Margie Abbott, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott MP, spoke at the recent Campion College Women’s Luncheon on her Catholic spirituality as a mother, a wife and an educator.
“As a married woman my prayer life changed”, she told the 100 or so participants attending the function. “Part of my support for my loved ones would be to ask God to care for them. Prayers for me have always been a form of conversation with God.”
Prayer and the habit of praying as a family was especially important for the young, she said. “Regular prayer time with the children was important as they were growing up,” she told her audience.
She also emphasised the positive effect that education has on the lives of women whether in the workplace or the house and that Catholic girls should use their education to help improve society.
“I have encouraged the girls I have taught that they can be anything they want to be whether that means prime minister, a doctor, a chef and they can be all this and still be a mother or even just a mother,” she told Campion’s guests.
The luncheon was organised to raise awareness for independent Catholic tertiary institutions such as Campion, which offers courses in the the Classical Liberal Arts. Mrs Abbott, a business woman in the field of childcare, noted the importance of independent institutions such as Campion and the unique opportunities they offer students:
“What Campion offers now and into the future is a community in education; a personal approach to education and a pastoral aspect in education that perhaps can be easily lost in larger institutions….The liberal arts qualification is an opportunity to look at what where we come from, what we are and appreciate what we are and carry forward that into the future,” she said.