MOTHER MARY MacKILLOP
Mother Mary was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne in 1842. Her father had money, but lost it and the family home as well when Mary was only a few months old.He didn't have the discipline to hold down a job for long after that, and the family of eight children often had to move house. Mother Mary later said they were so poor that she was often teased about it at school."My life as a child was one of sorrow; my home, when I had it, a most unhappy one,'' she said.She had to leave school at 14 to work as a governess, and at 16 was supporting her family with her wages.She was always religious, and at 15 was confident she had a "calling" to spend her life working for God.When she was 19, she moved to Penola, in South Australia to be a governess to her cousins, but soon decided she had to help the poor.In those days, children only went to school if their parents could afford to pay fo
Today, her network of charities still help the poor and forgotten in Australia and overseas. So she and Father Woods decided to start their own order, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, with Mother Mary as its first member and Superior (or head). She never said a cross word about the Bishop, who five months later admitted he had been wrong and let her back into the church. The time had now come when Mother Mary felt she had to listen to her conscience - she had to become a nun, as she had always thought she should. "She was absolutely determined to follow through her vision,'' a Uniting Church historian has said. Poor children had no hope of getting an education. Yet nothing could stop her from doing what she thought was right - and many people came to adore and thank her for that. Mother Mary formed a close friendship with the local priest, Father Woods, and together they opened Australia's first free Catholic school. If she gets the credit for one more miracle, she will become a saint within the Catholic Church. She stayed generous and good, living by her principles. He thought Mother Mary was disobedient and had her excommunicated - thrown out of the church. But she kept having fights with the Catholic authorities for many years. Her Sisters of St Joseph became known as the Brown Joeys, and lived as poorly as the people they helped. She didn't want to hide herself away in a convent, but wanted to get out and help people instead.
Common topics in this essay:
Mother Mary,
Brown Josephite,
Uniting Church,
South Australia,
Fitzroy Melbourne,
Mother MacKillop,
Mary Superior,
mother mary,
Catholic Church,
Father Woods,
Brown Joeys,
st joseph,
father woods,
poor children,
catholic church,
sisters st,
sisters st joseph,
help poor,
|
Acceptance Essays
