First Adelaide school opens in 1867
June 21, 2022
On 2 July 2022, the Sisters of Saint Joseph will celebrate 155 years since the opening of the first Josephite school in Adelaide, South Australia.
“What,” they say, “can you expect from colonial girls, without any knowledge of a religious life, and no one to train them?”[1] Writing to Sister Mary MacKillop, Father Julian Tenison Woods conveyed the scepticism of those who had heard his plans to establish the Sisters of Saint Joseph. Just three weeks later, on 2 July 1867, Sisters Mary MacKillop, Rose Cunningham and Josephine McMullen would open a school in Adelaide’s St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral Hall in Wakefield Street.
June Prayer Intention: Families
Each month, Pope Francis asks for our prayers for a specific intention. For the month of June, the prayer intention is for families.
Family Ties
Within the family, bonds can be strong, helpful and a valuable gift. Others can be torn apart after tragedy or trauma. As Pope Francis urges us to pray for families, the history of many religious groups reflects the unconscious influences parents and sibling can have.
Last month while exploring our family tree, I discovered the O’Mara family: sisters in religion as well as in life. Another interesting fact is that two of them led their Congregation in Goulburn.
Australian National Pilgrimage 2022
June 8, 2022
In the Footsteps of Mary MacKillop – Bookings for Australian National Pilgrimage Now Open
Mary MacKillop Place and the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart are delighted to welcome back pilgrims to its popular Australian National Pilgrimage: In the Footsteps of Mary MacKillop. The next pilgrimage will be running from 18 – 29 October 2022 and will visit many places associated with Mary MacKillop’s life and ministry in Victoria, South Australia and Sydney.
The Pilgrimage is run by Mary MacKillop Place and will be led by a Sister from the Sisters of Saint Joseph and the inaugural Director of the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre, East Melbourne.
Celebrating 130 Years of Education
A reflection by Sr Maureen McDermott rsj on an exceptional milestone and celebration.
It was with a joyous and grateful heart that I journeyed home after the celebrations of 130 years of education at St Joseph’s School, Hillston, New South Wales on Tuesday 3 May.
The celebrations began with Eucharist concelebrated by Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green OSPPE and the parish priest, Fr Christopher J Lim, for the parish community, in which the pupils were the focus. The spirit of Mary MacKillop was tangible as the entrance hymn in praise of Mary was sung with great gusto.
A hand-up not a hand-out
CEO of Mary MacKillop Today, Jane Woolford, explains how affordable access to financial services can stop the cycle of poverty.
Imagine your fridge breaks down one day — but you simply can’t afford to buy a new one to ensure you have fresh food to feed your family. Would you take out a loan to get the money you desperately need right away — even if it means falling into a debt trap?
Hardship is rife in Australia, with more than 1 in 6 households unable to raise $2,000 for an emergency. The combination of the pandemic, floods and droughts, rising fuel prices, and the housing market has sent the cost of living skyrocketing.
Celebrating June Feast Days with Mary MacKillop
During the month of June, we have the opportunity as followers of Mary MacKillop, to recall and celebrate the great feast days of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (24 June) and St John the Baptist (25 June).
Our Josephite constitutions expresses Mary’s hope that:
Trinity Sunday – Invitation to dance
Attempts to explain the Trinity are multiple. St Patrick is said to have used a shamrock to illustrate that the Three are One. The Russian iconographer, Rublev, offered us a beautiful image where the three appear equal around a table and there is a space for the observer to join them. Hildergard of Bingen left us an image of the Christ figure surrounded by a golden circle representing the Spirit, enclosed in a larger circle representing the light of God, Father.
In another relational representation, the Cappadocian (Eastern Turkey) Fathers of the third and fourth centuries, offered us the image of God as a circular movement of total outpouring and perfect receiving among three intimate partners. The word used by these wise men was perichoresis which comes from the same root word as choreography, so the Trinity is relating in a dance of love, into which we are invited.
So, how might these representations influence the life of you and me?
Sesquicentenary of the NSW Sisters of Saint Joseph 2022
June 7, 2022
This July, the Sisters of Saint Joseph will celebrate 150 years of the Congregation’s presence in NSW since their arrival in Perthville in 1872.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph was founded by Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods in 1866 in Penola, South Australia.
The first ministry of the Congregation was the opening of a school for all the children of that small distant town. The education being offered was an important step in breaking the cycle of poverty that had trapped so many of the children’s parents, struggling to make a go of it in the pioneering times of colonial Australia. By the end of that first year there were four sisters.