Downlands College Past Student, 1937, Frank Calcino, turns 100.             

Vince Carroll MSC has written:

One of our Past Students, Frank Calcino, from out near Charleville, a place called Summeriva, celebrated his 100th birthday soon, 21st May. He came to Downlands only for one year as a 16 year old in 1937, and was in Primary School. He took out Life Membership of the Past Students Union and has been a member ever since. What can you give a 100 year old person?  We sent him a card and a certificate with his picture on it, signed by the Principal and myself. I have never heard of a 100 year old Past student before!

Of course 1937 was before I was born! These were the staff then - all now dead- 

Priests: Harold Asprey ( 2nd Rector '33-7;), George Butler (Vice-Rector), Jim Mc Manus (Bursar), George Cody, John (Pere) Durkin, Vin Dwyer (future Rector- 5th - '49-55), Harry Reid, Harry Ether,  Ally English, Peter Dignam, George Doody, John O'Loughlin (Director of studies and future Bishop),  Nobby Earl, 

Brothers: Alphonse Parrott, Pat (Ryan), Joseph (Hugh Fraser), Anthony (Purcell), Thomas Dray, Andrew (Greenfield), Robert Howly, Kevin Gilmore,  George Herron, Bernard Lyons. (These last 3 brothers left the MSC). Two lay masters assisted: L.G. Mahoney and J. B. Campbell (a senior who had been co-opted to become a teacher). 

Frank Calcino is in the top photo from the 1937 magazine, the Primary First Fifteen. Frank is third row back, extreme left

This was the year of the Opening of the new ('36) Wing - called now Doyle wing: the second to be built.  Then it was called Asprey Wing. The Apostolic delegate (His Excellency the M.R. Archbishop Panico) visited.  Thousands of people thronged to the Corpus Christi procession held in the grounds: Nobby Early was the preacher.  In Preparation for the looming war Capt Campbell- Byrnes took Phys Ed every morning. These were the Foundational days of the College, our 7th Year. 

RIP, Larry Nemer SVD

MSC Melbourne would like to pay tribute to a good friend and colleague, longtime presence at YTU, host (and chef) for Field D Department meetings at Dorish Maru, Divine Word formation house, lecturer for our MSC students in recent years.

Message from Fr Rass SVD, Provincial.

It is with our deepest sorrow that we inform you of the death of Fr Lawrence Nemer (Niemierowicz) SVD who passed away peacefully this morning, the 9th of June at about 5am, at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital. Sydney. Fr Larry never fully recovered from a fall in his bathroom a few weeks ago. At that time he was admitted to the hospital and later when he had recovered a little, was brought to St. Catherine’s Aged Care Home so he could receive full time care.

His final days were filled with regular visitations from Fr Nick de Groot SVD, Vice Provincial, and Fr Raja Reddy SVD, Rector of Marsfield and other confreres. On Sunday the 6th of June, I went with Fr. Raja to see him in the evening. We talked to him and also managed for him to talk to his sister in Chicago. We brought him communion at that time and had the Anointing of the Sick administered. We told him of the many prayers offered for him from so many friends, colleagues and relatives locally and abroad.

He died peacefully on the Memorial of Saints Marcellinus and Peter. May he rest in Peace in the arms of the Lord as we thank Larry for the many years of generous service as a Divine Word Missionary.

Dear friends and colleagues,

our much-loved and respected Larry Nemer died at 5 a.m in Sydney yesterday morning and has now been received into God's gentle and loving embrace. He has given YTU so much as kind, wise, and gentle teacher and mentor. In 2008 he very generously took on the responsibility of being President of YTU so that I could have a sabbatical prior prior to taking up the position - this was typical of how he lived. 

When he first came to YTU he took every faculty member out for a meal so that he could get to know us and introduce himself. His hospitality was legendary and his annual meal for the staff of YTU and OVC was always a welcome reminder that Christmas was just around the corner.

Coming to YTU from CTU in Chicago he brought a depth of experience and helped us all broaden our vision and horizons. As an educator he loved passing on his love of the gospel and the church's history and mission. His classes were always full and his love for his subject was infectious. He would always turn up to class resplendent in jacket and tie because he wanted his students to know just much he respected and valued them.  

Larry loved people and people of all walks of life loved him. He has shown us God's compassionate heart and we are so much the richer for it.

We will hold him gently in our hearts and prayers

But the celebrations will not end there, because on July 2^nd Sister will celebrate 70 years as a Daughter of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. This commemorates the day in 1951 when Sister pronounced her First Religious Vows.

But to take our story line back to the time of her decision to join the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, it should be noted that the youthful Anne Gardiner had the privilege of being presented with the religious habit by Bishop Francis Xavier Gsell msc on Reception Day, i.e. the beginning of the Novitiate year. Sister recalls that when she asked the Bishop about Bathurst Island and how to relate with the Tiwi people, Bishop Gsell’s concise reply was: “What you must do is ‘Love them’”

Seventy years later, Sister Anne can say: “Through all my ups and downs I have tried to do this.”

On a historical note, it was in 1906 that the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart were asked to undertake the administration of the diocese of Port Victoria and Palmerston (as it was then called) and Father Francis Xavier Gsell MSC, on arriving in the Territory as Apostolic Administrator, made Bathurst Island his base from 1906 right up to 1938, the year he was appointed Bishop of the newly named Diocese of Darwin.

But back to Sister Anne’s life story, it was on November 23^rd, 1953 that she first set foot on Bathurst Island. The following year, on July 2^nd, Sister made her final Profession as a Daughter of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the old St Mary's Convent, Darwin.

In view of her later fame, readers may be forgiven for thinking that Sister Anne’s ministry was limited to Bathurst Island. Actually, her impact in the diocese and elsewhere has been far-reaching.

Sister taught at St Mary's Primary School from 1966 and 1967, at the Daly River School in 1969, returning to Bathurst Island for 1970-71.

There followed a 7-year period during which Sister lived far away from the NT, teaching in the Catholic Primary School on the island of Nauru in the Central Pacific.  But 1979 saw Sister return to the Top End and she spent a year teaching at St. John's College, Darwin.

Then from 1980 to 1997 Sister was back on Bathurst Island as School Principal, where she was instrumental in handing the school over to a local Tiwi Principal.

During the period 1998 to 2000 Sister worked part time at the Catholic Education Office, with duties that included mentoring Miriam Rose as Principal of the Daly River School and guiding the local Deputy Principal at Santa Teresa

Sister has spent the last 20 years back on Bathurst Island.

Throughout her time on the Island, Sister has supported Tiwi culture and community. forming community groups such as mother’s clubs, athletics clubs, prayer groups, setting up of an opportunity shop and a coffee shop. She has also worked for nearly four decades to establish the Patakajiyali Museum where Tiwi history, culture and language are preserved for future generations.

As regards Awards, Sister Anne received the Lyn Powierza Scholarship in 1993 for her contribution to education in the Northern Territory.

She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1996, the presentation of which was made on Bathurst Island. Of the experience she says "everyone cried and cried with happiness for me. They are beautiful people to work and live with."

Then of course in 2017, she was named the Senior Australian of the Year. In accepting that honour, Sister stressed the importance of living in the present and that nothing is real unless "you live out your faith".

Congratulations, Sister Anne, in anticipation of what will be colourful and momentous celebrations.

The diocese of Darwin and the Tiwi people have so much to thank you for.

Happy/ Blessed Feast of the Sacred Heart.

A Feast-day Reflection

GOSPEL POINTERS TO JESUS’ SACRED HEART

How do the Gospels reveal Jesus. Heart? Some pointers.

Perhaps best to start with John’s Gospel, chapter 1, opening up language of the Trinity, the beginning, the Word, the Word with God, is God. Then incarnation language, the Word made flesh, the Son, God’s human experience, Jesus living our lives with us. But, this opening hymn of John’s Gospel goes on to make quite clear who Jesus is, who the Son is, the Son who is nearest to the Father’s heart – and, who in his life as the Word made flesh, has made known the very heart of God to us.

We know that Mark’s Gospel is full of stories with great detail about what Jesus said and did. In terms of his heart, we can go to the end of chapter 1, Jesus and the healing of the leper. Those who encountered Jesus seem to have responded so well to Jesus as a man of heart. The leper was prepared to disobey health regulations, no social distancing, but came out of his quarantine. He was confident in the compassion of Jesus, ‘if you want to, you can heal me’. The Jerusalem Bible translation emphasises Jesus’ response, ‘Of course, I want to…’. And, then, the literal outreach, personal touch and touching. The postscript of this story is that Jesus was prepared to forego the regulation in his compassion for the sick man. He accepted that for 40 days he would be leper, sharing our sickness with us, relegated to quarantine outskirts, ritual tearing his hair, throwing dust on himself and, experiencing human anonymity by having to warn people away, Jesus ‘unclean’.

There was a tradition that Luke’s gospel was referred to as the gospel of compassion. Any number of stories, any number of encounters, when Jesus revealed that he was a man of the heart. But, the heartiness of Jesus extraordinary love is very clear in the stories he told, the parables which undercut assumptions about human care. In Luke 15, probably Jesus’ most famous parable, referred to as the parable of The Prodigal Son, and, sometimes, The Prodigal Father, a suggestion could be made that it could be called the parable of The Most Permissive Father. And, Jesus is telling us that this is what God, his father is like (and Jesus knows because he is nearest to the Father’s heart). The father has no hesitation in giving into his son’s unreasonable and presumptuous demand for his inheritance, allows him to go off, potentially to ruin his life. But he has never cut him off, the son can always return, not only repent, but experience his father rushing to meet him, embracing, lavishing clothes and feast on him, rejoicing to recover his lost son. (And, calmly going out to reason with the unreasonable older son: ‘everything I have is yours’.)

Which leaves the Gospel of Matthew. No surprise when we look at Chapter 11, Jesus’ prayer of wonder to the father, revealing the love of God to those who might not have been expecting it. There are the words of his heart ’reassurance’. When we are tired, feeling overburdened, Jesus invites us to come to him and promises relief, assures us of  respite and rest. And he can do this because he is gentle. He is in no way is uppity, he is grounded, realistic about life, humble of – heart. But, after the rest, we are ab again le to shoulder the yoke with Jesus, continue our life and work, but its demands seem lighter when carried with him.

We are blessed to have such solid grounding as we develop our Spirituality of the Heart -

and a spirit of delight in that Prodigal Father' heart.

Statement by MSC Provincial Chris McPhee  Garden Point Mission – Melville Island

• Class Action Completed

Today completed a class action by Indigenous Australians who were brought to Garden Point Mission on Melville Island.

The class action was against the:

• Commonwealth Government;
• Darwin Diocese;
• Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; and,
• Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

• An Apology

The process finished with the Provincial of the MSC’s, Chris McPhee, and the Provincial of the OLSH, Philippa Murphy, and a representative from the Commonwealth Government, speaking to the claimants and family members personally, to deliver their apology.

Chris anticipated that an apology would take place at a later date, however, they were asked to speak this morning, so Chris spoke spontaneously and a paraphrase of what he said is as follows.

We, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, have been in the Northern Territory since 1906.

I am Chris McPhee, and I am the Provincial of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. I joined the MSC in 1992, and I was proud of our history here in the Northern Territory.

In reading your stories over the last two years I can say personally that I am ashamed of what has happened in our Australian history and of how we, MSC, were complicit in this event. I am also ashamed of the behaviour of some of our men who worked at Garden Point mission. Today, I feel very sad and emotional and on our behalf I am sorry. I also want to thank those of you who have had the courage to come forward and to shed a light on this dark page of Australian history – for this I say thank you.

We are Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and today we want to, hopefully, walk together, with our hearts on the outside (as he pointed to his heart) – hand in hand. To journey together into the future as one heart. 

• Media Statement

GARDEN POINT MEDIA STATEMENT

Parties, including Slater and Gordon Lawyers, for the claimants, the Catholic Diocese of Darwin, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Our Lady of the Sacred Hearts Sisters and the Commonwealth of Australia have met in Darwin over the last three days to resolve claims brought by a number of Indigenous Australians who between 1942 and 1969 were placed as infants, children and adolescents into the Garden Point Mission on Melville Island.

Today represents the conclusion of two years of investigation, discovery and research into those circumstances and what happened to those Indigenous children.

The circumstances that prevailed during that time, do not require mention. What has been acknowledged by all the parties is an overwhelming desire to recognize and address, through an appropriate resolution and access to justice, what occurred in the past.

The claims have been resolved. That resolution has been achieved through overwhelming cooperation on behalf of all parties to ensure that justice was bestowed in the right way. This resolution process involved a meeting between survivors, church representatives and the commonwealth which brought with it a level of validation, apology and remorse.

Today is symbolic for many of the Indigenous who spent time at Garden Point. Their circumstances have been acknowledged and this brings, as best as it can be a conclusion to what was a difficult and traumatic period in their lives.

Patrick Moloney MSC, 60^th Anniversary of his death, his heritage in Central Australia.

Here is something of that Central Australian history. An excerpt from: Francis McGarry and the ‘Little Flower Black Mission’: encounters of a Catholic lay missionary with Indigenous people of Central Australia 1935–1944.  (By Charmaine Robson)

In 1935, in accordance with Gsell’s request, the MSC Sydney province sent Father Patrick Moloney to Alice Springs to open

a mission station in Central Australia. Frank joined him shortly afterwards as

a lay assistant. His exact steps in pursuit of this new vocation are unknown,

but Gsell’s speech was no doubt influential. Frank’s letters repudiate any

suggestion of his volunteering for the work; the decision, he implied, was

God’s: “I did not come up here of my own will as when Father Perkins [MSC

Provincial Superior] asked me if I would go to Alice Springs, I asked for

three days to think it over. On revisiting him I remarked that I had not made

up my mind but if he thought it God’s will, then I would willingly go”.

Looking for Mission

In March 1935, Frank arrived in Alice Springs to take up residence with

parish priest, Father Moloney, at the Catholic presbytery. In his history of

the Australian province of the MSC, Father Antony Caruana explains that

Moloney was a major force in shifting the Order’s priorities from overseas

mission work towards the Aboriginal apostolate from the late 1920s.

Moloney’s enthusiasm ultimately outweighed his superiors’ reluctance

to expose their men to the harsh living conditions and isolation of remote

Australia.16 Furthermore, like Gsell, Moloney believed Catholics had a responsibility

to redress the wrongs inflicted on Aboriginal people through colonisation.

For him, evangelisation was part of the solution.

Prior to Alice Springs, Moloney established missions at Palm Island

(1931) and Menindee (1933). He was fifty-eight and walked with a cane, and,

by his own admission, was neither strong nor in good health. Nonetheless,

he was resolute and excited about starting this third mission. Frank, twenty

years his junior and physically fit, could do the manual jobs, domestic chores

and drive the car. Both men also clearly expected that Frank would also play

a part in the main work of the mission: Christianising and giving material aid

to the Aboriginal people.

Moloney’s original plan for the mission was to seek Aboriginal people

who’d had little contact with Europeans. In his view, they had the best

chance of becoming successful Catholic converts, having avoided the vices

and immorality he associated with the undesirable Australian way of life.

He and Frank made two long, hazardous expeditions by car into the desert

to this end, but returned each time, their hopes dashed. On 3rd October 1935,

Moloney proposed that they “go out and look for blacks” in closer proximity

to the town.19 In a camp on the edge of town they met a group of Eastern

Arrernte people, including Brandy McMillan and his family. Frank’s letters

state they were amenable to the prospect of a mission for their children, and

that some asked Moloney to baptise them immediately, to which he agreed

Moloney and Frank ascribed particular significance to the founding

date of the mission, since it was the Feast Day of St Therese of Lisieux,

known also as ‘Little Flower’. St Therese had been canonised only a decade

earlier and enjoyed immense popularity in this period, notably among the

Catholics of Adelaide, Moloney’s home city. As a pious woman whose short

life consisted simply of prayer and work, she became a symbol of enduring

faith in an increasingly secular society, and was known for her generous

bestowal of miracles. Moloney and Frank believed her intercession had

brought about their mission, and they named it Little Flower, accordingly.

Furthermore, Moloney believed that St Therese had meant the Mission to be

Frank’s, not his, as officially it had to be. In early 1936, he informed Frank,

“She got me to baptise then only because it was not your office to baptise.

But the mission is yours and will remain yours for many a long day I hope.”

New Book, Khoi Nguyen MSC,  Alive with Disability

When the Khoi Doan Nguyen was diagnosed with an increasingly deteriorating eye condition, his reactions were understandably feelings of shock, confusion and disturbance. A young man, actively involved in priestly and congregational ministry, with a passion for communication, a gift for writing, a serious interest in all areas of theology and mission, his eyesight problem initially caused him distress and despair.

Alive with Disability acknowledges those early reactions, the times of depression and deep anxiety, but reveals how gradually – with professional and spiritual help – he recognised that the condition was also an invitation to dare stretching the heart to a new state of acceptance, respond to it with a new vision and gradually welcome it as a reality in his life that would determine how he would live fruitfully as person, priest, teacher, writer, religious, within his family and community.

The book is intensely honest. Importantly, it is written for all of us because all of us live with some kind of disability, since disability, limitation and imperfection are universal features of all human life. The Khoi gradually realised that his disability was not only his condition but his companion; and in these twenty-one reflections, he teaches us how disability itself forces all of us to approach prayer, spirituality, our understanding of the mystery of God and life in new, deeper ways.

Alive with Disability is an expression of his faith journey with a profound longing to rediscover who he is through the relationship with his disability companion and share those insights and experiences with his fellow travellers – all of us, with our own disabilities. It is also an invitation to journey with one another in our shared human condition as God’s image and likeness.

$22.95

Other books by KHOI.

For any enquiries please call us on +61 (0)477 809 037

MSC General Conference 2021 - ZOOM 

The General Conference takes place between General Chapters - every two years. The last Conference was held in Korea in 2019. The next Conference begins next Wednesday by Zoom.  This is a photo from the rehearsal last week,

From the General Bulletin.

We share with all of you that we have begun the journey of preparation for our next MSC General Conference. It will be the first conference in MSC history to be held online.

We are living in a crucial time for consecrated life in general, and we are not referring only to the pandemic situation, but to the present moment that our world is living and facing. Consecrated life faces a crossroads where it either transforms and focuses on living from its identity or it ceases to have meaning and significance - it dies. There is no other way than transformation and authenticity.

Certainly it is a challenging time of much suffering for humanity and for mother earth, but, unlikely as it may seem, it is also a time of opportunity and new ways to make the Heart of Jesus loved everywhere. And the realisation of the next General Conference is no exception in this new normality that we are all experiencing everywhere.

The road will be very different from the one we are used to, but we feel called to deconstruct and unlearn in order to discern, listen and build in synodality and communion what the Spirit and the Mission are asking of us today.

The General Conference seeks to strengthen the WHOLE of MSC Mission everywhere. Each MSC makes the WHOLE of mission present wherever it is, therefore, all MSC are part of the Conference. We thank you for your prayers and contributions so that the preparation and the realisation of this Conference can be an instrument at the service of the Mission.

The Conference will take place in three different moments, which are part of a dynamic and interactive WHOLE that seeks to achieve the objectives of every General Conference. (MSC Const. No. 225-228).

Provincial Conference Reports - Photo Diary

We presented the Conference Report by Provincial, Chris McPhee MSC. Peter Hendriks MSC, Deputy Provincial has sent photos of those who presented reports to the Conference.

Mark Hanns MSC lighting the Chapter and Conference candle.

Director of the Retreat House, St Mary's Tower, with Dominic Gleeson MSC.

Mark McGinnitty, MSC Education

MSC Mission Office, Roger Purcell MSC

Heart of Life Centre, Director Paul Beirne, via Zoom

Justice and Peace, Claude Mostowik MSC

Lay MSC, Alison McKenzie

Presiding at the Conference, Chris McPhee MSC

The Assembly

Chevalier Family Justice and Peace, First Friday June 2021                                                  
     Let us praise God including in our prayers Nature: plants, water, wind, cosmos, fire, stars…

With thanks to the MSC Sisters, Australia, Website.

Practice the “R”
         Recycle whenever you can and place all recyclables in the right place, do not mix
         Reduce – Re-use – Repair as much as you can instead of replace
Take care of the plants
Take care of bees, do not kill them, a great part of the life of the planet depends on them.
Avoid using single-use plastic bags. Carry always your cloth shopping bags
Consider the use of Renewable Energy, i.e., Solar panels etc.
Responsible use of water
Conserve energy, unplug devices when not-in-use
Eat less meat and more plant-base foods
Drive less and travel sustainably by using public transport
Buy in  local area. Support  community, save the environment by purchasing local goods.

         Work with the Laity in the Parishes and Workplaces
Give voice to the voiceless and advocate for Nature in our environment and beyond.