Celebrating St Mary MacKillop in the Year of St Joseph
To celebrate the feast of St Mary MacKillop in the Year of St Joseph we offer seven short video reflections. These videos draw together themes from the life of St Mary, the seven qualities of St Joseph in Pope Francis’ document Patris Corde, and the life of experience of diverse Christians.
Indigenous People Offer Us A Deeper, More Inclusive World
“Think I might be a litte bit in love with Ruby Tui. Bringing te reo to the BBC. Best Olympic interview yet!” Black Fern Ruby Tui’s interview about their win in the women’s rugby sevens Olympic semi-final inspired this Facebook comment from a friend in England. The Black Ferns are predominantly Māori women and […]
Supporting One Another
We are all in the gift of much older work. We are looking often by others’ eyes and we are only preparing ourselves to do something larger. [1] Visiting the beautiful country of Scotland gave me a marvellous insight into the character and background of Mary MacKillop’s parents, Alexander and Flora MacKillop. It also provided […]
Saint Mary MacKillop Feast Day 2021
Greetings on this feast of Mary MacKillop as parts of Australia and our world are in lockdown which means that celebrations for this feast need to be held in homes. Mary’s mother Flora and her siblings had to enter a period of quarantine when they arrived in Australia in 1839. I imagine that Flora shared […]
What Did Julian Tenison Woods Say About Indigenous Australians?
When the ordained ministry of Julian Tenison Woods began in Penola in 1855 he soon saw the conditions under which the local Aboriginal people lived. What he observed raised concerns that remained with him for the rest of his life. Several times, on his various journeys, he wrote about the Aboriginal people he encountered.
Mary MacKillop Today Community Grants Program 2022
Applications for the Mary MacKillop Today Community Grants Program 2022 will open at 9am on Monday 16 August and close at 5pm on Friday 17 September 2021 (AEST). Eligible organisations may apply for grants of up to $10,000 AUD to deliver small, life-changing projects that promote life-long learning for Australians affected by vulnerability.
National Vocations Awareness Week: Journey with the Josephites
Pope Francis said in 2019, our vocation “teaches us that our life is not a fluke but rather a gift: that of being God’s beloved children, gathered in the great family of the Church.” National Vocations Awareness Week is a time for every Christian to ask these important questions:
Celebrating the Bicentenary of Peru’s Independence
Two hundred years ago, on 28 July 1821, Peru proclaimed its independence from Spain. I would like to remember hundreds of anonymous women and men from the different social environments of the peoples of Peru who awaited independence from the Spanish crown. They engaged in a hopeful struggle for freedom and equal rights that was not entirely achieved.
Mary MacKillop, an Example of Compassion
More than ever the poor of this world, as well as the rich and famous, suffer from a hunger of some kind. The words and actions of Jesus, often accompanied by miraculous results, are signposts for our Christian lives. The recent biblical reading of the story of the raising of the daughter of Jairus opens up a deeply human Jesus who tells the family to give her something to eat. (Luke 8: 55)
Port Augusta celebrates 150 years of Education in the Josephite Tradition
A steamer from Port Adelaide berthed at the Port Augusta wharf on Saturday 15 May 1871. Among the passengers to disembark were three women, all dressed in the same brown garb. The new arrivals were Sisters Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Angelica Greene and Angela Crugen.
Feast of the Sacred Heart 2021
Greetings as we celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart. This is a special feast day for the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart which calls us to give expression to a spirituality of the heart. It was a feast important to both our founders Julian Tenison Woods and Mary MacKillop and still […]
The Birth of St John, the Honey-Eater
My ageing parents helped raise two grandsons for a while. Whenever the boys were away, the signals for their return were the tyres of the car bringing them home rattling the cattle-grid outside our home, and my mother saying with a smile, “Here come the honey-eaters!” Ahead of the Church’s feast day commemorating the birth […]