Let’s Take A Stand For the Church Today – It’s What Mary MacKillop Would Do
October 11, 2021
Surging wonder and gratitude were unexpected feelings for me when I saw the picture of Mary MacKillop hanging on the walls of St Peter’s Basilica on the day of the canonisation, 17 October 2010. World recognition of the workings of God through this woman was an awe-inspiring thing indeed.
In her Ministerial Statement made to the New South Wales Parliament that day, the then Premier, Kristina Keneally, pointed out that while Mary MacKillop’s canonisation was significant for the universal church, it spoke to Australians in particular:
“She will be forever a reminder that our nation is at its greatest when we care for all in our communities, especially the most vulnerable. She will always be known as a great pioneer of egalitarianism, mateship and compassion that we now call a fair go. Her life is inspiring to any Australian.”
International Day of the Girl Child: In a Just and Fair World…
As we approach the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October, I thought I would ask our Josephite Action Group (JAG) volunteers for their input on what a just and fair world should look like for young women. Their responses are below.
Talaroo Hot Springs: A place of Healing and Reconciliation
The Josephite connection with the Gulf region of Far North Queensland began in the 1970s, when the church’s ministry was known as the Gulf Mission.
In the 1990s, the Gulf Mission became the Gulf Savannah Parish where I was ministering as the pastoral associate. Over the years, I have met and worked with many wonderful rural women who hold values that encourage and inspire. Sharon Prior, a Ewamian woman and General Manager of Ewamian Aboriginal Corporation (EAC), is one such woman.
Josephites Support Sydney’s Sudanese Through COVID Troubles
I have been involved with the Sudanese community since I first found them in 1998 in the refugee flats in Auburn. At their request, I helped them set up the St Bakhita Centre in Flemington. To understand the culture more I lived in Mapuordit, South Sudan, in 2006.
In 2017, John Cinya, Chaplain to the Sudanese Community in Parramatta Diocese, asked me to help young members of the community. They were consistently falling out of education and failing to find employment once they left school.
Julian’s Day 2021: Let’s learn to live in harmony with nature!
October 1, 2021
To celebrate the 7 October anniversary of the death of Fr Julian Tenison Woods, co-founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, this year we have done something special.
Fr Julian was a man of many talents: an environmentalist, scientist, priest, explorer, campaigner for social justice and the rights of Indigenous people, among many others.
To introduce Fr Julian to the next generation, we have produced the attached resources for children and adults.
Plenary Council 2021: The Josephite Contribution
September 30, 2021
Update 14 October 2021: Sr Monica Cavanagh reflects on the themes and achievements of the first Assembly.
Sr Monica Cavanagh on the First Assembly
Dear Friends,
The long-awaited first session of Australia’s Fifth Plenary Council begins this Sunday, 3 October. After a long process of discernment and hard work, hundreds of delegates will gather to undertake “the challenging task of trying to understand what it means to belong to the Catholic Church in Australia at this particular moment in our history and what God is asking of us as his Church now and into the future.” (Instrumentum Laboris, 2) Among these delegates are many Sisters of Saint Joseph.
Plenary Council 2021: Mary MacKillop Inspires Us To Be A Heart-Centred Church
On 5 August, 45 leaders of religious congregations were formally commissioned as members of the Plenary Council in a virtual ritual prepared by Catholic Religious Australia. As the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, I am a member participating in the formal sessions of the Plenary Council.
I am looking forward to this time, with a hopeful heart that the Spirit will be guiding us in our deliberations. I have already seen the Spirit moving in and among us in the preparation sessions and in the thematic papers that underpin the agenda of the Council. I appreciated that the agenda has come to us in the form of questions which, for me, invites openness to what is yet to come.
Plenary Council 2021: An Opportunity For An Inclusive Church
In my role as a member of the Plenary Council Facilitation Team, with Lana Turvey-Collins, Peter Gates, and Olivia Lee, there still seems to be countless matters to attend to in these final days of preparation before the first session of the Plenary on 3 October.
Every Tuesday evening for the last six weeks the Facilitation Team has provided a session on a variety of themes, including Women in Leadership in the Church and Synodality.
Each of these “Coffee Conversation” sessions, as we called them, were really an opportunity for all the 278 Members of the Plenary Council to engage in conversation with one another and get to know one another a little more, as well as practice the art of discernment in small groups, which is fundamental to the process being used during the days of the Assembly.