Catholic Voice

Josephites take their place in our history

Sr M Celsus O'Grady shakes hands with Archbishop Coleridge after unveiling the Julian Tenison Woods Centre plaque.

Hundreds of people who gathered to celebrate 125 years in Goulburn for the Sisters of St Joseph heard a 91-year-old Sister talk of the importance of preserving history.

The celebrations began with a ceremony held in Goulburn’s old cemetery to commemorate the lives of 16 sisters buried there and 11 buried elsewhere.

 About 70 Josephites braved the cold to take part in the liturgy. “We are standing on the shoulders of the ones who went before us,” they prayed.

 Goulburn congregational leader Sr Noelene Quinane said the Josephites were not only celebrating, but remembering the past 125 years and what their predecessors went through.

 “We think of our earlier sisters and we think of courage, resilience and great fortitude,” she said. “We’re here today because of these people; they’ve lived the Josephite spirit for us. It seems only right after 125 years that we pause to honour them.”

 Two days later about 500 people attended Mass for the Goulburn Josephites celebrated at Our Lady of Fatima Church by Archbishop Mark Coleridge with former Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn Francis Carroll, Wagga Wagga Bishop Gerard Hanna and 22 priests .

 Archbishop Coleridge paid tribute to the Sisters offering his gratitude for the contribution they had made to the community and to rural areas in particular.

 “Again and again and again they have risen up above all to tend to the lowly and feed the hungry,” he said. “Yes, they are an aging community. Why cannot the aging community give birth again?”

After a luncheon, new history rooms and an assembly area at St Joseph’s convent were opened by 91 year old Sr M. Celsus O’ Grady, who was given the honour in her 70^th year of religious profession. “At least that’s what they told me,” she said, extracting laughs from the crowd.

“I heard once that when an elderly person dies, a library is lost,” said Sr Celsus and because of this history must be well preserved. “We were so busy making history we didn’t have time to write about it,” she said.

“We’re all guilty of cleaning up and throwing things out, and then we have the remorse of why didn’t we save those things.” Sr Celsus said the history rooms were a place where the Sisters of St Joseph would always be remembered.

“They are the foundation stones on which our convent here in Goulburn is built. We are just the stepping stones,” she said. Sr M Fabian Mills, who celebrated her 105^th birthday last month, officially named the gathering place The Julian Tenison Woods Centre, in honour of the Josephites’ co-founder.

 
Sr Colleen Clear watches as Archbishop Coleridge blesses the mural which was specially commissioned for the history centre.

Sr Mary Murphy, Mr John Yeadon, 80, the oldest living St Joseph's School student, and Sr Larraine Crowe cut the cake.