A good beginning is of great importance

Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland, in September 1778 to a prosperous Catholic family. Though her father, James McAuley, died in 1783 when Catherine was just five years old, his compassion for the poor, especially children and families who lived nearby, was a lifelong example for his eldest daughter.

Fifteen years after her father’s death, Catherine was orphaned in 1798 and chose to live in the home of relatives, some of whom were non-Catholic. In 1803 Catherine was invited to live in the home of William and Catherine Callaghan as a companion to Mrs. Callaghan. The Callaghans were childless and upon Mr Callaghan’s death in 1822, Catherine inherited their fortune: about £25,000, their estate, “furniture and plate.” This was a significant amount of money and would be millions of dollars by today’s standards.

In 1824, Catherine used her inheritance to lease property on Baggot Street, a fashionable neighbourhood in Dublin, for the purpose of building a large house for religious, educational and social services for women and children. Other women, intrigued by the house and the work for which it was intended, were attracted to Catherine and began to join her preparations for the ministry she planned.

References:

Heritage and Formation of Notre Dame.pdf

Reflection:

What is it in Catherine McAuley that continues to inspire you?

The Walking Nuns 

On September 24, 1827, the Feast of our Lady of Mercy, the first residents
came to live in the house they called the House of Mercy in honour of the day and two years later the Chapel was dedicated. Between late 1829 and 1830, after prayerful deliberation and consultation, Catherine and her associates agreed to found a new religious congregation. Though this was not her original intention, Catherine began the founding of this new religious congregation of women dedicated to service to the poor.

Catherine and two of her associates entered the Convent of the Presentation Sisters in Dublin on Sept. 8, 1830, to begin formal preparation for founding the Sisters of Mercy. Fifteen months later the trio pronounced vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and to persevere until death in “the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy.” The new community was founded on December 12, 1831.

Catherine’s concept of a Religious Institute included ministry not typical of that time. Called to serve Christ as the complex social needs demanded, and encouraged by the Archbishop, Catherine and her companions took as their special works the instruction of poor girls, visitation of the sick and the protection of distressed women of good character.

Without the confines of strict enclosure, the “walking nuns”, as they were called, went out with their baskets, and became part of many dioceses, inspiring local young women to see and meet local needs, enabling the new order to spread rapidly. These Sisters of Mercy felt called by God to a life of service to nurse the sick poor as walking nuns which was central to their charism. This same charism fuelled the Sisters of Mercy legacy of servant leadership wherever they travelled to bestow the spirit of Mercy.

Catherine lived only ten years as a Sister of Mercy but in that time she established nine additional autonomous foundations in Ireland and England, and two branch houses near Dublin. When she died in 1841 there were 150 Sisters of Mercy. Shortly thereafter, small groups of sisters left Ireland at the invitation of bishops in Newfoundland, New Zealand, the United States, Argentina and Australia.

References:

Heritage and Formation of Notre Dame.pdf

Reflection:

What is it in Catherine McAuley that continues to inspire you?

We can never say “it is enough”

The Melbourne to which Ursula Frayne arrived was vastly different from the Swan Colony. It was an established city with a population of more than 450,000 and a reputation for elegance and culture. But it was not all polish and opulence. The gold rushes had brought wealth to some but on the other hand had left many families deserted and destitute.

Ursula arrived in Melbourne in March 1857 and within six weeks had raised loans to pay off the mortgage on her convent in Nicholson Street, Fitzroy. Rapid expansion followed. As early as 1860 she had established in Nicholson Street Fitzroy a House of Mercy for unprotected girls of good character, in particular unsupported Irish immigrants. Each week the Sisters would go to the wharves to find girls in need of care. They would offer them accommodation and training in the skills necessary to enter domestic service. In her first ten years in Melbourne Ursula is said to have assisted more than three hundred ‘girls at risk’ to find employment in ‘respectable’ establishments.

Large building programmes were undertaken for educational and social work, culminating in the erection of the first wing of the present ‘Academy’ in 1870 at a cost of £6000, which is approximately $1.5 million today. The Sisters of Mercy were the first teaching nuns in Victoria and under the vigorous leadership of Mother Ursula their establishment included a boarding and day school for girls, together with two primary schools and a domestic training school for orphans. She also founded the St Vincent de Paul’s Orphanage at South Melbourne and managed it until the Christian Brothers took over the boys’ section, leaving the girls under the care of her Sisters. Although the 1872 Act caused temporary cost-cutting in Catholic education, it resulted in expansion for the Nicholson Street community, and Sisters replaced lay teachers when salaries could not be met. Ursula Frayne’s first Victorian country foundation was at Kilmore in 1875 and especially dear to her for its rural setting.

References:

https://www.mercyworld.org/catherine/mercy-foundresses/mother-ursula-frayne/

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/frayne-ursula-3572

Reflection:

Why is the basket a symbol that continues to represent the Mercy Charism today?

Walk in the very same path He trod

The first group of sisters, led by Ursula Frayne, came from Dublin and settled in Victoria Square, Perth, Australia in 1846. A chance to extend the work of Catherine McAuley came when Bishop John Brady, visiting Dublin to recruit missionaries for the emerging colony, requested that Catherine send a group of sisters to assist him in his work there. Thus it happened that, after a long and arduous journey by sea, the small band of sisters under the leadership of Mother Ursula Frayne, arrived in the Swan River Colony on 8 January, 1846.

After initial difficulties in finding accommodation, Ursula and her community moved into a small cottage on what is now St George’s Terrace, near Victoria Avenue. On 2 February of that same year, the sisters opened their first school with one student! By the end of that historic day, however, five more students had joined them. Undaunted, the sisters went out into the community and searched for pupils. By the end of 1846 there were one hundred children in the school, which had by that time moved up to the present Victoria Square site.

To see them through early financial troubles, the sisters were forced to use money sent from Dublin which had originally been set aside for them to return home. This money was used to build the first Convent of Mercy in Australia. The building now known as Holy Cross, with its Foundation Stone dating from 1847, is still in use today and stands as a testimony to those dedicated pioneers whose love and faith in God inspired them to continue God’s work. Two years later, in 1849, the sisters began what was the first secondary school in Western Australia – the school now proudly known as Mercedes College.

Mother Ursula Frayne died in 1885. She is remembered as an outstanding educator of great vision and a warm, caring Sister of Mercy. Her work, and that of those early pioneers, has had a profound and lasting effect on the history of Catholic Education in this State.

References:

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/frayne-ursula-3572

Reflection:

Let us pause for a moment to examine the context into which those pioneer sisters had arrived.

Love  Peace  Joy

Holy Name Convent School, Carlisle opened in February 1938 under the Sisters of Mercy with about 40 students. To encourage enrolments, the sisters would visit Catholic families in the area to encourage them to enrol their children. The response was encouraging, and the school population increased yearly. Piano lessons were given at recess and lunchtime, and after school to State School children. This tuition was an essential supplement to the school fees. Sister Enda and Sister Romuald travelled daily from the Victoria Park Convent to teach and administer at the school. These were bleak times. The world had just come out of a Great Depression followed by the uncertainty of a difficult war and post war years. Transport was a problem, with the sisters having a long journey by foot and bus to reach the school. On very wet days, the sisters were allowed the option of taking the tram.

At this date, the Parish was an adjunct of St Anne’s Belmont Parish. Several priests lived in the Parish during the years 1938 – 1952, but the two who gave most extended service were Father Ahern and Father Power. Father Ahern was the Parish Priest at Belmont and celebrated Sunday Mass each week at Carlisle and visited the school once a week. Father Power was appointed Parish Priest of Carlisle around 1950 and lived initially on the school premises.

Great tribute must be given to the early parishioners of Carlisle who built the Church and were determined to respond to their own faith development and to have their children advantaged by the principles of a Catholic faith combined with academic achievement.

References:

Heritage and Formation of Notre Dame.pdf

Reflection:

Where can you see the Mercy Charism represented at our school?

How does the Mercy Charism inspire me?