Thanks to Father James Martin, SJ, for this article – “Pope Hopes Excommunicated Nun Might Become Saint (America, July 9, 2009).
Mother Mary McKillop, the foundress of the Australian-based Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, was, in 1871, officially excommunicated by her local bishop, on the grounds that she “’she had incited the sisters to disobedience and defiance.” That same church leader, Bishop Sheil, had earlier invited her to work in Adelaide, where she and her sisters would eventually set up schools, a women’s shelter and an orphanage, among their many works….
In April of this year, in an extraordinary gesture, Bishop’s Sheil’s successor, the current archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, made a public apology to the Sisters for their foundress’s excommunication. Standing before her statue, said that he was “profoundly ashamed of the Bishop’s actions in driving the Sisters out onto the streets.” McKillop was beatified (the next-to-last step for canonization) by Pope John Paul II in 1995.
This is an interesting article in its own right but also in light of the swirling news about the Apostolic Visitation to some U.S. women’s religious communities. There is a great variety of speculation, study, interpretation, experience, and plain old ignorance about the Visitation. Sadly, some in the Catholic blogosphere have used this opportunity to slander individual Catholic sisters and nuns and congregations with accusations that sound pretty much like the ones Mother Mary McKillop received. I am reminded of the words of Saint Augustine (which someone had posted elsewhere as a rebuke to slanderous comments) — “In essentials, unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things charity.”
I’d love to hear your comments about Father Martin’s piece, Pope Hopes Excommunicated Nun Might Become Saint. The article goes a lot deeper than the headline suggests and includes the fabulous line “Musty stories of dead nuns?” How can you resist wanting to know how Father Martin slipped that line in??
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I would just commend to anyone interested Father Martin’s book “Lives of the Saints.” He tells his own faith story beside the stories of saints who impacted his life, not all of whom were the “perfect” kind of saint many think of at first. It is a wonderful meditation, meant to be savored rather than devoured. Enjoy!
One thing modeled so beautifully by John Paul II was his (what I call) “Atonement Tour.” The late Holy Father asked forgiveness for the Church’s role in some of the great injustices of the first two millenia. The image of him praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is unforgettable. It is edifying to see that the Church can admit her collective wrongdoings and truly repent, doing as a group what she has always asked us to do individually.
I hope Mother Mary McKillop is canonized soon. Let’s see, she could be another patron saint of those unjustly accused!
Mary McKillop is commemorated in the Indianapolis Carmel’s “People’s Companion to the Breviary,” as well. There are a couple of good biographies of her out there, the best of which is by an Australian Jesuit who is postulator for her cause: Paul Gardiner, SJ, “An Extraordinary Australian Mary MacKillop” (Sydney, 1993). I highly recommend it, if Jim Martin’s article whetted your appetite.
It’s not uncommon for people once censured (put under interdict or excommunicated) by the hierarchy to be canonized. Mother Theodore Guerin (now saint) of the Indiana Sisters of Providence was put under interdict, as was the IBVM founder, Mary Ward (whose cause is now being taken VERY seriously, according to some articles in “The Tablet” and other British sources). This is a point worth remembering when considering other controversial figures, including some who have been critiqued in our own day, I think….
Susan — great book by Father Martin. We had him on a while back for a live discussion in which we discussed it a bit. See Father Martin’s blog tour conversations.
Another Sister Julie — Pope John Paul II did a great service to many within and outside of the Church with his “atonement tour”.
Peggy — thanks for the book suggestion – I went immediately to Amazon to get it. And I love Mary Ward. I worked for the IBVMs in Toronto during grad school and learned a lot about their founder. The sisters gave me a bunch of their books. Have you ever read “Love: The Driving Force: Mary Ward’s Spirituality: Its Significance for Moral Theology” by Sister Jeanne Cover, IBVM? It’s a good study.
Would that all those concerned with the current state of consecrated religious life were well acquainted with the story of Mary McKillop. Would that they knew the complete story of all of those founders and foundresses of orders and congregations respected and valued today; stories replete with authoritarian edicts and obstacles to mission in service of those in need. The story of many, many religious congregations reveals unsympathetic, if not unreasonable attitudes on the part of the hierarchy, the inability to understand and cooperate with the charism revealed to the founder or foundress, conscious subversion of the stated mission of the institute or the demand that the whole way of life envisioned had to conform to a previsiously established norm of behavior and service. Most of us need a good dose of Church History.
To find out more about Blessed Mary MacKillop, the religious congregation(s) that she co founded, have some excellent information at:
http://www.sosj.org.au
and follow the link titled Mary MacKillop.
PS:
To us here in Australia, Blessed Mary MacKillop is extremely important – she is the first Australian to be beatified – and it is 100 years since her death on August 8 1909.
In the early 1980’s when I was a canditate with the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the congregation she co founded), I had the great privilege of meeting several sisters (who were then in their 90’s), who were novices at the time of Mother Mary’s last illness.
I was also very fortunate to be taken on a tour of the archives that were preserved of her life and saw some of her letters etc.
These are now part of the Mary MacKillop Museum at North Sydney NSW Australia.
Thanks for the link, Christine H — how cool to know nuns who knew Mother Mary and to see her letters, etc. You are blessed to have entered with time to interact with those nuns. I can’t wait to learn more about Mother Mary.
I agree. Those who play the game “Who is more Catholic ” haven’t read the lives of the saints. I always wonder if those who advocate that all nuns wear the habit are themselves wearing an outward sign of their faith: a crucifix outside their shirts, for instance. We are all called to evangelization.
Julie, thanks for the reference to Jeanne Cover’s book. I was happy to discover that it’s in the Syracuse University library, so I’m having it delivered to me (one of the neat faculty advantages, still in effect even though salaries are frozen ) and look forward to reading it SOON. Sounds terrific.
Thanks for this and all your information. The story of the australian
leader of a women’s community is compelling As was said, su h
arrogant treatment was not that uncommon. When I started researching a small Iowa community thata was suppressed and
placed under inderdict I realized how many other communities
suffered through to better times. The Iowa sisters were known
as the Sisters of the Holy Ghost and their leader was Mother
Isabel Melvin. For historians: the triennial conference of the
history of women religious will be in June, 27-30 2010 in Scranton, PA. website is http://www.chwr.org.
Having picked up Blessed Mary’s biography (by Father Gardiner) while visiting Australia for the first time, and having had a Sister of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart as spiritual director of the St. Vincent de Paul group I belonged to, I want to speak a bit about this great lady and her legacy.
Father Julian Tennyson Woods noticed, while in France, a group of Sisters who taught children in areas, called the Sisters of St. Joseph. He decided to replicate this community in Australia, so that Sisters could teach and catechize in poor rural areas and in poor parts of the city as well. He and Blessed Mary founded such a group.
The ‘Brown Joeys,” as the Josephite Sisters were nicknamed, would go into schools only in the poorest areas, and would only make foundations in places where no other religious community wanted to go.
If memory serves, Father Gardiner’s take on Bishop Sheil’s actions is that the poor man was unfit for the job, knew it, and both of these factors worked in a vicious cycle to make him irrational.
Later troubles with the two brother Bishops Quinn were more serious, as was Mary’s estrangement from her co founder Father Julian Tennyson Woods.
In 1996, while I was living in Australia, an article was published in America, the Jesuit magazine, written by a member of a well known religious order of Sisters, claiming to be about Mary MacKillop. This person’s life bore very little resemblance to the person I had become familiar with. There were so many inaccuracies that I lost count. I hope America does some fact checking this time.
And, Annie, yes, I wear a St. Benedict medal outside of my shirt. The who is more Catholic game can be played by those who advocate no habits as well, would you not agree?
Sr. Hildegarde, quite a few of us do have a good dose of Church history, and realize that it has always been composed of sinners like me-and you.
As a relative of Mother Mary McKillop – her Father Alexander and an ancestor of mine were related – we’re naturally very interested to find out exactly when she’s possiblygoing to be cannonised. Can anyone give us an idea of likely schedules
please? Will wait to hear from someone soon. All thanks.
Hi Angus, thanks for writing. Check out the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. They are the ones pursuing Mother McKillop’s cause for canonisation. They have a whole section on the canonization of Mother McKillop and with update from October 2009. Will let you know if i find out anything else. Blessings, Angus. You come from good roots!