Iam often impressed by how creativity and compassion go hand in hand. The Sisters of St. Joseph in Australia provide a good example of this.

On Friday, the nuns begin a nationwide road trip to raise funds for disaster recovery in Australia. The nation has had severe floods and other natural disasters in recent months, and many people continue to suffer from the effects of these events.

Sister Julianne Murphy is in the driver’s seat for the seven-month project. She’ll lead the effort with stops across the nation for fundraising dinners, visits with young people at schools, and visits to areas affected by natural disasters.

All the funds will go to grants for local projects for disaster recovery, through the Mary MacKillop Foundation. Mary MacKillop founded the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1867 and is the first Australian saint (canonized October 2010) in the Roman Catholic Church. For more information about the Sisters Travelling Roadshow, visit their website ( http://bit.ly/ifC77w).

As the sisters get ready for the road, I pray that they will have a safe trip and that their Travelling Roadshow will raise lots of funds for people in need.

Please join me in prayer by writing a blessing for the sisters in the comment box below.

Join the sisters and A Nun’s Life community at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE for Praying with the Sisters live podcast and chat.

Australia will have its first Catholic saint in the person of Mary MacKillop, a Sister of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Mother MacKillop founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, a religious community that has ministered across Australia and New Zealand, including building dozens of schools for impoverished children in the Australian Outback in the 1800s. They are also committed to “care for the homeless and destitute both young and old, and Refuges for ex-prisoners and ex-prostitutes who wished to make a fresh start in life.” (source: Sisters’ website)

Mary MacKillop is not only a saint for Catholics but she is a saint for Australia. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd noted that her canonization is “a great, great tribute to her hard work in education” and “a great honor for Australia.” (source: Associated Press) She is even featured on a one dollar coin, the first of the Royal Australian Mint’s series featuring inspirational Australians.

This saint, like many saints before her, took her religious vows seriously and followed God even when it meant challenging the Church that she loved dearly. “She was a strong-willed advocate who sometimes got into trouble for challenging orthodox thinking within the male-dominated church. In 1869 she was excommunicated for inciting her followers to disobedience, though the bishop who punished her recanted three years later and she was exonerated by a church commission.” (source: Associated Press)

The Sisters themselves note, “Throughout her life, Mary met with opposition from people outside the Church and even from some of those within it. In the most difficult of times she consistently refused to attack those who wrongly accused her and undermined her work, but continued in the way she believed God was calling her and was always ready to forgive those who wronged her.” (source: Sisters’ website)

Blessed Mary MacKillop is, even today, “an example of great courage and trust in her living out of God’s loving and compassionate care of those in need.”

Mary MacKillop will be canonized on October 17, 2010, in Rome. The process of canonization is an expensive one, so please, keep the sisters in mind and consider donating funds to them.

Congratulations to the Sisters of Saint Joseph and all women religious, to Australia, to the Catholic Church, and to all whom Mary MacKillop inspired and will continue to inspire.

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Join us for prayer this evening during our live Praying with the Sisters podcast at 6 p.m. CST at http://aNunsLife.org/live .

Nunday is here! Today’s photo of Catholic nuns and sisters is from Sister Sarah Puls, of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict (commonly just called “Good Sams”) in Australia.

Writes Sister Sarah,

This particular bunch of sisters are all I-Kiribati (from Kiribati, like an Australian is from Australia). From left to right their names are Tibwau, Teubwaniman, Ameria, Beia and Kakare. This photo was taken at a gathering we held for all the old people on the island of North Tarawa, Kiribati. The old people came on trucks and sat around the mwaneaba (the building we’re in) all day dancing and talking and eating. In this photo they’re doing a dance to entertain the old people who had gathered.

I took this photo during my recent 5 month stay in Kiribati and I had the pleasure of learning some dancing too. It’s an incredibly precise art though so my dancing was never good enough to entertain the locals, but I had great fun when we had gathering of the sisters!

Check out Sister Sarah’s blog, The Nun Thing.

Found this article about Sister Mary MacKillop on Zenit.org

Sister Mary MacKillop Featured on Coin
1st of Inspirational Australians Series

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 9, 2008 (Zenit.org) – Australia is honoring Blessed Mary MacKillop, who will likely be the country’s first saint, by featuring her on a collector’s coin.

Senator Nick Sherry, minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, launched the Sister Mary MacKillop coin Tuesday.

The $1 uncirculated coin is the first of the Royal Australian Mint’s series featuring inspirational Australians, which commemorates unique Australians who have made an extraordinary contribution to the nation.

“As the Australian people’s saint, and someone who could be called Australia’s saint in waiting, Mary MacKillop is a fitting choice for the first coin in the Inspirational Australian series,” said Sherry.

He explained that Royal Australian Mint coin designer Vladimir Gottwald depicted MacKillop as “guiding future generations.”

“Mary was an exceptional Australian woman who stands as an example of great courage, trust and compassion, and as our first saint, she will forever inspire our nation,” said the senator.

Mary MacKillop was born in Victoria in 1842.

She founded the Order of the Sisters of St Joseph, the first religious order to be founded by an Australian.

Under the sister’s guidance, the order established schools and charitable institutions across Australia and was devoted to the care of orphans, neglected children, the homeless, sick and aged. She died in 1909.

Pope John Paul II beatified Sister Mary MacKillop in 1995.

To order the coin go to the Royal Australian Mint.