Rest in Peace, Bishop Paul Mea MSC, Tarawa and Nauru

Shared from the Province of the Pacific Islands·

The first native and MSC Bishop of the Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru Bishop Paul Paul Eusebius Mea Kaiuea passed away at 5am this morning Thursday 24th June, Solemnity Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist. Bishop Paul Mea was born 16 December 1939 in Beru. He was ordained in 1969 a priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Mea was then appointed as the parish priest of North Tarawa.

His work brought him to the attention of French Bishop Pierre Guichet. In 1978 he succeeded him as the bishop of the diocese when it encompassed all of Gilbert Islands soon independent Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. In 1982, Tuvalu was removed from the jurisdiction of the diocese. In 2020, he became emeritus after resignation and succeeded by the Bishop Elect Koru Tito.

Our deepest sympathy and condolences to the Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru and the people of Kiribati. Our prayers and masses are with you in this time of great grief and sorrow.

MSC GENERAL CONFERENCE, END OF PART I

We have completed the first part of the MSC General Conference. These are held every two years in between General Chapters. The last one, two years ago, was in South Korea.  This year was to be held in Brazil but we had to go on line because of the pandemic.  There were 44 participants altogether, General Council and other members of General Administration, all the Provincials and Leaders of Unions.   We hosted the Conference from here with Brett Adamson, Kenji Koda, and myself here in Australia and Ireneo Lee from South Korea, Michael Angelo Acera from the Philippines Tiago Donizete from Brazil.  We were working in the background to make sure things kept running smoothly.

The Conference is divided into three sessions, three days in June (just completed) three days in August and five days in September.  The sessions went very well. Chris Chaplin, along with Humberto Henriques from Brazil, who are both members of the General Council, were the facilitators.

Carl Tranter, Irish Provincial, writes   Just a quick note to thank you both, and indeed all the hosting and preparatory team, for an excellent first session to the Conference. Despite the many challenges and constraints, it went really well and you have made the most of the available technology to facilitate good participation. I hope you feel satisfied with the first session.  Inevitably there will be learnings, and things that can be improved, but as a start it was really excellent.  Well done, and thanks for what I know has been a huge effort.  

Behind the scene, Brett Adamson, Kenji Konda and Roy O'Neill

Watching in the background I was amazed at what can be achieved with the Zoom technology.  Just like a face to face Conference, there was instantaneous translation in three languages – English, Spanish, French, - breakout rooms where participants went into their own language groups before returning to a plenary session.   We go back for the session in August beginning on 4^th.

Fr Roy John O’Neill MSC

Hosting Co-ordinator

2021 General Conference Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

An enjoyable anecdote:  Fr Paddy Moloney MSC and the inspiration for The Old Mass Shandrydan

Recently, we highlighted the 60^th Anniversary of his death and his pioneer mission work in Central Australia with aboriginal people. Perhaps our international visitors to our site do not know of the famous book of ballads, Around the Boree Log, by John O’Brien (Monsignor Patrick Hartigan). These comic poems offer pictures of the Catholic Church in Australian Catholic Communities in the country.

One of the best-known ballad, about a family and its carriage getting to Mass, The Old Mass Shandrydan.

It was inspired by a sermon preached in Albury by the Rev. Father P. Moloney, M.S.C., of  musical stick' fame. (Father Moloney invented a 'stick' with prongs for striking chords as an aid to learning piano-playing.) Father Moloney's sermon was

about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In praising the fidelity and loyalty of the old Catholics, he told the congregation of his own experiences as a boy in South Australia; how his mother, long before dawn on Sunday mornings, would be

'Rousing sleepy heads from

blankets, washing faces, doing hair,

Scolding, coaxing, bustling,

breathless in her hurry everywhere.'

No problem was too difficult when it was a question of getting her 'brood' to Sunday Mass . . .

'But she kept the tumult under till

she had us spick and span,

Packed like pickles in a bottle in

the Old Mass Shandrydan.'

When Father Moloney left the pulpit, Father Hartigan had the outline of the poem in his head and some of the verses already formed.

And when 'Around the Boree Log' finally rolled off the presses, he sent a copy to Father Moloney with an inscription on the fly-leaf:

'To the instigator from the perpetrator.'

How John O’Brien wrote Around the Boree Log.  Catholic Weekly  May 22 1952.

PS. On Fr Moloney’s famous music stick. In the late 1950s he was living at Sacred Heart Monastery, Croydon, playing the piano with his stick, mainly Galway Bay.  Some of us who were trying to study nearby never want to hear Galway Bay again!!

 Joan Warhurst, AM, Queen’s Honours, work for MSC Education

Joan Warhurst, AM. Also notes on three religious who receive Honours and may be known to MSC.

Attached is the citation from the Honours website.  Joan has been a Board member of Daramalan College and from 2013 – 2021 has been an inaugural company member for the MSC Education Members’ Council - only just stepping down from this role at the recent May AGM.  While initially from outside the MSC fold, Joan embraced our Heart Spirituality and added much gentleness, wisdom and experience to the Council.

The AM Citation

MEMBER (AM) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA

Ms Joan WARHURST, Reid ACT 2612

For significant service to education, and to research and curriculum development.

Professional Appointments

•  Executive Officer, Australian Association for Research in Education, 2009-2011.
•  Chief Executive Officer, National Catholic Education Commission, 2004-2008.
•  Executive Director, Australian Curriculum Studies Association, 1995-2004.
•  Administrative Officer, (then) Australian College of Education, 1994-1995.
•  Tutor and Lecturer, School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, 1985 - 1993.
•  Teacher, 1971-1983.

Honorary Appointments

•  Secretary, Bishops' Commission on Education, National Catholic Education Commission, 2004-2008.
•  Board Member, Daramalan College, 2008-2013.
•  Committee Member, Canberra Steering Committee, Caritas Australia, since 2014.
•  Member, Education Members' Council, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Joan Warhurst For the past eight years Joan Warhurst has been the Executive Director of the Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA), with responsibility for all aspects of the associations’ operations. Prior to this she has worked as a secondary school teacher and also as a lecturer in teacher education. Her current work includes co - management, with National Curriculum Services (NCS), of the Australian Government funded Indigenous education professional development project based on online resource What Works. The Work Program.

Br Steve Morelli CFC, Sr Adele Howard RSM and Sr Deirdre Browne IBVM received Order of Australia Medals in the Honours List published on Monday.

Br Steve, from Woolgoolga, has worked at the request of local Aboriginal elders for the past 30 years to help write a dictionary and teach the local language for the Gumbaynggirr people.

In addition to spending years working closely with the elders to compile a dictionary and grammar of Gumbaynggirr, Br Stephen has also co-developed courses up to Certificate IV level, and co-edited the Gumbaynggirr Yuludarla Jandaygam Gumbaynggirr Dreaming Story Collection.

Br Steve currently has two roles in the community in Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, as part of the Lismore Diocese, and teaching Indigenous language specifically through the Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Cultural Cooperative.

The cooperative has been pivotal in the revitalisation and restoration of Aboriginal language and culture on the mid north coast.

“It spread its wings without me but I feel good that I helped, with the help of the Aboriginal people, to kick it off,” Br Morelli told The Coffs Coast Advocate.

“If there is an award it really belongs to them, (those) who worked to restore what had been taken.

“Any award like that says that the government recognises the property of Aboriginal people as being valuable and worthwhile.

“It’s saying that Aboriginal property such as language, story and songs ... they are important and they need to be foregrounded.” 

Sr Adele Howard, who is a member of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea, received her OAM for service to the Catholic Church of Australia and to the community.

Inspired by the document written by Pope Francis on Laudato Si’ - Our Common Home, Adele is committed to developing a clearer understanding of the crisis of climate change and our need to take action to reverse the damage of global warming.

Adele has also worked for many years with Indigenous friends and colleagues to promote ‘voice’ for Indigenous Australians, believing that unless we hear the true history of settlement and disadvantage from First Nations People in this land, we cannot find and walk a pathway of mutual respect, dignity and freedom into the future.

She says she has “tried to walk this pathway through many conversations, in many local places across this land and also through resource development of digital media stories, video documentaries and education presentations”. In recent years she has developed and led reflection processes both face to face and online and also produced web-based resources, on themes of integral ecology and reconciliation, for her Mercy organisation, locally and internationally, and for the wider community.

Sr Deirdre Browne IBVM received her OAM for service to the community as a religious sister, through music, education and the liturgical arts.

She is a Loreto Sister with qualifications in music and composition from Sydney Conservatorium, University of Melbourne and University of London, and liturgical studies from CUA Washington DC and has produced a large and significant corpus of liturgical music over many years.

Sr Deirdre has wide experience as a teacher at primary, secondary and tertiary levels and as a consultant to parishes in music and liturgy. Her special interest is the relationship between spirituality, culture and the arts.

Reported by CRA, Pathways

Some unexpected updates from our Deputy.

Terry Naughton msc celebrated 55 years of Ordination yesterday. Congratulations Terry.

When he was asked to sum up the past 55 years in one sentence! He referred to all the great MSC’s with whom he has lived and worked. As for some advice for others, he replied, “Stick with it!” His humour and welcoming nature are alive and well.

When Chris, one of his former novices went to visit, Liz Honeysett a former cook was there to visit as well. On Terry’s right is the one who used to feed him, on his left is the one he used to feed - spiritually.

Kimi Vunivesilevu msc PP of St John the Apostle, Kippax has just won many favours from St Francis. On his early morning walk this morning a dog ran up to him and tried to chew on his hand. It then followed him all the way back to the Parish. He drove him to the local Vet and because he (the dog) was microchipped they discovered his name was ‘Chief’ and his family have been looking for him.

Someone suggested the title of this story should be, ‘Dog Leads Stray Priest Home!’

And a glimpse of the Lay Council meeting earlier this year at Douglas Park.

Rest in Peace, Fr William (Bill) Cunningham MSC

Peter Hendriks writes:

'Stephen Dives called this morning to say that Bill Cunningham died last night. While it was unexpected the staff at St Joseph’s said it was very peaceful.

Stephen and other members of the Sacred Heart Monastery community are on their way to St Josephs to say some prayers around his bed.'

Bill Cunningham was born on February 19^th, 1925. He made first profession on February 26^th, 1945. After studies at Croydon, he was ordained on 22^nd July 1951.  There was some eager anticipation for celebrating later this month his 70 years of ordination.

He spent many decades of his ministry in Eastern Papua. His history of the mission is one of the monuments to his life

FROM MISSION to the DIOCESE of ALOTAU-SIDEIA. 75 years of Building the Church, Milne Bay-Eastern Papua, 1932 to 2007.

Nelen Yubu, Sydney, 2008. Pp. x and 280. Foreword by Francesco Panfilo, SDB, Bishop of Alotau-Sideia.

The first chapter, The Foundation of the Catholic Church in Eastern Papua was written by Anthony Arthur MSC. After this initial chapter, book moves in chronological order through the foundations, beginning with Sideia in 1932, followed by Ladava, the Trobriand Islands. After World War II there was expansion to a Nimowa, Rossel Island, Goodenough Island, Bolubolu, Fergusson Island, Normanby Island. The diocese was erected in 1975. Already the Sacred Heart Secondary School had been established in Hagita, 1970 and in 1985 St Pauls Pastoral Centre, Leaders Training Centre.

In the early years of the 21^st-century, several other parishes were founded. There is a chapter on Catholic Youth as well as Communications and Publications. There are several small illustrations throughout of various MSC personnel who worked in Eastern Papua. Some Documentary Sources are listed and there are five pages with lists of MSC personnel who worked in Eastern Popular, 1932-2007 with the years in which they worked there. (The author himself is listed for 1970, 1972 – 1985, 1987 – 2007.)

Great celebration day, St Mary’s Towers, Jubilees

On Saturday June 12^th there was a combined celebration (which sounds too light –  better something anza in it, bonanza, extravaganza!).

50 years ordained: Len Helm, Arthur Stidwell, Ed Travers, Terry Herbert.

25 years ordained: Dominic Gleeson

60 years professed: Pauline Compton

25 years professed: Josef Senjuk

Later this month Michael Fallon will celebrate with his group 60 years ordained.

And… 90 years of age: Len Helm

And, June 12^th, birthdays for Frank Dineen, Trish Smith (not disclosed!).

A photo gallery courtesy of Kenji Konda MSC and Trieu Nguyan MSC.

Permanent Deacon, John Collins, Parramatta Diocese.

John (Francis) Collins was part of the Heart of Life group for young adults at the Sacred Heart Monastery, Croydon, in the late 1970s. He entered the MSC pre-novitiate program in 1979 but did not continue. However, he has had quite a significant role in the life of the Australian Church.

From Outlook, the Parramatta Diocesan magazine:

Throughout his whole career, Dr John Collins has been accompanying people in ministry – whether it be married couples, those suffering loss, seminarians and even priests.

With a strong theological background, John’s calling to the permanent diaconate continues his philosophy of putting theory into practice and faith into action.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) details the diaconate as “fulfilling a key role in the ministry of the Church, and is an essential part of its structure.”

The permanent diaconate was restored as a permanent order within the Church following Vatican II, as a ministry of service in the midst of the deacon’s ministry of word, liturgy and charity.

A deacon is ordained by the bishop. Once ordained, he is permanently and publicly configured to Christ the Servant and shares in the pastoral responsibility of the Bishop to care for all the people in the diocese. A deacon will do so in partnership with priests.

“I’ve done quite a bit of practical work in adult faith formation, diocesan renewal, evangelisation, relationship education, grief education, parenting, and training of clergy, which, in a way, I bring to the diaconate,” John told Catholic Outlook.

John was admitted to candidacy to the permanent diaconate by Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta, during Mass at Christ the King Parish, North Rocks, on 22 August. As a candidate, John has completed the necessary formation required to be formally ordained.

John has a PhD in Theology, and currently ministers to seminarians preparing for the priesthood at the Catholic Institute of Sydney in Strathfield. “My vocation is as a theologian,” he said.

Permanent Diaconate candidate Dr John Collins with his wife Dr Sandra Carroll and their sons Bede (left) and Paul (R)

John previously worked for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in their National Office for Evangelisation – Catholic Enquiry Centre from 2007 to 2015. Before that, he was at Centacare (now known as CatholicCare) in the Archdiocese of Sydney.

John began his diaconate formation in the Archdiocese of Sydney, but then transferred to the Diocese of Parramatta.

“As a young man, I spent some time in the seminary, so I had this desire to serve in some way, but not as a priest. Priesthood wasn’t for me,” John explained.

“As a deacon, I hope to offer opportunities for people to grow and develop.

“The task isn’t to prepare people for heaven, so to speak, our task is to bring heaven to Earth.

“In a way, much of what I have been doing has been diaconal work. Ordination will bring this work much closer connected with the altar – the connection between this practical service becomes concretely and symbolically connected with the Eucharistic celebration,” he said.

Serving his pastoral placement at Christ the King Parish, North Rocks for two-and-a-half years, John has been involved with youth ministry, St Vincent de Paul Society, liturgical committees, pastoral council, and was a facilitator in the parish for the Plenary Council 2020 Listening and Discernment phase.

It’s a partnership

“We’re both committed to church ministry, that’s the reality of our lives,” John’s wife of 31 years, Dr Sandra Carroll said.

“I’ve been really happy with the program [in the Diocese of Parramatta], and I think John has too.

“The wives of the deacons in Parramatta feel very supported and very included in the formation program.

“I especially enjoy the weekends away together, as a community, where you really get to know people. The community has been important in terms of ongoing support, knowing that once John is ordained, there’s a sense of ‘you’re not doing this alone.’

“We’re very grateful to Fr Ian McGinnity [parish priest at Christ the King]. He’s been fantastic, very supportive, very welcoming,” Sandra said.

John and Sandra met whilst completing their Masters in Theology at the University of Sydney, and were married a year later.

Sandra, now retired, was a lecturer in Religious Education at the Australian Catholic University for 32 years. She explained that she is ready to back up the next step in John’s ministry.

“[When we were married], I had the job at ACU, so John resigned from his job and looked after the boys, while I kept working.

“He’s been incredibly supportive of me all those years, so I feel that it’s his turn now.

“This is something he’s wanted to do from when we first married,” she said.

Advice to others considering the diaconate

John’s advice to married men interested in becoming a deacon is to maintain a balance between their vocation of marriage and family life and that of the diaconate.

“We want 40-year-olds ordained as deacons, so join the program when you’re 35,” John laughed.

“Take care of your kids, keep your career going, be a deacon in the world that you are in and that you are doing that diaconate work in that context.

“You can be doing work in your parish, but make sure your primary task is your first vocation – your marriage.

“We need to make sure to guard that primary sacrament of marriage and family and as a married and family person, you do your ministry – it’s not something in the road,” he explained.

Sandra added, “There is no one way to be a deacon’s wife – there’s the way that you choose in your marriage relationship to support your husband, there’s what works for you and your family.”

Rest in Peace, Mary Batchelor FDNSC

15^th November 1928-6^th June 2021

Two memories:

From Sister Rita Grunke FDNSC

From Sister Philippa Murphy FDNSC

Remembering Mary Batchelor, Sister Rita Grunke

Some photos from Mary’s 60^th Jubilee of Religious Profession – Southern Sudan 2008

Mary and I travelled to South Africa together in early January 1989.  It was still during the Apartheid years and Qantas did not fly into Johannesburg because of sanctions - so we had to fly to Harare in Zimbabwe and overnight before catching a flight to South Africa.  We were both very excited at the prospect of what lay ahead. We became lifelong friends.

We started teaching at St Brendan’s almost immediately – Mary taught English and RE in Grade 5 and went on to teach English to the Grade 8’s after the Primary School was phased out.  She would correct English all the time – she would bring a bag of books home every day and with her red pen go through every child’s work.

Mary had to be a modern-day mystic .... she loved symbols and candles and loved making all things beautiful.  She loved preparing the Liturgy and choosing hymns for all occasions – always discovering new ones.  She read books like John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila and had deep insights into Scripture like the “Song of Songs”.

Fr Frank Gallagher MSC remembers swapping Detective novels with Mary.  Mary was an avid reader. It was so difficult for her when she was diagnosed with macular degeneration and with failing eyesight.  After school in the afternoon Mary had a ritual where she would make a cup of tea, spread a piece of bread with butter meticulously from edge to edge and add some vegemite then off she would go to her room with a book.

After seven years at St Brendan’s Mary received what she believed was a special call to go to Southern Sudan.  Here Mary found her place amongst the poorest of the poor.  She loved the people and they in turn loved Mary. I was privileged to spend two weeks in Southern Sudan when Mary celebrated her 60^th Jubilee in 2008.

Mary loved her family deeply and shared many stories about growing up in country Victoria and life during the depression, and we felt like we knew all her brother Priests and Jessie and her sisters and nieces and nephews.

Whenever Mary and I crossed paths, which wasn’t very often in recent years, she would ask me to sing “The Rose” for her on my guitar. So, Mary, let me finish with these words:

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong

Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose.

Eulogy, Sister Philippa Murphy, Provincial

And he will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn,

make you to shine like the sun and hold you in the palm of his hand.

The Eagle, a symbol of strength, courage, determination, beauty and grace, a symbol so loved by Mary, speaks of her deep faith and firm belief and trust in God. On June 6^th our dear Sister, Mary Batchelor, gently and peacefully breathed her last breath as she was raised up on the wings of her God who she had served lovingly and faithfully as a Daughter of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, for over seven decades.

To Mary’s sister Margaret, and her many nieces, nephews and their partners and her grand nieces and nephews, who loved her so much and are deeply saddened by her death, we offer our deep sympathy and love.  We also offer sympathy to those who join us from around the world, especially from South Africa and South Sudan.

Today we also remember Mary’s deceased brothers and sisters who she loved so dearly.  She was so immensely proud of their contribution to her family and our Catholic faith - Fr Jack, Fr Bill, Fr Vin, Rod, Bernie, Joan and Sr Jessie.

Mary Leonie Batchelor was born on 15^th November 1928 to John and Johanna Batchelor, the youngest of ten children. Mary grew up in Cohuna, a small country town in Victoria during the depression and war years. Anyone who lived with Mary knows exactly where Cohuna is!  Mary’s family meant everything to her, she had a personal relationship with each of her siblings. In community she would recall story after story of family and life in her beloved Cohuna, stories of love, outreach, sharing, laughter and unity. Mary was a great story teller and loved to tell stories that made others laugh.

Her parents were generous, ‘salt of the earth’ people. Mary’s father John was a grocer, who during the depression when his own family had little, he would not charge the poor for their groceries. Her mother Johanna, was often cooking meals for the returned soldiers and providing for the needs of the poor of their close-knit community. Mary came from a loving family as noted by Fr Egan Mary’s Parish Priest who wrote Mary a reference in 1946: ‘The Batchelor family are held in the highest respect by all the sectors of the community, and I would go as far as to say that I have yet to meet a more exemplary family’.

All of Mary’s education was in Victoria.  She attended St Mary’s primary school, Cohuna.  Her secondary education was at St Mary’s Bendigo. Mary was a discerning woman, she made decisions decisively and when she made a decision, she followed through from her heart. In March 1946, just after she completed secondary school, she wrote to the provincial leader of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart requesting to enter the Congregation. In her letter she said; ‘I intend going to Bowral in July, to visit my sister, and would like to enter at the same time…I would like you to write and let me know what you think’.

Obviously, the Provincial thought that was a good idea as Mary entered the Novitiate at Bowral and was professed in July 1948 at Hartzer Park. In 1949 she completed a Diploma of Teaching. Thus, began Mary’s lifelong ministry and her epic journey as a passionate, enthusiastic educator. For 64 years Mary ministered as a teacher and school Principal in Schools in NSW, St Michael’s Daceyville, Our Lady of the Rosary,  Kensington, St Bernard’s Botany, St Thomas Aquinas, Bowral; in Victoria, St Agnes’ Highett, St Paul’s Bentleigh, St Peter’s, East Bentleigh, St Catherine’s, Moorabbin; in South Australia, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Junior High, Enfield, St Gabriel’s, Clearview; in the Northern Territory, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School, Alice Springs, St Paul’s, Nightcliff as well as St Brendan’s Dwars River, South Africa and Comboni Primary and Secondary Schools, Mapuordit, South Sudan. Her meticulous administration and teaching skills, a smile that lit up a room, a listening ear, her support and interest in students, families and staff members helped changed the lives of young people around our world.

As a young Sister, Mary said she did not feel called to be a missionary, however, after spending forty years in Schools in Australia, she attended a conference in Sydney where the Provincial mentioned the Bishop of Tzaneen in South Africa was asking for more Sisters. Deep within her Mary knew her missionary vocation was being born. In 1989 she went to South Africa, it was during apartheid and the subsequent election of Nelson Mandela as the first black President. Mary delighted that she voted in the first free elections in South Africa. She loved her seven years at St Brendan’s, Dwars River. In 1995 the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart began a mission in South Sudan and at age 67 Mary set off for her journey of the heart to war torn South Sudan. It was here Mary lovingly called home for 19 years.

When Mary arrived in South Sudan the sisters lived in simple tukuls (huts) made from bamboo. It was a very poor, physically uncomfortable mission with no running water, sanitation or refrigeration. In August 1996, Mary, together with Sisters Moira Lynch and Maureen Carey and three Comboni Missionaries were held captives for 11 days, by the Sudan People Liberation Army. When they were released, they returned to Australia to recuperate. All the while Mary was keen to return to the Diocese of Rumbek to the people who called her ‘mother’.

Mary worked tirelessly to lay the foundations of education in the tradition of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart wherever she was sent on mission and especially in South Sudan.  Mary is remembered as having ‘a burning spirit within her, a spirit that urged her to work, day and night in a community where education was greatly needed’. She is remembered by many as a courageous missionary, compassionate women of heart with excellent teaching and administrative skills who had an indomitable spirit, a jovial, pleasant character which endeared her to everyone.

Since Mary’s death, the outpouring of grief and gratitude, from people around our Globe, has been tangible. Mary was so beautifully human, welcoming, and hospitable. Her life’s mission was love.  She loved purposely, passionately, inclusively. Mary received energy from the lives of others. Those of us who lived, worked, and shared community with her were amazed, by her endurance, her warmth, generosity and keen interest in everyone she met.  Mary drew her strength from her deep desire to love as Jesus loved, excluding no one, especially the poor and marginalised who held a special place in her heart.

Mary loved life, she loved the children she taught and those she lived and worked with. She enjoyed a cup of coffee at the end of the day with a crossword, a good book and lively conversations with those with whom she lived. A prolific writer, Mary was a great advocate for the people of Africa and for all those who suffered in any way. Her many letters distributed to the generous donors of OLSH Overseas Aid, touched the hearts of others who joined her in her life’s mission to bring the best quality education and health to the poorest of the poor in our world.

Mary’s final years were spent as a member of the community at Bentleigh. These were very happy years living in a relaxed, loving, community sharing faith, fun and friendship. She enjoyed her daily walks on the path around the garden, sitting in the sun in her ‘prayer room’, listening to her audio books, sharing a laugh with her Sisters, gatherings with family and friends and so much more. I am deeply grateful to Sr Elizabeth Taylor for her loving care of Mary during these past years and to her Sisters in community whom she loved, respected and cared for equally.

We will be ever grateful to John, Johanna and the Batchelor family for the gift of Mary to our Congregation!

And how good of God to leave her with us all these years, and what a gift God gave us in her! Go in peace dear Mary united with your beloved who loved you into life and ‘made you to shine like the sun’.

Thank you for your peaceful, prayerful presence, kindness, graciousness, good humour; and for your beautiful smile that lit up our hearts.

We will miss you dearly Mary.

MSC Vietnam, Renewal of Vows, Feast of the Sacred Heart

Quang MSC writes:  Coronavirus-19 came back again, and has been outbreaking in Vietnam since April, 27 at Yen Bai province (Northern Area). Ho Chi Minh City had a first case on May, 5, and until now the situation is still quite serious. There are so many districts and wards in lockdown. We’ve not been being allowed to gather more than 10 persons. Therefore, our brothers can’t gather as one big group for any celebration. We’ve been observing it this rule from the government strictly for the safe of ourselves and others. This bad situation affected our activities and life very much.

In this week, June, 8, we had celebration of renewal of vows in Le Van Sy house with the presence of: 5 brothers in that house; two of them, Vũ Thanh Nguyen and Thanh Van Nguyen, were candidates for renewal of vows; Deacon Chung, and I, myself as director of formation who was delegated by Superior General to accept this religious profession (Const.#69). Deacon Chung gave a beautiful homily. In his homily, Chung focused on what is the meaning of renewal of vows? What are differences among first, renewal and perpetual profession? And finally, he based on number 34-37 in Constitutions and Statutes to talk about the nature of vows.

Although having very few members in this celebration, but the spirit and atmosphere of it were so solemn, spirited and meaningful. It was followed by agape meal.

We also had another celebration, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, on June, 11. Because we couldn’t gather as a big group of the community, so there were two masses and followed by two little big meals in two houses.

Celebration in Le Van Sy house

Celebration in Banh Van Tran house

Thank God for allowing us to have these important celebrations. May God bless us and bless all our activities in coming months.

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved