11 and passion of Susan Selo, a synod participant from Fiji . When my youngest brother Ted died earlies this year, I heard many stories of how he was a light for so many. One of my other brothers reflected that Ted had the great gift of sharing his time with his family, his workmates, his neighbours and by providing a listening ear to those troubled by life. Through his life he also bore witness to the light. Recently I participated in a webinar where Susan Selo shared how she took the message of the first session of the synod back to the communities in parts of Oceania. Her enthusiasm and vision engaged the local communities, as she trained and facilitated people in the ‘Conversation in the Spirit’ process. MARY MACKILLOP BEARS WITNESS TO THE LIGHT On 15th January 1842, a light shone on the family of Alexander and Flora MacKillop when their first child Mary Helen MacKillop was born. Little did they know how this small child would influence the lives of thousands in this country and indeed in our world, nor that their daughter would one day be canonised as Australia’s first formally recognised saint. There were many experiences and influences that shaped her life – the reality of her family life, her giftedness as a teacher, her desire ‘to serve God in the care of his little ones of his flock’ (Letter to her mother, 21 August 1867) whilst facing the many obstacles that came her way as she responded to the needs of the emerging Australian church and colony. Life threw many different experiences at her. The way she responded formed her into the pioneering woman she has become for Australians and for the universal Church. Her sharp mind, her tender heart and her reflective nature are gifts to us all. Mary MacKillop’s work as a truly missionary one In 1871 after experiencing the excommunication, Mary MacKillop was advised to go to Rome to seek approval for this new Congregation. She drew on her experience of living in Australia, for she had come to know its people and its story. She had a real feel for this newly emerging reality, a land inhabited by its first peoples for thousands of years and a place where the first European people settlers were of convict stock. It was a place of beauty and isolation, a land of floods and drought. It was a land in which the establishment of the church required a different understanding. In October 1873, she writes a long letter to Monsignor Kirby explaining the necessity for the Institute. As the Institute of the Sisterhood of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart was established to meet the many wants of the Australian colonies, and as these wants can hardly be realised by those who have not had some experience of
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQ0MTI=