Meet Mary Mackillop

Mary MacKillop is Australia's first saint. Mary believed all children, no matter how rich or poor, should have the chance to learn. Mary set up many schools around Australia, especially in remote areas. This is the story of the first school she opened with her sisters in 1866 in Penola, South Australia.

This is the sixth collection to be published. It focusses on the time not long after Mary MacKillop's excommunication when she was encouraged to go to Rome to seek approval for the Rule of the Sisters of St Joseph. Mary set off alone, travelling incognito, with little money and no knowledge of where to stay or how she would travel. Her letters and her diary during 1873 show her amazing trust in the Providence of God as well as her very human feelings of loneliness, her worry about the Sisters back in Australia and her delight in visiting the holy places especially St Peter's Basilica. Little did Mary MacKillop dream that in 2010 thousands would gather in St Peter's Square to see her photo hanging from the Basilica as she was proclaimed a Saint by Pope Benedict XVI.

Between the ages of 41 and 57 Mary MacKillop experienced many challenges. In these letters, especially those to trusted friends, we meet Mary MacKillop: a woman who merits acknowledgement as Australia's first saint.

This is the sixth collection to be published. It focusses on the time not long after Mary MacKillop's excommunication when she was encouraged to go to Rome to seek approval for the Rule of the Sisters of St Joseph. Mary set off alone, travelling incognito, with little money and no knowledge of where to stay or how she would travel. Her letters and her diary during 1873 show her amazing trust in the Providence of God as well as her very human feelings of loneliness, her worry about the Sisters back in Australia and her delight in visiting the holy places especially St Peter's Basilica. Little did Mary MacKillop dream that in 2010 thousands would gather in St Peter's Square to see her photo hanging from the Basilica as she was proclaimed a Saint by Pope Benedict XVI.

Includes Readings From Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, Elizabeth Johnson, Leonardo Boff, Francis of Assisi, Julian of Norwich, Sandra Schneiders, Edith Stein, Teilhard de Chardin, Augustine, Gertrud of Helfta, George Herbert, Karl Rahner, Hildegard of Bingen, Thérèse of Lisieux, Dorothy Day, Bernard Häring, Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross, Richard McBrien, Rosemary Haughton, Mary MacKillop, and many others.

The essays in this very timely volume, each in its own way, journey with Joseph. The discerning reader will enjoy the richness and variety of Joseph's legacy as seen through the eyes of the writers, who bear the title Josephite and who generously share their knowledge, experience, reflection and prayer of this saint, whom Julian Tenison Woods calls 'the Prince of God's House who was among the poorest of men and hidden with Mary and Jesus' (4 September, 1887). Sister Lauretta Baker rsj, Congregational Leader, Sisters of St. Joseph, Lochinvar Who better than the Josephites to give us an "inside" look at the character who gave early shape to Jesus' Jewish life and spirituality. When Mary MacKillop and Julian Woods were establishing a new religious group in Australia, why did they turn to Joseph as their identity-marker? Human aspirations, Gospel verses, and ancient legends all met to sow the seeds that would flourish in this soil, and be known with respect and gratitude as "the Joeys." Professor Mary Coloe, pbvm. Yarra Theological Union, University of Divinity, Melbourne. It is often said that 'actions speak louder than words. In the case of St Joseph this is so true. With no recorded utterances in the Scriptures, we have only to rely on his deeds. Journeying with Joseph is a timely publication not only for the Year of St Joseph, but one which allows us to delve more deeply into how we might draw inspiration from him to follow more closely the path of being a missionary Disciple, in a world deeply affected by COVID. The net is cast well and wide when you survey the topics contained in this book, and these show that while St Joseph may not have spoken any words, his deeds were, and are, profound. Patrick O'Regan DD, Archbishop of Adelaide, (Josephite Companion).