News and Events

Remembering our Founders and Farewelling our Pilgrims

Sisters of St Joseph in Tasmania gathered at the Emmanuel Centre in Launceston on Saturday 9th October to remember Fr Julian Tenison Woods (who died on 7th October 1889) and to rejoice that Mary MacKillop is to be so highly honoured by the Church in coming days. 

The day began with a beautiful prayer centred around a quote from Fr Julian:

We are but instruments in the hands of God, never acting as if we were more. 

O God, breathe into this flute so that the sounds which issue are animated by your Holy Spirit (Book of Instructions)

 

An important part of the day was a Blessing Prayer and Song  for the three Tasmanian Sisters who are travelling to Rome for the Canonisation – Sisters Jill and Helen will travel with Harvest Pilgrimages and Sr Jo  is accompanying the Australian Catholic University group who are performing as part of the canonisation celebrations.

 

Sr Jill presented the Tasmanian Sisters with special gifts to mark the occasion of the canonisation of Mary MacKillop.  If you need to identify a Sister of St Joseph in Rome (or in Australia) during the canonisation celebrations, just look for a distinctive canonisation scarf – or a teal blue pashmina! 

 

 

 

As we farewell our pilgrims we wish them every blessing in the days ahead and look forward to all they will have to share with us from their once-in-a-lifetime experience – the official declaration of Mary MacKillop as Australia’s First Saint.