Principals Message

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Monday August 8th, 2022

The feast day of Mary of the Cross MacKillop is held every year 

on August 8th. Our tradition has been to celebrate Mary’s feast with the school community of St Joseph’s, Nagambie.  This year after 2 years of pandemic, remote learning and not celebrating our feast we will be travelling to Nagambie next Monday August 8th to celebrate Mass and activities which will focus on Mary MacKillop’s life. 

Mary’s story…

Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842. Her parents, 

Flora and Alexander MacKillop, were Catholic immigrants from

Scotland. Mary, the eldest of eight children, was raised in the 

working-class Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.

At 16, Mary went out to work, to support her younger brothers and sisters. Two years later she took a job as a governess on her uncle's farm in the small country town of Penola in South Australia. Here Mary met the man who would change her life forever, Father Julian Tenison Woods.  Father Woods, a charming and eccentric priest, shared Mary's dream of educating the poor. He became her mentor and spiritual guide.

Together, Mary and Father Woods opened the first free Catholic school in Penola in 1866, at first in a converted stable and later in this more substantial stone building.  A year later the pair formed a new religious order of nuns - the Sister’s of St Joseph - devoted to teaching the poor. Mary took her vows, becoming the order's first sister and its leader. She was just 25 years old.

The Sisters of St Joseph was the first Catholic order founded by an Australian. They vowed to live in poverty, own no property and were committed to equality. These were central to the order's rule.

As well as schools, Mary MacKillop and the sisters founded hospitals and orphanages, as well as providing shelters for the homeless unmarried mothers. And they raised all of the money themselves - mostly by begging.  Mary and her sisters of St Joseph worked tirelessly for those in need. 

Mary suffered a stroke in 1902 and was an invalid until her death on August 8, 1909.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Moran, visited Mary just before she died to give her the last rites of the church. As he was leaving, he told two of the sisters that he felt as if he had been administering at the death bed of a saint.

Mary was buried in Sydney's historic Gore Hill Cemetery. Today a memorial marks the spot where she once lay. Five years after her death, her body was transferred to the newly built Mary MacKillop Chapel in the grounds of the North Sydney convent where she last lived.

Mary was canonised on October 17th, 2010 in Rome.  I was lucky enough to attend the canonisation with other principals from CES. There were many Australians celebrating in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican City that day, waving Australian flags and cheering when they announced Mary as Australia’s first saint.  I was lucky enough to meet a beautiful Irish friend, Sr Bridget Buckley, a sister of St Joseph who taught at St Mary’s Rushworth back in the 70s. 

                                                          PARKING IN SOUTHAM ST

Thank you for acting on the message not to park in Southam St.  This area is for staff parking and currently also for trades people.

                                                                SICK STUDENTS

Please ensure that you keep your child home if they are coughing, sneezing or showing signs of being sick.

Please advise the school if your child is COVID positive and follow the requirement to notify the government authority.

                                                     MRS ANGELA BROCKETT

Mrs Angela Brockett grade 4AB classroom teacher, has advised that she will be working from home until she begins her treatment next week.  Mrs Loretta Robbins will teach 4AB commencing on Wednesday August 3rd. I congratulate the students in 4AB for their resilience over the past 6 weeks and I encourage your positive thoughts and prayers for Mrs Brockett.

                                                                          CEPD

Next Monday August 8th at 5.30pm-6.30pm our 5/6 parents and students are invited to attend a Life Relationship evening with their child at St Mary’s School.  The focus of this gathering will be to start the conversation about our relationships with others, what makes a healthy relationship, what are the things that make us feel good about ourselves and the human lifecycle, puberty, the reproductive system and how our bodies change as we get older.

Mrs Lee Pethybridge CES Religious Education Officer will facilitate this meeting.

                                                      SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL

The next meeting for our School Advisory Council will be held on Monday August 15th at 6.00pm. 

                                                      PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Thursday and Friday August 4 & 5 – Religious Education Accreditation study -Mrs Donoghue 2/3 HD (Ms Marshall and Mrs Jamieson)

The weather is improving,

Have a good fortnight

Catherine Fraser