Walking Where She Walked

Ten Days in Ireland with Mary Aikenhead

Last Friday Gerard McNulty and I returned from our pilgrimage to Ireland, we didn't go to Ireland as tourists. We went to listen and learn.

For ten days we travelled the country of Mary Aikenhead, founder of the Sisters of Charity. The question I carried with me wasn't "What should we see?" but "What matters?" That question shaped every day, and it was asked with attention, honesty and a willingness to be surprised by where God turned up. Pilgrimage begins with humility. You leave the familiar, the organising, the everyday situations and the role, and become someone who receives rather than someone who leads.

In Cork, standing in the streets where Mary's story began, the pace was slow. It is easy to arrive at a place of history wanting to collect it, with photographs and facts. What I found was that these places ask you to stop collecting and start listening. Very different to how it felt in the previous days in Dublin.

Mary's own story is one of quiet courage. She was raised by a Protestant father and a Catholic mother, in a country where faith carried real cost. Real cost could come in the form of discrimination and not being allowed to practice the catholic faith. Mary heard the call to serve the poor, particularly poor women and children, at a time when the poor were largely invisible. Her response was always practical, strategic and definitely never glamorous. She founded a congregation of women who went to where the suffering was, and not hide behind a convent wall.

Ignatian spirituality, which focuses on gratitude much like Mount Carmel today, wove through the whole pilgrimage, and it connected so well as Mary drew deeply on Ignatian tradition in shaping the life of her sisters. Each day evolved with with the following as a support:

Entering each site slowly, using our senses before voicing our thoughts
The Examen at day's end by asking where we had felt consolation, where desolation, and what God might be drawing our attention to.
Finding God in all things in such things as a shared cup of tea with a sister, in a historical conversation, or in silence.

Discernment wasn't a separate activity, it was the way we travelled. Each evening when by ourselves it gave us the opportunity to ask what had moved us and why, and gradually a pattern emerged of what truly mattered.

The heart of the pilgrimage was the people. We met Sisters of Charity across many places we travelled to and were welcomed with generosity, humour and so much food! Many carry decades of service in hospitals, schools, and care for the marginalised, telling their stories through a lens of love, compassion and kindness. They spoke of their founder as a living presence, and they spoke honestly about a changing Church, fewer vocations, and what it means to hand a mission on.

Ireland refuses to let you tell only one story. I stood in places marked by the Famine, by poverty (still so evident in some places today) and forced emigration, by institutions that failed people, and by the long shadow of loss. There is still grief in the landscape, empty fields that once held villages, memorials to the unnamed dead, and harbours where families said goodbyes.

Standing there, I practised what Ignatius calls ‘imaginative contemplation’, letting myself be present to the suffering without hurrying to explain it away. Sometimes the most honest prayer was silence. At one site it was commented on by one of the pilgrims, “This is not a time to take photos, this is a time to reflect.”

But Ireland is also joy. It is music in the Dublin or Galway pubs, laughter at the table as we shared a meal with the sisters, a conversation with a fellow pilgrim whilst travelling across the countryside, or the help of a stranger when lost.

Some of the most powerful moments came in the places the world has forgotten, cemeteries, closed and quiet buildings, repurposed buildings that no longer celebrate the story of it being a Sisters of Charity place, corners where the poor were once sheltered and then overlooked. Mary Aikenhead's whole vocation was about turning towards what others turn away from. Standing in such places, I felt the challenge to ask who and what is discarded in our own time and place. What would it mean for us to turn towards them?

In 1838, at the request of Australia's first Catholic leaders, Mary Aikenhead sent the first Sisters of Charity from Ireland to Australia. They crossed the world with very little except faith and a mission, and they became the first religious sisters to establish a congregation in Australia.

From that beginning the work grew, hospitals, schools, care for prisoners, women and the poor were all part of the instructions. In time the Sisters reached Tasmania, and the story we know as Mount Carmel took hold. Standing in Ireland, at the port of Dun Laoghaire I felt the long thread that runs from Ireland to Hobart. What began as one woman's response to the poor of Ireland became a gift given across the seas.

I came home with more questions than answers and I think that is how it should be. But some things became clear.

What matters is presence, being genuinely with people, especially the overlooked.What matters is listening, to the sisters, to the land, to grief and joy, and to the quiet voice within.What matters is humility, knowing that we inherit a mission far greater than ourselves.What matters is courage, the willingness to be sent, as Mary sent her sisters, into an uncertain future trusting in God.

But most important of all what matters is kindness.

The question I now hold is the one I began with: What matters, and how will I and us as a Primary live it?

Thank You to Families

Thank you for your wonderful support throughout Term 3. Your encouragement, communication and involvement have made a real difference to our students' progress and wellbeing, whether through helping with homework, attending events, or simply cheering them on each day.

As we look ahead to Term 4, there is plenty to look forward to, learning conversations, Grandparents Day, end-of-year celebrations, assessments, performances and the chance for students to showcase all they have achieved. It's a busy but rewarding time, and we're grateful to have you as partners in your daughter's learning.

Staff News

A Fond Farewell to Katie Duffy

After three wonderful terms in Kinder, it's time to thank Katie Duffy, a teacher whose impact on our youngest learners will last well beyond their first years at school.

From day one, Katie brought warmth and steadiness to the classroom. Her care for each child showed in the small things: the extra minute spent reassuring a nervous student, the personalised encouragement, the delight she took in every milestone. Children and parents alike felt truly seen and supported.

Kinder is a year of constant change, and Katie met every twist with patience and flexibility, always keeping the children's best interests at heart. Her kindness created a classroom where every child felt safe to try, to fail, and to try again, and her humour turned ordinary days into joyful ones for students and colleagues alike.

Her knowledge and professionalism shaped a Kinder program that balanced structure with genuine fun, and her positive, generous attitude set a tone that reached well beyond her own classroom. Katie's influence has touched the whole primary community, and she will be deeply missed by staff and families across every year level.

Thank you, Katie, for everything you've given our school. Your kindness, humour, and heart will be remembered long after this term ends.

Thank You to Phoebe Duncan

Thank you to Phoebe Duncan for all the work she has done in the Student Support space with her focus primarily being on Year 6. Her knowledge and skills in this area of education is outstanding and she will leave an enormous gap in this area. As a Primary we wish her all the very best for new adventures that await and ask her not to be a stranger.

Congratulations to Kate Choriziak

This Term 4, we're saying a temporary farewell to Teaching Assistant Kate Choriziak, who is stepping away to join a production of The Wind in the Willows at the Botanical Gardens.

It's no surprise to anyone who knows her. Kate's warmth, energy and flair for storytelling have brightened our classrooms, especially Year 6 and these attributes will certainly suit the stage just as well as they suit our classrooms.

Kate has been a steady, much-loved presence for students and staff, and we'll certainly feel her absence. But opportunities like this are rare, and we're delighted for her, and we are certainly proud.

Moya Belcher Arts Festival Awards

Congratulations to the students who were named winners or runners-up for the Moya Belcher Awards at the recent Arts Festival.

Year Level
ELC - Year 2	Winner	Alisha Taqvi	Prep
	Runner Up	Lucy Burgess	Year 2
Year 3 - 6	Winner	Eloise Vanier	Year 6 Navy
	Runner Up	Josie Saunders	Year 5 White

Grandparent's Day

Grandparents Day will look a little different this year with more time in classrooms and if the weather holds off an opportunity to be entertained outside during morning tea. All grandparents will gather first in the Library at 9:30am where further instructions will be given.

What is coming up in Term 4?

Below is just a small snap shot of the first few weeks with more dates highlighted in the first View back for Term 4.

Grandparents Day - Wednesday 21 October
Co Curricular Photos - Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 October
Learning Conversations - Thursday 29 October and Tuesday 3 November
Kinder Transitions - Friday 30 October
JSSATIS Athletics - Thursday 5 November
Primary Talent Quest - Tuesday 10 - Thursday 12 November
STCPSSA Athletics - Friday 13 November
Year 6 MJR Day - Wednesday 18 November

Alumni News