Inspirations: Mercy Sisters open up Sacred Spaces

Sydney
4 August 2002

Pope tells young: Don’t be put off by priests’ sins

Papal honour to war rape heroine

Stem-cell research

Painting of St Edith Stein to be blessed

Maternity leave focus may cloud other issues

Central Coast businesses help Vinnies care for needy

Columbans end a 43-year tradition

Sydney festivals follow in wake of World Youth Day

Need for audio loops so faithful can hear services

‘Reprehensible’ decision

Editorial: Sanctions on Iraq

Letters: Marian devotion

Conversation: Swimmers offered to teach Pope John - Kevin Berry, Olympic champion, writer, speaker

Reflections: John Paul touches hearts of young

Challenge for Catholics to defend their faith

Hitting the high Cs on Toronto stage

Comment: Stem-cell research? Surplus or not, it’s a matter of life and death for embryos

Education: Freedom to have a happy childhood

Inspirations: Mercy Sisters open up Sacred Spaces

Inspirations: Mercy Sisters open up Sacred Spaces

Sr Monica Sinclair rings the bell at the Singleton complex

The Vatican said in Cultural Heritage of the Church and Religious Families, issued in 1994, that “architectural works of art and every other kind of artistic and historic treasures … should be shown the utmost attention because they are vehicles of culture and evangelisation and they become eloquent witnesses of the faith of the Church”.

The vast constructions of the old Christian tradition should be made available if possible “for social and cultural activities in favour of the population with whose help these works were built”.

That is what the Mercy Sisters at Singleton are trying to do with their ‘Sacred Spaces’ project established in 1995, which has seen their convent and grounds opened up to the wider community.

Sr Monica Sinclair, former congregational leader and now full-time Sacred Spaces project director, says that the vast Singleton convent, the additional buildings and 10ha grounds have been immaculately kept by generations of Mercy Sisters.

Through Sacred Spaces they hope to preserve their heritage for the future, and at the same time make it available to others in a way that carries on the essential ministry of Mercy, she says.

The buildings in the motherhouse convent are not suited to the style of life led by apostolic religious women in modern times.

In the aftermath of Vatican II, and to adapt to the needs of modern society and a reduced number of vocations, many apostolic religious here and overseas relinquished their branch convents and sometimes their motherhouses, some to live in houses in the wider community.

The Mercy Sisters say they are custodians of a precious resource that was fully utilised in the past for the service of the community, but is now under-used. So they have opened up the ground floor of the convent and the chapel to the public for heritage tours, concerts, weddings, luncheons and dinners, workshops and seminars.

They host only activities that are appropriate to a sacred setting and that fit in with the Mercy values of spirituality, service, hospitality and culture.

They are also sharing their impressive library resource – its index can be accessed on the internet.

The convent, the adjacent St Catherine’s College, and Singleton’s St Patrick’s Catholic Church are all heritage buildings.

The parish of Singleton was created in 1845 and 10 Mercy Sisters arrived from Ennis, Ireland, in 1875, invited by the Bishop of Maitland, Dr James Murray.

Within nine years 10 branch convents and schools were established from Newcastle to Gunnedah.

The mother convent at Singleton, envisioned and built by Mother Mary Stanislaus Kenny, was opened and blessed by Cardinal Moran in 1909. Mother Mary Magdalen Meaney built the new chapel in Mother Mary Stanislaus’ honour in 1925.

By the 1940s the convent property was fully established with its boarding school, farm, orchard, tennis court, gardens and playing fields.

Now it incorporates a 37-bed nursing home and hostel, and independent-living acc-ommodation is being constructed to use the novitiate facilities.

Sisters still live in the convent but, because of its size, they are able to maintain their privacy while Sacred Space activities take place.

The story of the convent is “a typical early Australian story, a typical town story, a typical parish story and a typical women’s religious congregation story well told in the buildings”, says Sr Monica.

The complex includes the following original buildings:

• A two-roomed cottage in the front garden (built in 1859) that has been the Sisters’ museum and Mercy education space since 1975;

• The 1860 church and Marian shrine;

• The 1892–1909 convent which has 16ft ceilings, cedar joinery, magnificent staircases, stained glass windows and large rooms, some with original furnishings.

It also houses the library that Mons Peter Meagher, parish priest of Singleton for 30 years, bequeathed to the Sisters in 1924 and the 1925 chapel with its magnificent paintings, one of the oldest pipe organs in the country, marble altar and statues, polished maple choir stalls and stained glass windows.

“We hope through Sacred Spaces that the convent can be preserved,” says Sr Monica. “It is still a convent. The atmosphere here is still quiet, beautiful and spiritual.”

It is also the ideal place for parish or group retreats.