Chaplain's Message

Mother Teresa is my hero and it was my dream to go to Kolkota and work with the Sisters of Charity, experience “Mother House” where she lived, and be there in the homes established for the homeless, the disabled and the poorest of the poor. 

The dream became a reality through the Pilgrimage of Hope set up by the Armidale School in NSW, a fellow Round Square school committed to offering this experience to students around Australia. 

St Philip's became members of this project on two occasions – staff and students found it life changing and returned with a different perspective on life.  As appointed Chaplain to the group on the second occasion, I was required to conduct a service in HER Chapel assisted by a number of the accompanying staff. I was very nervous but it is a special event in my life! 

Ms Sarah Tudor and I returned to Kolkata with a small group of students on another occasion, travelling further afield to Mumbai and Nasik during one of their Holy Festivals – we were digging a great hole for toilets for a children’s home and many gentlemen resplendent in white gowns jumped off their slow moving buses in the procession, ran to our work site, grabbed a shovel, dug a few chunks of soil from the dirt and rushed back to collect their bus, shouting “thank you” over their shoulders. Such wonderful memories! 

So it is with great interest and reflection that I attach the words of Mother Teresa herself, as she gives advice to those further afield about life and love! I would not have changed it for the world but I am chastened by her words. May we all learn to care in a new way, may we all learn to see and love in a new way. 

Excerpt from Canopy of Stars by Richard Gleeson SJ.

"I know you think you should make a trip to Calcutta, but I strongly advise you to save your airfare and spend it on the poor in your own country. It's easy to love people far away. It's not always easy to love those who live right next to us. There are thousands of people dying for a bit of bread, but there are thousands more dying for a bit of love or a bit of acknowledgement. The truth is that the worst disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis; it's being unwanted, it's being left out, it's being forgotten." - Mother Teresa

Go safely.

~ Pastor Sarah Pollitt

   College Chaplain