JAN Update

Soiree

A most enjoyable musical evening was held at the Corpus Christi College Cultural Centre on Saturday 30 August. Performers included renowned pianist Rita Miles, soprano Ireni Utterley, and three excellent musical groups from Corpus Christi College – eCCCo’s, the Year 8 choir and the Madrigal choir.

The evening was compered by Poppy Masselos, JAN Committee member and editor of the Courier Mail Education Section “Headst@rt”

A delicious supper was provided by the students from Marist College, Ashgrove under the direction of Hospitality Teacher Gary Keown.

Several raffles were held during the evening together with a lucky door prize of a beautiful flower arrangement donated by Ed & Lyn Lowe of Albany Creek Florists.

Dates to Remember

19th October 2008 - Sunday - Josephite Heart Day @ 11am -2pm with Shared lunch. Venue - MacKwood Life, 8 Dutton St., Dutton Park. This is open to all JAN Qld Inc members and prospective members.

15th November 2008 – Saturday – Prayer Day with Margaret Robertson rsj. “Praying to and with the Saints”. Venue St Brendan’s Catholic Parish Hall, 88 Hamilton Rd, Moorooka.

16th November 2008 - Sunday – JAN Qld Inc AGM @ 11am with shared lunch. Venue - MacKwood Life, 8 Dutton St., Dutton Park.

Silver Circle Results

The Week 10 draw of our Silver Circle Series 002 was held on Saturday 30 August in conjunction with our Soiree evening.

The winners were:

1st prize - $300 - No 05 – Shirley O’Ryan
2nd prize - $200 - No 95 – Pam Levers
3rd prize - $100 - No 82 – Sr Ann Fleming

Congratulations Anne

Congratulations to Anne Bond rsj who has just finished her doctorate in the States. Anne will soon be returning as Director of Baulkham Hills.

Some links that might interest you.
St. Joseph's Spirituality Centre Baulkham Hills
St Joseph's Spirituality and Education Centre Kincumber
Mary MacKillop Foundation
Mary MacKillop Place
World Youth Day
Josephite Dreaming CD

JAN Fundraising - Silver Circle

The Week 10 draw of our Silver Circle Series 001 was held on Saturday, 24 May in conjunction with an enjoyable wine and cheese afternoon attended by about 15 people.

The winners were:

1st prize - $300 - No 13 - K.Mulcahy
2nd prize - $200 - No 32 - L.Schell
3rd prize - $100 - No 36 - D. Hector

If any members wish to subscribe to Series 002, which we hope to get under way in mid-June, please contact me by return email. Depending on how may current subscribers renew, we may have only a limited number of places available. If you have been a subscriber to Series 001 and wish to renew, please contact Brian Sullivan. The cost is $20 for the 10 weeks. Please make cheques or money orders payable to JAN Qld Inc and send them to our mailing address at P O Box 59, Moorooka, Qld, 4105.

Youngest Professed Nun in Australia

Photo by Ben Ruston
From Sydney Morning Herald
Andrew West
May 24, 2008

ANNE-MARIE GALLAGHER was in her final year at Domremy College in Sydney's inner west when the assistant principal suggested, "you would make a good nun".

"I just laughed it off," she said. "I thought of myself as a normal teenager and, like most of my peers, [at one stage] I even questioned my faith. I just thought it was normal."

Tomorrow, however, Sister Gallagher will do something rare for a 24-year-old woman, when she takes her vows as a Josephite nun in the Mary MacKillop Chapel in North Sydney.

She has been a novice for two years and can already be called "Sister" but after tomorrow's ceremony the letters "RSJ", or Religious Sisters of St Joseph, will be added after her name.

Sister Sheila McCreanor, a Josephite leader, believes Sister Gallagher will become the youngest professed nun in Australia. "It is more common for women to enter the order in their 30s, 40s or even 50s," she said. "But someone of Anne-Marie's age is very unusual, and very exciting, for us." The average age of her fellow sisters was in the 60s.

Sister Gallagher' religious community is almost 150 years old, founded in 1866 by MacKillop, but she found her vocation on the internet.

While studying education and theology at Australian Catholic University as a 19-year-old, she came across the website for Catholic Vocations Ministry Australia. "I couldn't believe that I was [looking] there," she laughed. "Me, of all people. But for a while this feeling of being unsettled had niggled at me.

"I had dated some guys but something else, involving a deeper commitment to God, was demanding my attention."

For five years, as an "enquirer", then in the novitiate, she lived in a Kimberley Aboriginal community where her late father was a lay missionary, and worked with the aged. She wants to teach.

Professor Neil Ormerod, a theologian at Australian Catholic University, said that after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, Catholics asked, "what can I do in religious life that I can't do as a layperson?"

Now, older women entered orders. "It is part of re-evaluating their own spiritual direction," he said. "That's what makes Anne-Marie's case quite unusual."

But Sister Gallagher insists tomorrow's commitment, a "vow to God, chastity, poverty and obedience", will not mean a cloistered life. "I still call myself a social butterfly," she laughed

Dates to remember

24th May 2008 - Saturday @ 2pm - Wine and Cheese for the public draw on the 10th week of the Silver Circle fundraiser Venue - MacKwood Life, 8 Dutton St, Dutton Park

30th August 2008 - Saturday 7pm -9pm - Soiree Venue - Corpis Christi Auditorium, Nundah

19th October 2008 - Sunday - Josephite Heart Day @ 11am -3pm with Shared lunch Venue - MacKwood Life, 8 Dutton St., Dutton Park

16th November 2008 - Sunday - JANQld Inc AGM @ 11am with Shared Lunch Venue - MacKwood Life, 8 Dutton St., Dutton Park

MacKwood Retreat - invitation extended to JAN members on Friday 4th,[ @ 4pm] 5th & 6th April 2008 @ Mary Haven, Scarborough - finishes at lunch time Sunday

MacKwood Prayer Dates - Sunday 25th May 2008 @ 4pm with Shared meal - Sunday 20th July 2008 @ 4pm with Shared meal - Sunday 26th October 2008 @ 4pm 'Break-up' with shared dinner

Contact details phone Faye Walsh - 38630447

Stations of the Cross by Helen Barnes

Sr Helen Barnes is the author of a book and original painted illustrations which depict the 'stations' of the people of our land who share in the sufferings of Jesus.
The Cross: An Australian Journey, hopes to “challenge us to find evidence of the risen Christ in the events and people we meet, and in our inner being where the touch of the spirit may be barely visible” and “brings to mind for our meditation, the sufferings of those living in the Australian environment.”


Exhibit and book - MacKillop Place

Josephites celebrate National Apology

Josephites around Australia celebrated the National Apology to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.