloved of God. She was described by her Sisters as being a big-hearted woman whose love knew no boundaries.
150 years in New South Wales Celebration
Celebrating 150 years of the arrival of the Sisters of Saint Joseph in NSW was a blessed event indeed.
The actual date was 16 July 1872 when Teresa McDonald, Hyacinth Quinlan, Joseph Dwyer and Ada Braham arrived in Perthville, near the NSW town of Bathurst.
Their memory was cherished as about 80 sisters from across the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Scared Heart and Sisters of St Joseph Lochinvar congregations arrived for the Mass in the Cathedral of St Michael and St John in Bathurst on the same day – 16 July 2022.
World Day Against Trafficking in Persons 2022
July 29, 2022
There are more slaves in the world today than in any other time in human history. (ABC Perth)
The United Nations marks World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on 30 July annually.
Vulnerable people all over the world are lured by traffickers with promises of jobs, safety and security. In 2017, Walk Free, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) developed the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery. It is estimated that presently 40.3 million people are victims of modern slavery. Women and girls make up 71% of victims, mainly from Africa, Asia and the Pacific region.