Sydney
6 January 2002
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Pope John Paul II prays that peace will triumph over evil
Church helps secure anti-AIDS drug for South African mothers
Pilgrims return to the skies
Catholic students, schools among best in HSC results
Minister praises St Mel’s for anti-racism project
Pax Christi peace vigil extends
Brothers celebrate 200 years of religious life
Abortion doubles breast cancer risk
Vietnamese fast for freedom
Liturgy and ministry programs official
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Letters: Fr Ray’s ministry
Conversation: Fr Desmond Daniels, Indian health worker
Reflections: Christ’s God - Mohammed’s God
In the footsteps of the ‘founding father’
Opinion: Star shows us the way to peace - in Christ’s way
A blend of Dreamtime and history
Obituary: Lawyer, tireless worker and papal knight - Lawrence Paul Trisley 1939-2001
Reform family law to raise status of marriage, says analyst
Mary, the perfect Christian
Inspirations: Social justice may lead kids to Mass
In the footsteps of the ‘founding father’
A group of pilgrims at the entrance to Corpus Christi Church, Waratah, with Tegan Hayden, a pupil of Corpus Christi Primary who welcomed the Sisters.
Blessed Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods - founders of the Sisters of St Joseph and the Diocesan Sisters of St Joseph - became vibrantly alive for today’s Josephites as they celebrated their shared heritage during a series of pilgrimages.
Sr Joan Goodwin RSJ from North Sydney’s Mary MacKillop Committee explained: “We wanted to be true to, and to respond to Mary’s wish never to forget ‘our father founder’, as she described Fr Woods”.
So they joined with other Josephites from interstate to make pilgrimages to the Maitland Newcastle diocese.
There they met Sisters belonging to congregations sprung from Fr Julian’s foundation at Perthville, in the Bathurst diocese.
They were welcomed by descendents of Mary MacKillop’s family and a great grandniece of Fr Julian Woods.
“It was a memorable, precious experience,” one pilgrim said. “Julian became a vibrant, living person for me; the places became sacred for me.”
The pilgrims traced the steps of Fr Julian Woods in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese from 1871.
He preached his first sermon at St Mary’s, Newcastle, at Archbishop Polding’s bidding - soon after the news arrived of Mary MacKillop’s excommunication.
That was followed by many missions in the diocese. He last preached there in 1882 in what was then St John’s Cathedral, Maitland.
After that, the Redemptorists arrived - they increased and Fr Julian decreased. His days as a solitary missionary were over.
Following in his steps more than 120 years later, the Josephites first travelled to Newcastle’s foreshores and the scene of the old wharf where Fr Julian would have disembarked.
Then it was on to Nobby’s Beaches, where Fr Julian in his role as a prominent natural scientist examined the plant and animal life.
The Sisters also visited his mission sites at St Mary’s, Newcastle; St Joseph’s, The Junction; and Sacred Heart, Hamilton and Lambton.
They prayed at Corpus Christi Church’s Mary MacKillop chapel at Waratah before travelling to St Brigid’s, Raymond Terrace; St Bede’s, Morpeth; St John’s, Maitland, and St Mary’s Dominican church.
They didn’t go as far as Fr Julian - who tended to the faithful as far away as Branxton, Singleton, Muswellbrook, Murrurundi and Tamworth - but Fr Julian came alive for the Sisters through his letters and newspaper extracts about his preaching and public talks.
They found friendly hospitality at St Joseph’s convents, The Junction and Shortland, the parishes at Waratah and Morpeth and the Tenison Woods Education Centre, Lochinvar, where the Sisters stayed with the Lochinvar Josephites. They were surprised by a lunch with the Tobin family at Metford. Pam Tobin (nee Tenison Woods) is a great-granddaughter of Fr Julian’s brother, James.
The pilgrimage ended at Shortland, parish of Our Lady of Victories, on whose feast day Fr Julian died.
His life and work came to life in the prayerful atmosphere in the churches, the heartfelt welcome and the beautiful setting of the Hunter Valley - in a very special walk “in the shoes of Julian and the Lochinvar Sisters”.