Sisters of St Joseph depart the Sale Diocese after 120 years

Fr Denis O’Bryan PP, Clyde North, spoke on behalf of the priests of Sale acknowledging the contribution of the Sisters of St Joseph at a farewell Mass celebrated by Bishop Greg Bennet. Present were Sr Sue McGuiness RSJ, regional
leader of the Sisters of St Joseph in Victoria and Tasmania, and a number of Sisters and Priests. This is an extract of his address.

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It is a great honour for me to speak on behalf of the Sale Diocese to express our gratitude for the presence of Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart within the Diocese over the past 120 years. It spans the years of every Bishop of Sale, from Bishop Corbett, our first bishop, to the present time with our tenth bishop, Bishop Greg Bennet.

The first schools opened by the Sisters in the Sale Diocese, at Traralgon, Morwell, Maffra and Omeo, were during the lifetime of St Mary MacKillop, and the Sisters have been present in the vast majority of the parishes of our Diocese.

In a very personal sense, I and my family live with a great gratitude to the Sisters of St Joseph as my three sisters, Anne, Julie and Fiona, and my youngest brother, Kevin, were all adopted from the Broadmeadows babies home. We have been very blessed. Many Gippsland families would have similar experiences.

50 years ago, in 1972, there were about 130 Sisters living in the Diocese of Sale, nearly half of them Josephites. In 1972 there were 25 Sion Sisters in Sale, and 12 in Warragul; 12 Brigidines in Traralgon; 11 Presentation Sisters in Bairnsdale, and 12 in Moe, 7 in Pakenham; 5 Good Samaritan Sisters in Korumburra.

And then there were the Josephites in every corner of the Diocese, in small and sometimes very remote towns: 3 in Cowwarr, 2 in Fish Creek, 5 in Iona, 2 in Koo Wee Rup, 2 in Lakes Entrance, 3 in Leongatha, 4 in Maffra, 5 in Morwell, 6 in Morwell East, 5 in Newborough, 2 in Omeo (68 children in school), 4 in Orbost (218 children in the school), 3 in Trafalgar, 6 in Wonthaggi, 2 in Yallourn, and 3 in Yarram.

In more recent years, the Josephites maintained a presence in quite a few places with only one Sister in residence. Many of these parishes were quite small, and the presence of even a small community of Sisters was a large and cherished presence both within the parish and the larger community.

The Sisters had previously been in Sale, Bairnsdale and Traralgon, and they would in the future be in Churchill, Cranbourne and Narre Warren.

For many years the Sisters had no cars; they relied on public transport and other people to drive them. At the beginning of the school year, as the Sisters were returning home, I am told that they would fill up the greater part of a carriage on the train from Melbourne to Orbost, with little numbers disembarking at various stations along the way.

And then they had to travel to their convent. Omeo was very remote. In 1921 a writer described the journey from Bairnsdale to Omeo by public transport: “The traveller leaves Bairnsdale at about 7.00am and arrives at the City of the Alps by about 2.30pm.”

My own memories of the Josephites begin at St Laurence’s School Leongatha. I had started school at Hallston Primary, which had a total enrolment of 13 pupils from Prep to Grade 8, and one teacher. St Laurence’s seemed huge.

The Sisters were marvellous; the whole school had only one teacher who was not a Josephite. There was always a natural prayerful atmosphere; faith was nurtured and the Sisters were constantly in demand by families for prayers and encouragement. But I also remember to this day their love for Australia, Melbourne Cup Day, and ANZAC Day, with the annual telling of a humble and courageous story of service, Simpson and his donkey at Gallipoli.

In my seminary years I came to appreciate the Joeys in a new light when Sr Doreen and Sr Christina, and others, would join with the seminarians and a few others to run Christian Living Camps in the Sale Diocese. Friendships were formed. Sr Doreen Dagge became involved with youth ministry in the diocese, including with Brendan Hogan, now parish priest at Narre Warren.

As a priest though, in Omeo and Yarram, where I worked closely with the Sisters, I came to a deeper appreciation of their powerful presence, and the charism of being a Josephite. We shared meals and prayer together every week. We laughed and relaxed, enjoyed day trips away, and loved our time in the parishes. The convents were places of great hospitality for priests and parishioners. The Sisters have had a wonderful ability to meet and welcome the humblest people, the poorest people, with the same dignity with which they welcomed the bishops to their convents.

My most enduring memory is of the Sisters as companions in prayer, faith and mission. The relationship between the Sisters and priests has been deeply cherished.

Sr Declan Keeghan, a woman of great faith, was a person who had a fun sense of humour and who laughed at the funny side of her own life, and was the only person I know to get lost in Omeo while walking. She suffered motor neurone disease so courageously.

Sr Maria Dunell in her ten years at Omeo was also an ambulance officer, in a place that had no paramedics. The ambulance officers included teachers, farmers, and Maria. They received training regularly. On one occasion Maria was driving the ambulance at the bush races at Hinnomunjie, between Omeo and Benambra.

In these bush races the ambulance follows immediately behind the horses. Maria missed the start of the race so sped up to catch up with the horses, which she did. Then the other ambulance officer warned her to slow down; he said that if anyone fell off a horse that they would probably run over them. At one stage, I believe the race caller was tipping the ambulance to win the race!

Sr Ellen Lane is a reminder of the marvellous contingent of Irish Sisters who came to the Australian mission. She may have thought that Omeo was remote, but she later went the Balgo Mission on the edge of the desert in northern West Australia, a truly remote place.

Today makes us think of the vocations from Gippsland to the Josephites. There may not be any Josephite Sisters in Gippsland now, but there certainly are Gippslanders among the Josephite Sisters.

The vocations have come from everywhere, including Orbost (Sr Lynette Young), Omeo (Sr Lucia Flanagan) and even Gibbo River, far north of Omeo (Sr Edith Toland).

We think of the evolvement in ministry: the motor mission based at Fish Creek, bringing catechetics to tiny rural sate schools around South Gippsland; pastoral associates in many parishes; and so on.

We think of the sacrifices made. Parishioners and friends in the community have been so generous to the Sisters. They have recognized that they lived simply and often in poverty before Government funding for schools began in the 1960’s. They kept the schools running at their own cost. It was and is a witness that is much appreciated. People reciprocated. In my years at Omeo people were generous with food and hospitality, and the men ensured that the Convent never ran short of wood for the stove and for heating.

I began by remembering back to 1972, fifty years ago, and what a different picture we see today! It has been fifty years that have seen great change. I am reminded of the words of Pope Francis in 2015 that we live not so much in an era of great change, but in a fundamental change of era.

We are acknowledging a particular moment today, which Bishop Greg described in his homily as moment of sadness for the Sale Diocese, and we feel the loss. But our ministry in the church in Australia continues and we pray the intercession of St Mary to enlighten our way forward.

Today we wish to acknowledge the extraordinary gift that the Sisters of St Joseph have been to the people of our Diocese over the past 120 years. [/s2If]