New Co-ordinator for Mary MacKillop Penola Centre

For some time, the winds of change have been blowing around the Mary MacKillop Penola Centre.

Changes are afoot with the appointment of a new co-ordinator following the retirement of Mrs Claire Larkin in September, 2018. Sisters of Saint Joseph, Loreto O’Connor and Sue McGuinness, took on this role in a care-taking capacity as acting co-ordinators until a new appointment was made.

Marie Valenzuela took up her position in a part-time capacity on 10 February, 2020. The position is generously supported by the Archdiocese of Adelaide. This financial support emphasises the importance the Archdiocese places on Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop in the life of the Church and the significance of Penola as a sacred place of pilgrimage.

Marie has been a generous volunteer at the Centre for approximately 18 years, contributing her skills in computing and technology in a variety of ways and serving on the co-ordinating committee. Now she brings a variety of other skills, and her years of professional experience, to her role, which includes secretarial work, administration, property management, media experience and customer service.

Marie lives locally and is actively involved in St Joseph’s Catholic parish. She has imbibed the spirit of Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods over the years and she is keen to deepen her understanding of their spirituality and its relevance to our world today.

Marie was warmly congratulated and welcomed to this position by the co-ordinating committee when it met on 5 February, 2020. We offer her our very best wishes and our gratitude for accepting this challenging role.

Sue McGuinness rsj

National Apology to Stolen Generations

How do we right the wrongs?

Ego to Eco: Part Three

Father Julian Tenison Woods was a Catholic priest who had made a great contribution to Australian Geology, Botany, Palaeontology and Zoology.

Today the ecology of the Earth is suffering. Pope Francis states that we are in a time where peoples of the world need to have an ‘ecological conversion.’

Although Father Julian had lived in a different time to us, he had recognised the importance of looking after the Earth.

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Death of Sister M Francis McCarthy Anniversary

Annie McCarthy, born in Dublin on 12 December 1849, arrived in Perthville from Ireland with eight other young women on 1 May 1875.

Their destination – the Sisters of Saint Joseph. Sr M Francesca (as Annie became known) lived through the separation of the Josephites, and even though it was her desire to follow Sr Mary MacKillop and the sisters to Adelaide, this did not eventuate. Instead she remained in Perthville, where she grew as a Josephite and had the opportunity to know and love Fr Julian.

Twelve years later, in 1887, Sr M Francesca, now known as Sr M Francis, and four Sisters left Perthville, stayed with Mary MacKillop and the Sisters at Mount Street overnight, and then sailed on the SS Corinna to Tasmania. After a very rough voyage to Launceston, they arrived in Westbury on 24 May. The school in Westbury, under the leadership of Sr M Francis had begun with eight students, but by the October of that year the numbers had increased to over 100.

With the faithfilled example of Sr M Francis to guide the Sisters, schools sprang up all over Tasmania.

She became an integral part of the Josephite story – a story of courage, of faith, of education, of being one with the people, and of great confidence in the God they loved so dearly. In four years, four new foundations were made on the north west coast of Tasmania. Sr M Francis simply packed her bag and moved on to the next place.

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Pride of Penola

The Penola community was delighted to receive news that our local historian, Margaret Muller, was selected by the Wattle Range Council as Penola’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year for 2020.

Margaret was presented with this prestigious award at our recent Australia Day Awards ceremony in Penola.

Margaret was acknowledged as Citizen of the Year in recognition of her outstanding voluntary service to the Penola community in a wide range of areas. Included among these areas of service are Margaret’s long years of commitment to the Mary MacKillop Penola Centre where her contribution continues to be both invaluable and highly valued. Since the establishment of the Centre, Margaret has been heavily involved in research, writing material for exhibitions and offering hospitality to literally hundreds of visitors in a variety of ways. For many years she has conducted town tours around Penola and her obvious passion for poetry and history adds a unique dimension for tourists and pilgrims alike. Among her finest achievements is her published record of the life of Father Paul Gardiner SJ, “A Long Journey.”

In her acceptance address, Margaret spoke of other outstanding citizens who made significant contributions to nineteenth century Penola. Among these were Alexander Cameron who established Penola as a private township, three eminent poets – Adam Lindsay Gordon, Will Ogilvie and John Shaw Neilson, and our co-founders, Julian Tenison Woods and Mary MacKillop. To this impressive list Margaret added the twentieth century Penola-born polar explorer, John Riddoch Rymill whose Antarctic expedition remains a remarkable international achievement.

Margaret believes the key to the beauty and charm of Penola is its historical and cultural heritage which is so faithfully safeguarded by its residents. She acknowledged the high level of involvement of the town dwellers and members of the wider community which enriches the town in unique ways and makes it a special place.

It is Margaret’s own modelling of generosity, consistent involvement, energy, passion and selfless service that has been recognised by others and earned her this accolade. She is a most worthy recipient.

Congratulations, Margaret! Thank you for your outstanding contribution to the Mary MacKillop Penola Centre!

Sue McGuinness rsj

Josephite Prison Ministry History

In June 1867, young Mary MacKillop and her companion, Rose Cunningham, made their very first Josephite foundation in the city of Adelaide with a view to providing a catholic education for children whose parents [were] in humble circumstances. [1]

In their bags they carried a manuscript copy of the Rules of the Institute of St. Joseph for the Catholic Education of Poor Children, which Father Woods had written a few weeks earlier.

In it he stressed the importance of their work as teachers but added that, wherever possible, they were also to take charge of Orphanages, to which [might] be added, where circumstances allow[ed], refuges for destitute persons. [2]

In fact, these new Sisters of Saint Joseph were,

Woods had moved to Adelaide some weeks before the Sisters arrived there and, in that time, had been appalled by the poverty and deprivation he had found in parts of the city. In particular, he had noticed that Catholics were well represented among the prison population. Therefore, in spite of the demands of his duties as Director of Catholic Education, he visited the Adelaide Gaol weekly and, whenever possible, celebrated Mass for the prisoners. [4]

It was with these people in mind that he mentioned the gaol or prisoners no less than four times in the Sisters’ Rules. Thus, in article five, he wrote that they were to be ready to go wherever they were sent and that, besides their teaching duties, they were to visit the sick or attend the poor, prisoners, or other afflicted persons.

In article seven on Sunday Observances, he stated that, after fulfilling their spiritual duties, they were to visit parents whose children had not attended school, sick children, prisoners, or those sick in the hospitals.

Then, in article twelve regarding vacations he wrote that:

From the time of their arrival in Adelaide, then, Woods had them visiting the Adelaide Gaol and the Adelaide Hospital every week.  In fact, the visitation of these two institutions, both of which then housed some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the colony, became the first Josephite ministry not directly connected to their work of education.

One important spinoff from those initial prison visits was the foundation of St Joseph’s Refuge in Adelaide in October 1867 and, several months later, of St Joseph’s Providence, also in the city. The Refuge was intended to be a half-way house for women recently released from gaol while at the Providence the Sisters provided shelter and protection for disadvantaged women of all ages.

Mary MacKillop and her Sisters took prison visitation seriously and as far as possible, carried it on wherever they went.  From Brisbane in 1870 Mary wrote of how she and her companions had visited a gaol on the previous Sunday and how, as a consequence, she felt the need of a Refuge for the women. However, the Vicar General refused her request to set one up. [5]

Mary did not give up, however, for some months later she wrote of:

Meanwhile, back in Adelaide the Refuge was progressing well while at the Providence Sister Elizabeth Etheridge was caring for a former prisoner who, because of failing health, had been moved there from the gaol before she had completed her sentence. [7]

Over time, Sisters began visiting prisons in New Zealand and Sydney, while Sister Gertrude Mary Dewe regretted being unable to get to the Gladstone Gaol (South Australia) from her convent in Georgetown, which was some fifteen kilometres away.[8]

In August 1884, Sister Annette Henschke, who was then in charge of the Adelaide Refuge, wrote:

Over time, the Sisters’ regular prison visitation had at least one unexpected outcome. In early 1883, Adelaide Catholics were shocked to learn that thieves had stolen a gold ciborium full of sacred hosts from the Dominican Convent, in the city. The thieves emptied it somewhere in the Adelaide Parklands and made off with the ciborium itself. Everyone despaired of finding those sacred hosts, but:

Then, in 1897, the South Australian Sisters accepted responsibility for the management of a reformatory home for young girl prisoners, that is, for teenage girls who had appeared before the courts.[11]  Mary MacKillop, who was visiting South Australia at the time, spent several weeks with the Sisters as they made ready for the arrival of their first inmates.

This institution closed twelve years later, and the girls transferred to a state-run reformatory at Redruth near Burra in the state’s mid-north. In the early 1920s they moved to a Salvation Army run institution near Adelaide. Sister Annette Henschke, who had cared for prisoners and former prisoners for most of her life, maintained an interest in these young women after their move to Redruth and put continual pressure on Catholic Church authorities to provide a church-run home for them. Eventually, her pleas were heeded and in 1930, the Church opened a Catholic Reformatory near the city and invited the Josephites to resume their care of young girl prisoners. They continued in this difficult work until the arrival of the Good Shepherd Sisters in 1942.

Both Josephite and Government papers indicate the sisters did well in this work of prison visitation and care for reformatory schools. [12] In her “History of the Institute” Sister Mechtilde Woods claims that the good done in the prisons was amazing. She cites the cases of two young girls who, as she put it, had given up their evil ways and become models of virtue, loved by all. [13]

Then there was Hugh Fagan, a murderer who was condemned to death. Seemingly, this man was hard to manage, and prison directors begged the Sisters to visit him. Consequently, Mary MacKillop appointed Sisters Monica Phillips and Felicitas Garvey to see him every day. They persevered patiently and gradually he softened and reached the point where he asked to go to confession and receive Holy Communion. They continued their visits until the day before his execution on 15 April 1878 but were refused permission to attend that event. Instead, one of the local priests stood with him to the end. [14]

Over the years, a succession of sisters has carried on this ministry. In South Australia Sister Ethelreda Clark, who died in May 1962 aged 81 years, became a highly respected prison visitor. Like her Josephite predecessors, she spent many hours with men condemned to death and their families. Several of her protégés had their sentences reduced for good behaviour and, thanks to her influence, they did well in later life.

Today, Sisters in different parts of the Congregation still carry on this good work in the spirit of their founders, Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods.

Marie Foale rsj

Footnotes:

[1] Fr JET Woods, Rules of the Institute of St. Joseph for the Catholic Education of Poor Children, Southern Cross Office, Adelaide, 1868, Article One.
[2] As above.
[3] Woods, Rules, Article Thirteen.
[4] Sr Mechtilde Woods, “History of the Institute”, unpublished ms, p. 25. RSJ Archives, North Sydney, 006/010
[5] Mary MacKillop (henceforth MM) to Woods, 8 February 1870.
[6] MM to Woods, 18 September 1870.
[7] Sr Elizabeth Etheridge to MM, 5 December 1870.
[8] Sr Josephine Carolan to MM from Sydney, 7 April 1880; Sr Teresa Maginess to MM, from Newton, Auckland, New Zealand, 6  May 1884 & 27 July 1884; Sr M. Ignatius Griffin to Josephine Carolan from Newton, 11 May 1884; Sr Gertrude Mary Dewe to MM from Georgetown SA, 5 November 1882.
[9] Sr Annette Henschke to MM from the Refuge, Norwood, 27 August 1884.
[10] Catholic Monthly, April 1883, p. 41.
[11] MM to Gertrude Mary Dewe from the Reformatory, St John’s via Kapunda, 17 May 1897.
[12] State Children’s Council, Annual Reports, 1899-1909. SLSA.
[13] Sr Mechtilde Woods, “History”, p. 25.
[14] Legend has it that Mary MacKillop was the one who visited and prayed with Mr Fagan. However, while she may have made the initial contact, her being with him at the end was impossible for, after doing a prolonged visitation of country convents n 1877, she was at home in Adelaide only from late November 1877 until she left for Port Augusts on 8 March 1878 to be with the dying Laurentia Honner.  She stayed on for a week after Laurentia’s funeral on 12 March 1878 ( Sr Stanislaus Punyer, in Memories of Mary by those who knew her, Sisters of Saint Joseph 1925—1926, John Garratt Publishing, 2010, p. 21.) After that, she scarcely had time to get back to Adelaide to catch the boat for Brisbane on 23 March. (Barry Evans, “Index of Mary MacKillop’s Journeys,” unpublished ms. Josephite Archives, North Sydney.)

A Day in the Life: Prison Ministry

The prison gate clanged behind me for the last time.

Usually, people coming through this gate for the last time are over the moon with happiness. Not I. Today I am sombre? Nostalgic? After six years of teaching literacy at Whanganui Men’s Prison, I have said goodbye. Plenty of pressure from the programmes department to continue but this is it. At 90, it is time to move on.

Since 2013, this is where I’ve been every Tuesday and Wednesday morning at the Visits Department in a small room furnished with a table and two chairs. One side of the room, a large window facing a corridor where officers pass frequently for a quick check that all is well within. Over the six years I’ve met with twenty-four clients here, men who have accepted the chance of one-to-one help from a volunteer, through the prison programmes department.

It is amazing the number of young men (and not so young) who can’t read, struggle with reading, can’t spell and can’t write – but in the prison, away from the public eye and away from family watching their struggles, they welcome one-to-one help and come on in leaps and bounds.

The man across the table was never a prisoner to me but someone seeking literacy help. Sounds, sentences and syllables were the order of the day. Double sounds, triple blends, vowels, consonants, flowed freely. Capitals and full-stops… most important. Punctuation perfect. So many laughs. Profuse apologies if a swear word slipped out – and slip out they did. They were so in earnest. Wanted to improve. Wanted to read.

They enjoyed this time out from the overcrowded wing. Came in with a cheery “good morning” wanting to know what I’d been up to over the past week – garden, any new planting? How was the river looking? Had I walked around the lake? Were the turtles out on the log at the lake? The birds in the aviary? Shrapnel (cat)? When Shrapnel died they seemed to take it as a personal loss. Eric said, “I can’t read today.  I’m so upset.”

All conversation was general and one-sided. I knew nothing of their crime or length of sentence and, of course, was not permitted to tell them personal matters especially any addresses or where I lived in Whanganui. But a chat now and then again about the turtles at the lake or a new geranium cutting for the garden went a long way towards creating a good atmosphere and taking a break from the work ethic. Sometimes it evoked a past memory – “My daughter once had a cat” … or … “I lived near a river” … or … “My partner likes gardening.”

I liked these men. They were all so different, yet respectful, grateful – and they enjoyed a laugh. They endeared themselves to me and I may have endeared myself to them, too.

Go well Richard, Keanu, Elisha, Eric and all twenty-four of you. I remember you all. The main thing is to keep reading, read every day, read at the library, read in your homes, read within the prison walls (those of you still there) … and all remember to stop at the full-stops! There is no hurry!

My hope is that I’ve lit a few fires out at Whanganui Men’s Prison and set a few sparks flying around, too, as I recall these words of Victor Hugo…

Photo: man holding chain-link fence by Milad B. Fakurian obtained from Unsplash. Used with permission.

Reflection on Mary MacKillop

It was my privilege to enjoy the love and friendship of Mother Mary of the Cross.

From the first day I met her as Superioress of Mount Street Convent [North Sydney], where I put in my Novitiate, until the day of her death, a period of about twenty years, during which I had many opportunities of knowing her worth.

Mother Mary was a noble woman, blessed with rare vision and holiness. Where the glory to God and duty to others were concerned she was full of moral courage, fearing no human opinion, always acting according to the dictates of conscience.

My first experience of Mother Mary’s charity was one day when going with her as companion to the city. We were waiting at the corner of the street near Mount St Post Office for a tram. A young woman came staggering along and at last reached and rested by the stone on the side of the footpath. Being young and inexperienced I naturally thought the woman was intoxicated but Mother’s quick eye detected something more serious. She said to me ‘Come along dear and see what is wrong with this poor woman.’ On getting up to her we found the woman was very ill.  Mother asked if she could do anything for her. The woman said if he could get to the chemist’s nearby as she knew what would relieve her. The three of us then went to the chemist’s where the patient was attended to and we waited until she felt better. This act of Charity on Mother’s part made a lasting impression on the rest of my life.” [1]