January 25^th-26^th.  Australia Day/ Invasion Day/ Discussion/ Argument/ Resolution/ Hope

Images more powerful than words. Some perspectives.  What do we think? What do we feel? What do we do?

January 25^th-26^th. Australia’s untold/ not known history – High Ground

We need stories told, filmed. High Ground is released in cinemas around Australia this week.

A number of years ago, 2001, director Stephen Maxwell Johnson made a film with an aboriginal theme, Yolngu Boy. High Ground or ambitious film. It continues the challenge, dramatised in a number of films, especially Sweet Country, for honestly examining the life of the indigenous people of Australia after 1788, acknowledging the oppression, the massacres, the exploitation.

The first part of this film is set in 1919, the aftermath of World War I, where aboriginal soldiers served. The action, however, is in Arnhem Land, and the scenery of Arnhem Land is sweepingly beautiful, along with the flora and fauna, many birds, reminding audiences of the links between the aborigines and the land, the various totems.

We are introduced to a group of aboriginal people, rituals, paint and dancing, preparations and execution of the hunt. However, we are also introduced to white trackers who are pursuing the group. With the attack, a number of the pursuers are speared, many of the aborigines are shot – and a young boy, nephew of the leader, is cared for by the women and hidden under water with a reed for him to breathe.

One of the pursuers is Travis, played by Simon Baker, a crack sniper from the war who has an overview of the attack but is not immediate party to the killings. In fact, he rescues the boy from the water and takes him back to the local mission where he is cared for by the pastor and his sister (Ryan Corr and Karen Pistorius), the pastor invited to come with the attacking party and dismayed by the events. The massacre is covered up by the authorities.

The transition in the narrative moves to 1931. The mission continues. The young boy has grown up and is now called Tommy (Jacob Junior Nayinggui). It seems inevitable that he will be caught up in further tracking and police action.

The white group, presided over by the chief, Moran, played by Jack Thompson, is led by a man, consumed with anger, some guilt, racist, who participated in the 1919 attack, Eddy (Callan Mulvey). Also present is Moran’s brash and inexperienced nephew. News has come that there has been at attack by an aboriginal gang and a white woman has been killed. Travis is also present.

There are quite some emotional complexities amongst the white people. Tommy is to go with Travis and to find the group and help call some kind of meeting for justice if not for reconciliation. Tommy is using Travis. Travis is using Tommy for bait. There is some bonding between the two but Travis is taken prisoner, the grandfather and some of the warriors come to the mission and a meeting is held – ultimately to little avail.

Once again, there is confrontation, spears and bullets, many deaths.

The effect of this dramatising of the conflicts between white and black, the experiences of injustice, harshness of racism and vengeance, continue to be a challenge for a contemporary audience – and an invitation to honesty, retrospective acceptance of the facts of racism and violence.

MSC Media and Publications, 2020 Report

It’s the 21^st century.

This report for the General Administration has previously been titled, Bibliography.  However, while we still rely on print media, we are continually reminded that we are people of social media.  It means that this report takes on social media and publications.

First, the print media. We have four issues per year of the MSC Magazine, Be on earth the Heart of God: glossy paper, colour photos, news articles, features on lives and ministry, appointments, Lay MSC stories.  The Magazine is also available on the Home Page of the site.

MSC Justice and Peace.

Claude Mostowik, director, writes frequent pieces on Justice issues, writes extensive notes for Sunday liturgies, has a blog and Facebook page with daily entries.

MSC Mission Office

Publishes its Bulletin (also available on line. For Mission Alive, see below.

Bulletin: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish, Randwick.

Published four times yearly, a wide collection of stories showing life in the parish (providing material also for the Province Website and the MSC Magazine).

Chevalier Family

The Chevalier Family has its own section of the MSC website, incorporating international letters, the writings of Hans Kwakman, local information, especially with Alison Mackenzie as the international secretary. Under this heading are links for the OLSH Sisters and the MSC Sisters.

Articles

Peter Malone

The Swag: Quarterly Magazine of the National Council of Priests of Australia,

The Battle for the Papacy: The Two Popes:  Autumn 2020.

The first temptation of Christ:  Autumn 2020.

Fatima Revisited: Summer 2020.

Typeface BAPT, The Quarterly Magazine of the British Association for Psychological Type.

Pandemic, Type and Feelgood Movies: Summer 2020

Words on Bathroom Walls: Winter 2020

Khoi Nguyen

Prophetic Spirits Explored: Review of God’s Foolishness, A Spirituality of the Heart, Brian Gallagher. The Swag, Spring 2020.

Books

There were a number of books published by MSC. 

Michael Fallon

Jesus as Portrayed in the New Testament: Divine Love in a Human Heart, 214 pages.

The Jesus portrayed in the New Testament lived in a real world.  He was concerned with real people, naming and opposing anything that made it difficult for people to live.  In so doing, he incurred opposition and rejection; hence his death.  But he also won the confidence of the oppressed.  They trusted him, and so learned to trust God, and to believe in themselves, in their world and their future.   This was because Jesus revealed the powerful love of the redeemer God.

Brian Gallagher 

God’s Foolishness, A Spirituality of the Heart, Coventry Press.  62 pages.

Reflecting on his own life and on the lives and teachings of a range of spiritual writers, Brian Gallagher discovers God's foolishness, 'wiser than human wisdom'.  He gladly acknowledges the influence of these women and men on his personal spirituality, a spiritual heart.

He calls them 'prophets, leaders, saints', and though human wisdom held little expectation for any of them, God's foolishness saw them with very different eyes.

Jim Littleton  

Love Seeking Truth, MSC Ministry at Daramalan College, 1962-2020. MSC Publications, 102 pages.

In composing this booklet I have approached the topic historically and have used aspects of the history of the College to structure the story. To enhance the narrative I have written small “Recollections” of some deceased MSC who worked at Daramalan for many years. I have also included “Memories” provided by a few volunteers.

Peter Malone

Dear Movies.  Coventry Press. 426 pages.

101 movies have been chosen and the author writes to them, begins a conversation with each of them, opening up some of their themes, their way of telling stories, their role as fables and parables. He also shares what each movie means to him – then this could mean something more to the reader, discovering their dear movies, whether the movie can be described as ‘art-house’ or as multiplex entertainment.

There has been a great tradition of Lectio Divina (Godly Spiritual reading) throughout the Christian centuries.  Somebody coined the term Visio Divina (Godly Spiritual watching). This is what Dear Movies invites us to share.

Compass Theology Review, Australians Doing Theology for Fifty Years.   ATF Press.  278 pages

In this sizable volume we find surveyed all the articles and the authors that have gone into the making of Compass Theology Review over these past 50 years—a remarkable achievement in itself. The author wisely suggests that this is a book we dip into rather than expect to read it from beginning to end.  Mind you, the task of dipping into a text such as this is made much easier with the index of authors and topics that complete this work of meticulous record.    

The pages of this book offer a valuable insight into the thinking and the faith of the writers and readers of a past era—as the subtitle has it, ’50 years of Australians doing theology’. (Tony Kelly CSsR, from the Foreword).

Paul Stenhouse, a Distinguished and Distinctive Missionary of the Sacred Heart (Peter Malone, Co-ordinator) Australian Scholarly Press. 209 pages.

The extent of Paul Stenhouse’s influence, contacts, friends can be gauged from the contents page and the list of contributor tributes.

Foreword:    Chris McPhee

PAUL STENHOUSE - MSC

Michael Fallon: Eulogy for Paul

Random Memories, Paul's early life.

Jim Littleton: Paul as an MSC

Peter Malone: A Personal Memoir

Tricia Kavanagh: Memories and Connections

Anthony Brereton: A Memory

John S. Madden: Recollections

Annals: Paul’s own overview

PAUL STENHOUSE – PRIEST-SCHOLAR

Karl Schmude: Priest-Scholar

Wanda Skowronska: Extraordinary Scholar, Writer, and Witness to Eternity

Greg Sheridan: Good Polymath, Good Pastoral Priest

Marek Jan Chodakiewicz: Samaritan Studies

Tony Abbott: Islam

Piers Paul Read: Islam

Michael Wilding: John Farrell

PAUL STENHOUSE – MINISTRY

Philip Collignon: Aid to the Charity Church in Need

             Johannes Freiherr Heereman von Zuydtwyck

             Regina King

             Project Section Co-worker, Germany

             Neville Kyrke Smith     

Joseph Assaf: “Lebanon Is More Than A Country – It Is A Message”

Robert Teo: An Asian Ministry

Mary Ruth OLSH: The House of Mary

PAUL STENHOUSE - TRIBUTES

From the Annals Office: 

Peter Macinante: Talk at the Annals Farewell Lunch

Hendrikus Wong: A Tribute

Greg Quinn: Annals Computer System

From Annals Contributors:

James Murray: The Stenhouse Irregulars

James Franklin: Hope is Not Lost

Michael Wilding: ‘Dipped in ink’

Christopher Dawson: Peerless and Fearless

Giles Auty: A Very Special Friend: Giles

R. J. Stove: Eight Men, Not One Man

A Tribute from Cardinal George Pell 

SOCIAL MEDIA

The Province Website

The Province website completed ten years in its current life – and continues. Site items also appear on the Province Facebook page. Brett Adamson, Chevalier Institute, was responsible for a re-designing and simplifying of the site, accessible to Current News, the MSC Magazine, our ministries and highlighting the importance of Safeguarding issues.

The Chevalier Family has its own section of the MSC website, incorporating international letters, the writings of Hans Kwakman, local information, especially with Alison Mackenzie as the international secretary. Under this heading are links for the OLSH Sisters and the MSC Sisters.

In 2020, Requiem Masses for deceased confreres were filmed and made available on the Province Facebook page and Youtube.  Each ministry has its own site and there are personal/work sites for Michael Fallon and Peter Malone

Online Masses and celebrations.

During lockdown, Masses were filmed in MSC parishes and available on Youtube and parish Facebook pages, as well as other key ceremonies at Easter and Christmas: Randwick, Henley Beach, Blackburn, Moonah.

MSC Colleges recorded many events on video, camera and posted them on the respective Facebook pages.

Mission Alive

This is a continuing series by the Director of the MSC Mission Office, Roger Purcell, You Tube talks, of five minutes plus. Other MSC participated and several OLSH Sisters with mission stories from PNG and South Africa. There are also short programs from international MSC Mission Offices, the Philippines, PNG and from Africa.

Chevalier Institute

Webinars during 2020 on justice themes, a range of speakers, Claude Mostowik MSC, Krish Mathavan MSC, Guest speakers, students from MSC Colleges.

Facebook.

Besides the Province and several ministries, especially parishes and colleges, a significant number of confreres have their Facebook pages, posting items, news and comments (and using Like and other emojis).  (And some on Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok…)

Film Reviews

Peter Malone’s reviews can be found on his website (Google, Peter Malone website and it will appear clearly), along with extensive discussion material, written since 1969, and other resources.

His reviews have been part of the work of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting. However, late in 2020, news was received that the Office was to be closed due to financial difficulties.  Director of the Office, Fr Richard Leonard SJ, consulted with the management of Jesuit Communications and the reviews, along with those of Peter Sheehan and Callum Ryan, appear on the Jesuit Communications site.

Helena Kalippa-Rioli  RIP   -   MSC Tributes

From Fr Malcolm Fyfe MSC, Vicar General, Diocese of Darwin.

Some reflections on the death of an iconic Tiwi Islander.

Preamble: On Friday last, January 15, a great number of people were in mourning as Helena Kalippa-Rioli was farewelled at Darwin’s St Mary’s Cathedral. The matriarch of the Rioli family was remembered by Tiwi Islanders and people from across the country at her funeral service. Emeritus Bishop Eugene Hurley was the Principal Celebrant at the Requiem Mass, assisted by Father Pat Mara msc, Tiwi Islands Parish Priest. Father Pat gave an eloquent and moving tribute to Helena in his homily. 

Helena and her husband, Cyril were, for well over half a century, Pillars of the Faith at the Garden Point Mission and constant supporters of whatever priests and nuns were available for ministry on Melville Island. I have drawn together the following commentary to acknowledge their contribution to the life of the Church on the Island. Their praises are widely sung in the media because of their many descendants who became outstanding Australian Rules Football players.                                                                         

Father Pat Mara sent me the following by way of a personal notification:

“On December 30 Garden Point said farewell to Helena Rioli who passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family and close friends. She was the matriarch of the well-known family, being a leader, inspirer, and example of great faith in Jesus Christ.

I visited Helena at the clinic two days before she died, some family and Sr Barbara were there. She said “Father, this has been my last Christmas” to which we all had a little bit of a chuckle and her granddaughter Dianne said “Nana you say that every year.” Thomas walked in not long after and exclaimed that on his way up he had seen a yirrikipayi (crocodile) at the beach and Helena peacefully remarked “Oh my sister has come to get me.”

For the six years that I had known Helena she suffered from a terribly bent and painful back, but like most Tiwi’s there was never a word of complaint. She carried the crosses given to her in life with dignity and courage and was a model of faith and inspiration to those who knew her. It is never easy to get a stubborn man to come to the faith but her prayers and example led to her late husband Cyril coming back to the church with an open heart. The pair of them would clean the church and walk to Sunday mass together each week. May they enjoy each other’s friendship once more in the kingdom of heaven.”

“Helena Rioli never travelled outside her small Tiwi Island community to watch her boys plays in a grand final.” (ABC News: Al Dowler)

What follows is an extract from the Homily cum Eulogy that I gave at Cyril’s Requiem Mass on 23 June, 2016.  It may be of interest in providing some additional background information.  Malcolm Fyfe:

“Cyril Kalippa, the patriarch of the famous Rioli family died on the afternoon of June 3, aged 81 with his wife Helena by his side in their Tiwi Islands home.

Cyril who made his name change by deed poll 14 years ago had been diagnosed with a serious heart condition about a month earlier. Family members, including AFL stars Cyril “Junior Boy” Rioli and Daniel Rioli, had travelled to the Tiwi Islands a few weeks in advance of his death to say their final farewells.  When they and other family members left the hospital, the doctors said there was a 90 per cent chance he would last only three days but in fact Cyril lingered on for some weeks and was able to return home where he wanted to spend whatever time remained to him.

My initial connection with the Rioli family dates back more than 45 years ago to a time when I was the Headmaster at Monivae College in Hamilton, Western Victoria. A young Tiwi Islander named Sibi Rioli came to the College as a Year 10 boarder. He quickly became a hero, admired and idolized by fellow students, as ruck-rover in the College first XVIII with his uncanny ball control, his precise disposal, a thrill to watch. It was a sad occasion four years ago when we farewelled him from this Cathedral after his sudden and untimely passing from us.

The first time I met Cyril and Helena at Garden Point was back in 1978 when I had my first posting to Darwin. In those days Father John Leary was in full vigour. He had been their Wedding Celebrant and very good friend and held the two of them in the highest regard. Cyril was indeed a unique personality with clear leadership qualities.

Let me mention just a few salient features of Cyril’s achievements, confident that others in their eulogies will recount many details from Cyril’s life. Kalippa was a Tiwi Bombers foundation board member when they entered Darwin’s NTFL competition in 2006. He was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his services to the Melville Island community. He worked hard to improve the lives of people in the Tiwi Islands. His was a vision where he wanted to create economic development, employment opportunities. He was instrumental in setting up the timber business. He was a foundation member when the Tiwi Land Council separated from the Northern Land Council. He endeavoured to provide a better life for his people through his involvement in the Tiwi College, so as to ensure the transition from education to the employment of local men and women. He combined all of these activities with a vibrant family life and with enduring support for the Church and the priest and nuns who ministered on the Tiwi Island. He frequented the Church not only for Sunday Mass but practically speaking, on a daily basis.

It is indeed fitting that Cyril and his family are being honoured by a State Funeral and that this Cathedral is the chosen venue for the celebration of his Christian life and death.”

(End of quotation)

The Darwin diocese extends to the entire Rioli family its condolences and promise of prayers at the passing to Eternal Life of Helena Kalippa-Rioli.”

Joe Biden’s Catholicism

Paul Collins | 18 January 2021

From John Menadue’s Policy Publication, Pearls and Irritation.

Joe Biden has been inaugurated as the 46^th US President. He succeeds Donald Trump, with the hope on succeeds. Journalist and broadcaster, Paul Collins (with whom we share decades of MSC memories) highlights aspects of Biden’s Catholicism.

With the exception of Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, religion has not been a big deal for recent US presidents who were, at best, nominal Christians. For Joe Biden faith is central to who he is.

The only Catholic president before Biden came from Boston Irish wealth, was a Harvard graduate and his father was US ambassador to the Court of Saint James. In contrast to John F. Kennedy, Joseph Robinette Biden was born lower middle class Irish and partly French Catholic in November 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a small city famous for anthracite mining and heavy industry. The city fell on hard times in the post-World War II period, and when Biden was thirteen the family moved to Wilmington, Delaware, after his father lost his job in Scranton.

There have been lots of successful Catholic politicians in democracies like the US and Australia. Most of them keep their faith private, but Biden is different; he’s right up-front about his Catholicism. ‘It’s foundational to who he is,’ his long-time friend, Senator Chris Coons of Delaware says.

Coons also says that Biden’s stances on social justice, race, refugee and environmental issues are informed by ‘a deeply rooted sense of fairness’ that he learned from his parents and his Catholic formation. He has profoundly assimilated the Christian sense of the importance of the community over individualism, of putting others before self, and he sees politics in the words of Pope Francis ‘as something more noble than posturing, marketing and social spin.’

As well as the Catholic tradition of social justice, his faith is deeply rooted in the church’s spirituality and practice. He attends Mass every Sunday and quite often on weekdays. He prays regularly, often quotes the bible in political speeches and even publicly bursts into popular hymns, as he did in his November 7, 2020 victory speech when he quoted Michael Joncas’ hymn On Eagle’s Wings. ‘In the last days of the campaign,’ he said, ‘I began thinking about a hymn that means a lot to me and my family, particularly my deceased son Beau. It captures the faith that sustains me and…I hope it can provide some comfort and solace to the…Americans who have lost a loved one through this terrible virus this year.’ He then quoted the first verse:

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord

Who abide in His shadow for life,

Say to the Lord ‘My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!’

And He will raise you up on eagles’ wings

Bear you on the breath of dawn

Make you to shine like the sun

And hold you in the palm of His hand.

It’s this kind of faith that sustained Biden through the death of his first wife Neilia and their thirteen-month-old daughter Naomi, in a car accident in December 1972 and later when his son Joseph (‘Beau’) died from cancer in 2015.

Nowadays when you say someone is a committed ‘Catholic’ in the US (and Australia), you have to be more specific. Biden is a serious post-Vatican II Catholic and it is this that has got him into trouble with conservative (mainly Republican-voting ) Catholics and the majority of the US bishops.

The simple fact is that the US church is deeply divided. Almost all the bishops appointed by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI are conservative and some of them are extreme reactionaries who are openly critical of Pope Francis. While these bishops give lip service to mainstream Catholic moral and social teaching, their focus is primarily on abortion and to a lesser extent on contraception, gay marriage and euthanasia. It also helps as a bishop if you vote Republican. In fact, until recently the US bishops’ conference resembled a local branch of the Republican Party. Pope Francis has appointed better quality bishops with broader perspectives, but the hard-liners still constitute the majority on the episcopal bench.

On abortion and contraception Catholics like Biden – and John Kerry who ran against George W. Bush in 2004 – have had a hard time from many clergy who want to deny them Communion because of their views. Fortunately, Biden’s Wilmington parish priest and the recently appointed Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, have protected Biden from the Communion-denial brigade.

Conservatives accuse Biden of being ‘weak’ on abortion. Early on he was a supporter of the Hyde Amendment which prevented public funds being used for abortion. By 2007 he had moved to say that while he was ‘personally opposed to abortion,’ he couldn’t ‘impose [his] view on the rest of society.’ By 2020 his policy was to codify Roe V Wade by neutralizing state laws that made the right to abortion difficult. He says unequivocally ‘Reproductive rights are a constitutional right’ and ‘every woman should have that right.’ He supports the Affordable Care Act covering contraceptives and, as President, will restore funding to Planned Parenthood.

This is red rag to reactionary bishops. Rather than welcoming the fact that a practising and committed Catholic had been elected US President, the Bishops’ Conference leader, Archbishop José Gomes of Los Angeles, issued a warning that the church was facing ‘a difficult and complex situation…When politicians who profess the Catholic faith support [abortion rights], there are additional problems…It creates confusion among the faithful about what the Catholic Church actually teaches on these questions.’

Despite the bishops’ strictures, according to a 2019 Pew Research survey, 56% of U.S. Catholics said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 42% said it should be illegal. However, two-thirds of regular Mass going Catholics oppose abortion, while 33% said it should be legal.

The problem for Biden and other Catholic politicians is the way in which abortion has been isolated, as though it were the only touchstone for the whole of Catholic morality and belief. For a Catholic in public life like Biden, conscientious decisions on this issue are more complex than for bishops. As President, he is legally and publicly accountable to the electorate where there is clear support for the right to an abortion. Again, according to Pew, ‘currently 61% [of Americans] say abortion should be legal in all or most cases,’ while 38% say it should be illegal.

Clearly, Biden is far more ‘Catholic’ in the true sense of the word – open to others, broad, embracing rather than excluding – than many of the bishops. Mind you, that’s not hard, given the number of ideologues that inhabit the bishops’ bench.

But in the end, Biden as a politician in a democracy has to be able to get things done, above all to rein-in Coronavirus and restore public integrity post-Trump. While goodness, empathy, decency, moral principles, even a deep faith, are important in a leader, in the end, Biden will be judged by his ability to deal with process, compromise, the often-nasty give and take reality of politics, while balancing the difference between religious faith and the secular state.

Given his vast experience, his clear moral compass, his inbred decency and warm humanity, we can be confident that with Joseph Biden a new era is beginning in Washington.

MSC Erskineville parish 2021

Tan Nguyen MSC has arrived to take up the role of parish priest.  Tan spent many years in the Tiwi Islands, at Melville Island. In recent years he has been stationed at Monivae College and in parish supply from Henley Beach.

Peter Guy MSC has finished his years as parish priest of Erskineville. He spent many years in Australia and in Lourdes as part of the Catholic Ukrainian rite.  He is moving to Kensington Monastery (where he as Superior for many years).

Phil Reilly MSC is based at Erskineville parish.

Also to be found at Erskineville, the MSC Centre for Justice and Peace with its director, Claude Mostowik MSC (whose Facebook page offers posts for Justice reflection every day).

2 OLSH Stories – Australia and Kiribati

OLSH Elmore

A wonderful celebration of the spiritual presence and friendship that Elmore has shared with the OLSH Sisters for 91 years.

Approximately 100 people came together to wish the Sisters well as they move to Melbourne. People travelled from some distance to participate in our celebration.

It was wonderful to see some school children attending mass during the holidays. A highlight for them was meeting Sr Mary Batchelor, past student and inspiration behind Mission Day.

Photo includes the group with the Bishop of Sandhurst, Shane Mackinlay.

Sister Eileen Kennedy celebrates the 70th Anniversary of her Religious Profession

Congratulations to Sister Eileen Kennedy who celebrated the 70th Anniversary of her profession as a member of the religious Order of Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart on 6 January 2021 in Tarawa.

Sister Eileen arrived in Kiribati from Australia in 1954 and has remained in Kiribati since that time as an educator, with many of those years spent teaching at schools on the outer islands.

Sister Eileen was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2011 for her ‘service to the people of Kiribati as a teacher, through support for social welfare groups, and to the Catholic Church’.

We were very pleased to be part of the celebration to honour Sister Eileen’s significant achievement.

With the Australian High Commissioner

With acknowledgement of the OLSH Facebook page.

Photo record, Farewell Mass for Peter Hendriks MSC, St Paul's Nightcliff

A celebratory Mass at St Paul's Nightcliff was held on Sunday January 10th to farewell Peter Hendriks after his recent years as Parish Priest.

Present, Bishop Charles Gauci, Bishop of Darwin

Vicar General of the Diocese, Malcolm Fyfe MSC

and incoming parish priest of Nightcliff, John Kelliher MSC.

Peter will move to Treand House, Coogee, and take up his position as First Councillor, Deputy Provincial.

MSC Australian Province Annual Report for 2020

Each year, the General Administration asks for an account of life in the Province2020,  so:

2020 the year that was, and that wasn’t!

2020 was the year of the pandemic, of lockdown, of unprecedented, of unpredictable, of uncharted waters… It was a year of infections. Millions. And, sadly, it was the year of deaths. And 2021 has inherited it.

The Australian Province was blessed with no infections of covid-19. Our sympathies to those provinces which experienced infections and deaths.

FORMATION

However, our province grew in 2020. December 12^th saw the profession of two students, Trieu Nguyen Daniel Magadia, Trieu who migrated to Australia a few years ago, Daniel from Adelaide, his parents from the Philippines.

Two students joined the formation program in January, Vincent, in his 40s, engineer, who had spent some time in the Parramatta seminary, and Anh, from Vietnam who had lived in the house at Blackburn in 2019 while studying English at the Yarra Theological Union. Their year was unusual insofar as Melbourne spent months in Stage Four lockdown and much of the formation communication was by Zoom, and minimal opportunities for ministry during those months, but the two contributing to the weekly online masses from St Thomas’s, Blackburn.

Vincent and Anh began their novitiate in November at Douglas Park. Peter Harvey Jackson continued as novice master.

Kenji Konda, who made his profession in December 2019, was the only student. He returned to Blackburn, continued his Masters in Theology studies – again, by Zoom. Mark Hanns was appointed as director of post-novitiate formation.

The MSC Directory reminded us that confreres were celebrating 65, 60 and 55 anniversaries of ordinations and professions.  (Bill Cunningham 75^th anniversary of profession.) Golden Jubilees celebrated of ordination: John Graham, John O’Connor, Greg McEnnally, Michael Reis, Paul Jennings. Golden Jubilees of profession: Paul Browne and Colin Sinclair.

ZOOM

Speaking of Zoom, Philip Malone taught courses from home by Zoom for the YTU, Moral Theology and Liturgy. While there were some initial face-to-face sessions at the Heart of Life Centre, by March, the mode was Zoom, making it a very difficult year, especially for the Siloam, Spiritual Direction program, the Centre offering only the full-time program. Paul Castley continued on the team for the Spiritual Leaders Program, and using Face Time and Zoom for spiritual direction and supervision. Peter Malone presented the Religious Experience course via Zoom. There was a pleasing postscript to the year where the students could not meet face-to-face, the day that some restrictions were led lifted in Melbourne, there was a graduation ceremony where participants and staff could actually be present physically. Seven graduates full-time, four completing their part-time program. Participants were from India, Philippines, Pakistan, East Timor as well as locals (one of whim is Greek Orthodox).

At the end of 2019, the Franciscans at Box Hill decided to terminate Heart of Life’s presence on the St Paschal’s property. Providence provided a welcome from the Anglican Church, St George’s, in Malvern. Heart of Life moved in but in terms of action on the site, minimal for the year. However, the Provincial, Paul Beirne, director of Heart of Life, other interested parties met early in the year and a contract was drawn up with the Bridgidine Sisters for Heart of Life to rent part of their Kildara Centre in Malvern for five years.

Retreat and spiritual direction activity at St Mary’s Towers Douglas Park was also limited by pandemic lockdown – but, with some possibilities for activities via Zoom.

DEATHS

However, as might be expected, there were several deaths throughout the year. Des Moore (officially known as Bishop Sir Desmond Moore) and worked as a missionary in Port Moresby and then as Bishop of Sideia, Eastern Papua. There was the death of Neville Dunne, a missionary in PNG for all his ministry, becoming provincial of the PNG province. Both men were resident of Sacred Heart Monastery, Kensington. Ted Merritt was a missionary for most of his ministry in the Northern Territory, a Brother who could turn his hand to all kinds of work, even to flying a plane. At the end of the year, Brother Kevin Guthrie died. He had spent some time in the missions, Fiji, PNG, but who worked in MSC schools and at Kensington monastery. RIP.

The deaths remind us that Australia is an ageing province. Our doyen is Harold Baker, aged 97. There are a number of, confreres in the their 90s and late 80s. There have been more members of the province in hospital during 2020 and we remember those who had to retire to St Joseph’s Nursing Home in Kensington.

LIFE

During the year, there was a postal vote in the Province as Chris McPhee was in the third year of his term. He was re-elected for a second term of three years which begins, January 2021.

There is also life, especially in Vietnam, growth from the beginnings in 2003, several priests, brother, novices (in the Philippines) and students in Vietnam itself. A number of our Vietnamese confreres have come to Australia, Thang now Vocations Director, Dahn working in the Tiwi Islands, Quy who will move to Suva and the Pacific Regional Seminary, when border restrictions allow (in the meantime at Kensington parish).

On the one hand, lockdown and the closing of international borders, and many limits on moving across state borders in Australia, meant that there was minimal visitation by the provincial leadership. This was especially difficult with traditional visits to Vietnam for ordinations and professions, to the Philippines for professions. Once again, social media provided some solutions, including Provincial Council meetings via Zoom. Zoom was the means for some community meetings, especially for MSC in Melbourne and Tasmania.

Parishes also rose to the pandemic situation, many of them providing celebrations, including Easter, and weekly masses online. They were well attended – and available on You Tube. Ceremonies from Randwick parish, especially, appear on the province Facebook Page.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Another online feature consisted of webinars. This was the case for Henley Beach Parish and a week’s celebrations of MSC presence, held midyear, masses, talks, celebrations.

The principal webinars, for local and international participants, were conducted by the Chevalier Institute, on social and religious issues, especially the environment, hosted by the Institute, with a range of speakers, including from the province, Krish Mathavan and Claude Mostowik. In a more recent webinar, students representing the MSC colleges also spoke and contributed.

Director of the MSC Mission Office, Roger Purcell, began a continuing series of View Tube talks, of five minutes plus, Mission Alive. Other MSC participated and several OLSH Sisters with mission stories from PNG and South Africa.

PERSONNEL

Since the strictness of lockdown varied from state to state, the MSC colleges experienced different restrictions, closures, freedoms, openings. Once again, social media was significant, especially with each college having very active Facebook pages. By the end of the year, many more activities were possible, end of year celebrations, cadet passing out parades, retreats away from the school campus…

At the beginning of 2020, Monivae had a new principal, Jonathan Rowe, and a deputy, Fiona Mulhall, who moved from Chevalier College. The previous principal, Mark McGinnitty, took up his position as MSC Education Director. There are three MSC resident at Chevalier, Gerry Burke, John Franzmann, John Mulrooney, with Vince Carroll at Downlands, Ted McCormack who does parish supply lives at Monivae. There are no resident MSC at Daramalan – ministry from Kimi Vunivesilevu, parish priest of Kippax.

Rene Balboa completed his term as Bursar/Manager, his successor, Andrew Mir. Provincial Assistant, Gloria Macinante, retired for health reasons. Bridget Hawthorne moved into this role. Meta Jackman is Senior Advisor – Professional Standards and Safeguarding, while Anne-Marie Snelling is Administration Officer – MSC Professional Standards Office. Phil Reilley completed his time house Assistant Bursar and has moved to Erskineville Parish. Maria Oei serves as Accountant.

The Province website completed ten years in its current life – and continues. Site items also appear on the Province Facebook page. Brett Adamson, Chevalier Institute, was responsible for a re-designing and simplifying of the site, accessible to Current News, the MSC Magazine, our ministries and highlighting the importance of Safeguarding issues.

The Chevalier Family has its own section of the MSC website, incorporating international letters, the writings of Hans Kwakman, local information, especially with Alison Mackenzie as the international secretary. Under this heading are links for the OLSH Sisters and the MSC Sisters.

The annual directory lists local Lay MSC groups around Australia – though lockdown has limited meetings.

Speaking of media, with cinemas closed in Melbourne from March to November, there was quite some limitation for Peter Malone’s ministry of film reviewing. (Smaller companies assisted in ‘job-keeping with Vimeo links for watching some releases. There was also Netflix and other streaming services).  Many Australians relied on the streaming services during lockdown.

His reviews have been part of the work of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting. However, late in 2020, news was received that the Office was to be closed due to financial difficulties.  Director of the Office, Fr Richard Leonard SJ, consulted with the management of Jesuit Communications and the reviews, along with those of Peter Sheehan and Callum Ryan, appear on the Jesuit Communications site.

AND 2021

As this report is being written, January 2021, covid-19 infections are on the increase, especially in Sydney and New South Wales, some in Victoria. Some border closures are in force – especially difficult for MSC is the NSW-Victoria border is closed, confining some of the MSC working in Victoria (including formation personnel and the newly professed) to Sydney for the foreseeable future.

Watch this space in 12 months’ time!   

Photo record of Centenary Mass for the death of the Eileen O’Connor, St Brigid's Coogee.

Presider: Bishop Brady

Concelebrant: Bishop Walker

MC: Philip Hicks MSC, Parish Priest, St Brigid's.

MSCs present: Chris McPhee, Frank Dineen, Bob Irwin, Mark Hanns and Trieu Nguyen.

Musicians: Joseph and Bernadette Sullivan
First reader: Sr Margaret-Mary OLN (congregational leader)
Second reader: Sr Pauline OLN

A film crew was present, with stories appearing in many of the major networks during tonight’s news.