Monica Dutton

Nothing worthwhile comes easily, writes Monica Dutton. If we are not tested, we never know our potential. It is the sacrifice that gives us strength, the struggle that makes us resilient.

BY Monica Dutton*

We always knew when Lent started. It was when the Freddos disappeared.

For as long as we could remember, dad had always arrived home on Friday night with a brown paper bag containing six chocolate Freddo Frogs (one for each of us), and a Cadbury Dairy Milk for mum. It didn’t matter whether we had been ‘naughty or nice’ there was always a Freddo for everyone. When he came through the door without them, we knew Lent had started.

If the significance of Ash Wednesday was not immediately apparent to us, the lack of chocolate frogs on Friday nights certainly was!

As we grew older, Lent was defined by Project Compassion boxes, Stations of the Cross and purple cloths draped over statues in the church. It was ‘a solemn time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving’ (echoes of the Green Catechism?) I remember feeling very virtuous in Year 2 as we coloured one of 40 golden pennies on a worksheet during ‘quiet time’ after lunch to signify completion of a range of options for Lenten observance (picking up papers in the playground was deemed by Sister Fabian to be a particularly worthy endeavour!).

And of course – there was the mandatory fish and chips on Friday night. The little corner shop would be jam packed and overflowing onto the street with Catholics from near and far, and the noise and clamour of orders being shouted to the sweaty cooks. The heat, the smells, the smoky haze, the fish being dipped into creamy white batter in shiny stainless steel bowls, and the steaming sizzle as they hit the boiling oil. And “Number 56!” being shouted over the top of the animated chatter and red laminex tables as the salt container was deftly shaken and the order of fish, chips and potato scallops for eight was quickly and efficiently wrapped in newspaper to keep it hot until we got back home.

Lent and its peculiar observances were all very simple really.

As time passed, so did the externally imposed disciplines. The focus of Lent shifted. Personal change was now required. This made things very much more complicated!

They had moved the goalposts! It was now fine to have Freddos during Lent and barbecues on Friday nights. We now had to decide for ourselves. What to do? Surely it wouldn’t be too hard to think of something to ‘give up’ for Lent – after all we had been doing it for years! It became increasingly apparent however, that it wasn’t enough to just ‘give up’ something any more. There needed to be a change of heart, of mind and of spirit. This was very confronting indeed! So much easier to go without Freddos, or later – to let that bottle of Shiraz age nicely under the stairs for a few more weeks. The challenge of self-directed personal renewal was much more difficult.

Making time to reflect on our lives and taking steps to move out of our comfort zone is not easy. We have become far too comfortable; we have come to think that everything should be achieved with minimal effort – that inconvenient, difficult or unpleasant aspects of life are to be avoided at all cost. We are constantly bombarded by advertising which shows us perfect people living perfect lives in perfect houses. We sanitise, sterilise and euthanise. Social networking allows us to have 24-7 ‘friends’ without ever leaving the house. There is a growing sense of entitlement – we deserve, we demand, we dispute.

AND… we sell ourselves short.

We seem to have forgotten that growth and change are the result of hard work, self-discipline and struggle. We don’t ask the winning athlete if the training, endurance and early mornings were hard – we ask if they were worth it. The new mother doesn’t dwell on the difficult labour – she delights in the miracle of her beautiful baby.

There is the story of the world famous concert pianist who walked exhausted to the wings amidst thunderous applause after his third encore. As he was mobbed by fans at the stage door after the performance, one of them said to him, “I would give my life to be able to play like that!” His simple reply… “I have”.

Nothing worthwhile comes easily. If we are not tested, we never know our potential. It is the sacrifice that gives us strength, the struggle that makes us resilient.

Another story tells of a young boy who watched, mesmerised, as a number of baby chicks began to hatch in their nest. Three or four of them fought their way through the shell and emerged, tentatively into the big, wide world. One of them was slower, and weaker, and took much longer than the others to peck away from inside the shell. The boy felt sorry for it and decided to help. He cracked the shell. As he gently lifted the chick, he realised its wings were malformed. It would never be able to fly. The fight to leave the shell strengthens the wings ready for life on the outside world. In his efforts to assist the weaker one, he had deprived it of the opportunity to gain strength through the struggle.

So often, we deny ourselves this opportunity. We take the shortcut, the easy path, the hassle-free option. We are too busy, too tired, too stressed. It’s all too hard. As Lent approaches for another year it is a reminder to us that sometimes we need to consider other options – “that our way of acting should be different from the world’s way” (Rule of Benedict, 4).

A few years ago, I received a stark reminder that Lent had begun. I arrived at the church and absent-mindedly dipped my fingers into the font as always – to find I was touching sand. The sudden realisation was such a powerful, tangible connection to the desert. Desert experiences are good for the soul. The silence, the vastness, the rawness, the solitude, the struggle… and the realisation of oneness with Creator and Spirit.

While the ancients were acutely aware of the discipline of self-denial in the physical sense, the twenty-first century has desensitised us to its benefits. There is no question we lead lives of excess – too often, too many, too much. The New Year media hype revolves around fad diets, detox regimes and exercise machines. The secular world understands these excesses and builds multi-billion dollar empires to service our need for restraint.

Periods of fasting and self-denial are common to all the major traditions. The sense of a physical undertaking being a reminder of the spiritual journey which connects mind, body and spirit as we turn again towards new life. Desert times are hard. They test us, and they give us strength. They are a reminder of a deeper call from within that enables a change of heart. The essence of the Lenten season is not just to follow Jesus into the desert, but to take up the challenge to be ‘desert people’ ourselves – in our own place and time.

This week, as we consider how we might respond to the invitation of the Gospel during Lent in 2012, I am reminded of simpler times. Right now though, I would give anything for a chocolate Freddo from my dad!

* Monica Dutton has worked in Good Samaritan education for nine years and is currently the Immersion and Resource Co-ordinator for the Good Samaritan Education Mission Team. She has worked in primary and secondary education since 1977 and has spent time as a Teacher Consultant in the Parramatta Diocese working with students with behavioural difficulties. She has a particular interest in developing mission, immersion and resource programmes for staff and students in Good Samaritan schools.

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Michael Whelan SM

Like all human formation, forgiveness comes, in the end, not as conquest but as gift, writes Michael Whelan SM.

BY Michael Whelan SM*

Relationships are at the core of our beings. We are made for relationships. We are constituted in and through relationships. We thrive in relationships. This should not surprise us as we are made in the image and likeness of that Eternal Community of Life and Love we call God.

All of us grow – or we do not – through four distinct but interrelated relationships: with God – however we name God – with ourselves, with other people and with the events and things of our world. Put most simply, spirituality is living relationships and religion is the incarnation of spirituality. Mysticism is the natural experience of unity that is – or ought to be – the deepest manifestation of spirituality and religion.

Relationships – when constructive rather than destructive – tend towards unity. The great paradox at the heart of this movement into unity is that it is the birthplace of diversity. When you love another you affirm the other as other, your love actually enables the other to be who and what she or he is. Love liberates. In becoming one through love our diversity as unique people is set free and finds fertile ground in which to thrive. We see this most obviously in a mature relationship between husband and wife.

A sad discovery that we all make along the way, however, is that relationships are problematic. They do not flourish, as it were, automatically. They are not necessarily liberating. They do not always and necessarily lead to unity. Relationships call for commitment, generosity and sometimes hard work if they are to be constructive and life-giving. More specifically, all relationships need healing. This is most particularly the work of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a critical part of our becoming deeply human therefore. Both believer and non-believer must submit to this truth. We simply cannot become human without the capacity to give and receive forgiveness.

Forgiveness and the healing of our relationships may be best understood as a journey – an ongoing journey – a daily constitutive part therefore of our being pilgrims. At the heart of that journey we call forgiveness is a surrender. We allow ourselves to be led – perhaps where we would rather not go.

Like all human formation, forgiveness comes, in the end, not as conquest but as gift. So, in the first instance, we proceed not by way of mastery but by way of facilitation. Forgiveness cannot be forced. We must learn to wait. The waiting and the facing of what must be faced, begets awareness and awareness brings us to truth. We submit and embrace the truth. In that embrace we are set free (see John 8:32). There is the healing.

The way of mastery feeds ego and ego is incapable of forgiveness. Ego is about control, forgiveness is about surrender – surrender to the forces that draw us into unity rather than those which alienate and divide. Forgiveness is grace. Forgiveness engenders gracious people. True forgiveness is a Mystery-centred experience. God is the beginning and end of all forgiveness. We forgive by participating in God’s living and loving presence among us, everywhere, all the time.

That said, we can and must act and work with forgiveness in view. Yes, forgiveness is grace, but forgiveness is also work. Our work is by way of facilitation though. Our aim must be to make room for the Mystery to be experienced in the moment – any and every moment. “We must let go and let God be God in us” (Meister Eckhart).

Forgiveness takes us deeply into the Incarnation. Just about every teaching and event of Jesus’ life recorded in the Gospels has something to do with forgiveness – that is, the healing of relationships. Consider for example John 8:1-11. We know the story very well. It is sometimes – inappropriately I believe – referred to as “The Woman Caught in Adultery”. This may be understood as essentially an event of forgiveness versus lack of forgiveness.

What if we were to think of ourselves as, alternately, the different players in this event – “the crowd”, “the scribes and Pharisees”, “the woman” or others unnamed like “the absent man”?

What is going on when they make her “stand in full view”? What is their motivation? What does the woman feel like?

What do you make of Jesus’ responses? What is the mood of the moment when the scribes and Pharisees walk away and leave the woman alone with Jesus? What do you see on Jesus’ face? What do you see on the face of the woman?

One part of the event that is particularly powerful is the threat of the woman being stoned to death. There are places in the world where this horrible, unforgiving punishment is a threat even today. An appreciation of the act of stoning another human being to death (see Deuteronomy 22:22-24) can shock us into some sense of what is really at stake here and what is on offer in Jesus.

How would you name this event? Why?

Interested in exploring this theme more?

Michael Whelan SM will lead a Lenten reflection day on Saturday March 3, 9:30 am to 3:30pm at Mount St Benedict Centre Pennant Hills where he will explore the topic “Forgiveness: A Way to Freedom”.

Cost $30 (morning tea provided, BYO lunch). Please make bookings by February 27, 2012 on Ph: (02) 9484 86208 or Email: mtstbenedict@bigpond.com

*Sydney-based Marist Father, Michael Whelan is a renowned scholar, teacher and author in the field of spirituality. He is currently Principal of the Aquinas Academy Adult Education Centre in Sydney where he also lectures in spirituality. In 1994 Michael helped set up Catalyst for Renewal which is dedicated to promoting conversation for renewal within the Catholic Church and beyond. He is currently the Executive Director of that association. In 1995 he co-founded Spirituality in the Pub which currently operates in a number of venues around Australia.

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Margaret Keane SGS (Photo: Anthony Brady/The Moyne Gazette)

This year marks a significant milestone for Good Samaritan Sister, Margaret Keane. It’s the fiftieth anniversary of her profession as a religious sister.

BY Stephanie Thomas*

This year marks a significant milestone for Good Samaritan Sister, Margaret Keane. It’s the fiftieth anniversary of her profession as a religious sister. And as Margaret looks back on those 50 years, it’s her time as a teacher and principal that loom large in our conversation. She recalls with great affection the many people and places encountered along the way.

“I think I liked every place I taught in,” she remarks.

Margaret’s first teaching placement was at St Joseph’s, Nambour in Queensland. It was 1963, and fresh out of the Good Samaritan novitiate and teacher-training college in Sydney, the 20-year old Sister Margaret launched into teaching grade three.

“I was just hopeless!” admits Margaret.

“I liked it up there, although I found teaching very difficult because we didn’t have much training at all; [just] one year.”

Margaret’s time at Nambour was cut short because of a bout of rheumatic fever, an illness she’d also had as a 14-year old. So at the end of her first year, Margaret was transferred back to Sydney where she moved into secondary teaching at Rosebank College, Five Dock. She says she enjoyed it there, but continued to find teaching “hard”.

It wasn’t until her next placement at Mater Maria, Warriewood, a new junior secondary school for girls in Sydney’s northern suburbs, that Margaret became more confident in the classroom.

“I learnt to teach there, I think, because it was so small,” she explains.

“I went there for six years… It was fantastic, just the intimacy of it. And they were lovely parents and lovely students and teachers.”

From Mater Maria, Margaret went to Queanbeyan in 1970, where at age 28 she was appointed principal of St Gregory’s a junior secondary co-educational school. She recalls an experience during those years that revealed her compassion and readiness to take risks.

“I had a girl in year 10 who became pregnant and her parents were distraught. She was school captain. So they said to me, ‘When do you want her to leave?’ I said, ‘What does she have to leave for? She doesn’t have to leave until the baby’s due’.

“So I kept her on amid some criticism of some very holy people in town,” she explains.

Margaret proudly relates how the young girl successfully completed her year 10 certificate and was farewelled by her fellow students with a baby-shower in class.

“I got a couple of letters from parents about [the baby-shower]!” laughs Margaret.

But there’s more to this story that Margaret is pleased to tell. After no doubt much deliberation, the girl’s parents decided the baby would be adopted.

“The happy part of that is,” says Margaret, “some years later [the girl] met up with the father and they got the baby back. Now they’ve got two or three children.”

A few years ago Margaret had the opportunity to meet up with the family again.

“I like that story,” she adds.

In 1972 Margaret returned to Sydney as principal of St Brigid’s Marrickville. She served there for three years before heading to Ayr in North Queensland where she held a leadership role at Burdekin Catholic High, a newly established secondary school run by the Marist Brothers and Good Samaritan Sisters.

An eight-year posting as head of the junior school at St Monica’s Epping in Melbourne followed, before she was appointed principal of Mater Christi College, Belgrave from 1987 until 2001. Margaret has very fond memories of Mater Christi and says she only left because of her election as a member of the council of her congregation.

While her new full-time ministry meant a move back to Sydney, it didn’t mean a complete move away from school life. Margaret also served as a member of the Good Samaritan Education Council, a role she relished.

After six years on her congregation’s council, Margaret had a year-long sabbatical which included six months’ spiritual renewal at Marymount Mercy Centre in Sydney. This was her first break from full-time ministry since joining the Good Sams. Like many other sisters, her previous study opportunities (she has a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology) were completed part-time in addition to a full-time teaching load.

In 2008, Margaret was appointed manager of Mount St Benedict Centre in Sydney which offers faith formation opportunities for individuals and groups. Life seemed to be chugging along nicely for Margaret, but then one evening in mid-November 2010, without any warning, her world was thrown into chaos.

Earlier in the day Margaret had attended the profession of another Good Samaritan Sister. She’d also been out for a bike ride, something she did regularly. But after dinner, in conversation with some visiting sisters, she had a massive seizure.

“[There was] no sign. I wasn’t sick or anything,” explains Margaret. “I found out the next day in the hospital. They were very quick finding out what it was.”

Margaret was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

“I found myself in shock for most of the first three months, but in spite of two surgeries, not in great physical pain. Then the losses struck when the doctors were not certain what would happen next.”

Margaret thought she’d get back to normal after a course of radiotherapy, but normality didn’t follow. There were “oddities in scans”, she lost peripheral sight in both eyes and her mobility was seriously affected. The cause, according to the doctors, was a stroke.

As Margaret reflects on the last 15 tumultuous months “if only” has been a constant thought, and many times she has asked “what is ‘of God’ in this?”

Margaret is understandably frustrated by the impact of her illness. She is conscious of being dependent on her “wonderful community” and misses her ministry intensely. But Margaret feels like she is improving. Twice a week she visits a rehabilitation centre where she undergoes a rigorous regime of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, hydrotherapy and speech therapy.

“I’m working on being able to walk and not fall. I pray for trust (not easy) after 15 months of this burden (or gift) given to me,” she reflects.

In the meantime, Margaret is not allowing her illness to overtake any celebrations to mark her golden jubilee. In December last year she celebrated with other members of her congregation. “It was wonderful,” says Margaret.

Recently she returned from a holiday with family in her hometown of Koroit in Victoria. During that time there were also celebrations with family and friends to mark Margaret’s significant milestone.

“Time in Victoria was precious,” says Margaret.

“My family were so pleased to see me and to give me all the care anyone could want. A very special day was the golden jubilee celebration in the parish church where I grew up.”

With the year still young, the celebrations are bound to continue.

* Stephanie Thomas is editor of The Good Oil, the e-magazine of the Good Samaritan Sisters.

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Kevin Treston

The abused traveller by the wayside in the parable of the Good Samaritan is the face of forest degradation, toxic spills, species extinction and human deprivation, writes Kevin Treston.

BY Kevin Treston*

The story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) is surely one of the most evocative and loved parables of Jesus. The lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbour?” is a disturbing challenge to us to reflect on whom we choose to be ‘neighbour’. Jesus revolutionised the identity of ‘neighbour’ of his time to embrace all people, including those who were sworn enemies of Judaism such as Samaritans.

Perhaps we might expand the scope of neighbour as people to embrace the earth as ‘neighbour’ and allow the earth to enfold us as ‘neighbour’. Certainly it would be more in accord with the history of humankind to recover the memory of those thousands of years where the earth and people were interconnected in myth, ritual and living together in partnership.

How are we ‘neighbours’ to the earth and how do we allow the earth to be ‘neighbours’ to us?

Never before in history has humankind accumulated so much knowledge about the universe. The science of Copernicus, Galileo and Darwin and countless others have revealed for us a vast evolving universe of billions of galaxies and stars and a wondrous diversity of life forms. Modern science and cosmology have demonstrated the interconnectedness of all things in creation. Science has also exposed the consequences of human vandalism which has diminished the well-being of creation by pollution and exhaustion of the biosystem. All too often planet sustainability is pushed aside for uncontrolled economic growth.

Being ‘neighbour’ to creation is a challenge for every single person on the planet as well as all religious traditions. However, in this article I will explore being ‘neighbour’ through a Christian lens.

Ambivalence would best describe how Christians have historically related to the earth. On a positive note, we recall the earth-friendly traditions of the Benedictines, Franciscans and creation-centred people such as Meister Eckhart and Hildegard of Bingen. However, negative influences left mainline Christianity with a heritage of ‘otherworld’ bias in its dominant spirituality. Christian theology was significantly influenced by dualism, a separation of spirit and matter. Plato’s philosophy and movements such as the Gnostics (first to second century), Manichaeism (third to fourth century), Albigensianism (thirteenth century) and Jansenism (seventeenth century) endorsed the idea of spirit as good and material things as bad. During the last 50 years, mainstream Christianity is slowly recovering its earthly roots as an incarnational religion.

How might Christians be ‘neighbour’ to creation?

The first imperative for Christians as ‘neighbours’ to the earth is to live out the implications of the Incarnation: “and the Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14). According to a Christian belief, divinity and humanity became fused together with the advent of Jesus who became the Christ. Each person, created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27) is also an incarnation. Matter and spirit are one in our humanity. We do not simply belong to the earth, we are the earth: “then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground…” (Genesis 2:7). The first covenant, symbolised by a rainbow, was between God, us and the earth: “I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth” (Genesis 9:16). A holistic vision for humanity is always about nurturing a creative relationship of the trio of God (theos), humans (anthropos) and the universe (cosmos).

The mission of Jesus is summarised in John 10:10: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”. Being ‘neighbour’ to creation is to celebrate and promote ‘abundance of life’ to self, others, creation and our graced life. By fostering abundance, not scarcity, we look for opportunities to bring to a greater fruition our talents, the talents of others and the well-being of creation. Whatever diminishes the integrity of creation diminishes us. Working for justice in alleviating poverty, violence and ecological vandalism is a given for ‘neighbours’ to the earth. The abused traveller by the wayside in the parable of the Good Samaritan is the face of forest degradation, toxic spills, species extinction and human deprivation.

We are ‘neighbours’ to creation when we befriend the earth and enhance its abundance. In the book of Job we read: “But ask the animals and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you” (Job 12:7-8). Indigenous people of every land have been telling us for years that nature has much to teach us. Western people are often afflicted with what US writer Richard Louv called ‘NDD’ (‘nature-deficit disorder’). When we learn to pause to wonder at the magical colours of sunsets, feel the wind on our face, observe the myriad of colours in a flower, hear the songs of morning birds, then we become attuned to the rhythms and the chorus of nature. The Aboriginal leader Narritjin Yirrkala reminds us: “We belong to the ground. It is our power and we must stay close to it or maybe we will get lost”. It is difficult to be ‘neighbour’ to the earth unless we welcome the earth as our friend, the source of oxygen enabling us to breathe, providing us with daily food and teaching us about beauty, colour and imagination.

Humankind lives within a cycle of birth and evolution of species, rainforests and deserts, fertility and aridity, floods and bushfires, rainbows and droughts. We learn to be neighbours with the earth when we seek to transform the chaos of nature, its fires, drought, floods and earthquakes. In Christianity the cross is a symbol, not of despair, but of hope. Death is not an end but a movement to a beyond. Calvary is to give way to Easter. The chaos of creation invites us to be neighbours to one another in compassionate support and grounded within the cycle of earth’s rhythms.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan when Jesus asked “Who do you think was a neighbour?…”, the lawyer answered, “The one who showed him mercy”. The earth is neighbour to us by showing mercy through providing us with daily sustenance, life-giving oxygen, resources, creatures (I love Darcy our dog!) and wondrous displays of colour. We are neighbours to the earth by showing mercy through a passionate commitment to enhancing the integrity of creation.

Do we choose to be ‘neighbour’ to the earth or “pass(ed) by on the other side” (Luke 10:33)?

* Kevin Treston has been involved in his ministry for over 50 years in all dioceses of Australia as well as in many countries. His ministry has included areas such as, leadership, spirituality, theology, school and parish renewal, pastoral care and values education. He has a special interest in creation spirituality. Kevin was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2008 for services to Catholic education. He lives in Brisbane with Kathryn.

Two books written by Kevin Treston (E: kevintreston@gmail.com) related to the topic of this article are:

• A Modern Credo: Telling the Christ Story within the Context of Creation (2010). Published by John Garratt Publishing. Second printing. Available in Christian bookshops or Amazon Australia.
• Walk Lightly upon the Earth: Creation Spirituality for Daily Living (2003). Published by and available from: Creation Enterprises, 66 Antill St Wilston Queensland, 4051 (Cost: $19).

What can I do?

This Lent, why not make a ‘carbon fast’? The following carbon fast calendar, created by CLRINSW, provides an action for each day of Lent, which will help you to cut down on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Download the calendar here.

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Clare Condon SGS

Fasting in the Christian tradition is a means of seeking spiritual growth. It is a means of coming to inner beauty, writes Clare Condon SGS.

BY Clare Condon SGS*

As children, my mother often told us it was wise to be wary of beauty that was only skin deep. Over the past number of weeks, especially following Christmas and New Year celebrations, our media has been full of ads for weight loss programmes and commentary about the increasing market for cosmetic surgery from both women and men.

It would seem that such an emphasis operates on the belief of many that beauty is fundamentally only skin deep and needs to be achieved if one is to live a fulfilling life. Get our looks and our bodies right and all will be well!

In a society such as Australia where the growing diseases are obesity and diabetes, then yes, we should be seeking to change diets and increase exercise to be a healthier nation of people. But I question the underlying principle that life is of a better quality if our looks match the magazine profiles presented to us. It all seems superficial and only skin deep! So where is the substance?

It is paradoxical that in most western countries we are dealing with the consequences of excess – even the excess of finances that can be used to produce a more acceptable nose, a smoothing of wrinkles, or a face lift so that one can appear to be eternally young. This is happening while many people in our world simply do not have enough resources to survive. The famine of Somalia is just one example of this great inequality that exists now in our world.

So does this have anything to say to us Christians, who tomorrow (February 22) commence the season of Lent?

During Lent, the Church encourages us to fast. Fasting for any other purpose than to reduce one’s weight or to improve one’s health doesn’t seem to hold any sway or understanding in our world. Why fast in order to work on one’s inner beauty? It sounds a bit far-fetched does it not? And yet, fasting has been an integral part of most religious traditions for hundreds of years. It is certainly part of our Christian heritage.

Fasting in the Christian tradition is a means of seeking spiritual growth. It is a means of coming to inner beauty. It is a self discipline which aims to kerb one’s natural inclinations to excesses of the body, mind or heart.

Fasting is always aligned with prayer and coming closer to the experience of God in one’s life. It is about coming to a place of peace and love, where one can reach out beyond self to the needs of another. Saying “no” to oneself is a difficult self discipline and not for its own sake. It is not a way to exaggerate one’s own capacity for discipline, nor should it be an excess in its own right.

Fasting is part of a wholesome attitude to life and inner growth. It is a discipline that is meant to lead to an inner beauty that of itself will shine forth in how we live our daily lives and interact with others. One can grow from a place of self-centredness to other-centredness. Fasting should never be glorified in its own right, but should only be part of an integrated life seeking inner wholeness and beauty.

On this day before Lent commences, my challenge is to find what I need to do over the next 40 days that will assist in my spiritual growth – to enhance my inner self and hopefully my inner beauty.

What will you decide to do?

*Clare Condon SGS is the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict.

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Catherine McCahill SGS

It is time for all us to reconsider the call of John XXIII for “Christian charity”, to work for unity, to engage with the people of our times, says Catherine McCahill SGS.

BY Catherine McCahill SGS*

“The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and  hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community of men and women who, united in Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, press onwards towards the kingdom of the Father and are bearers of a message of salvation intended for all people.”

So begins the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World. This is the Church that I love, this is the Church in which I choose to live out that commitment of love in and through Jesus who has shown us the way.

Let me begin at the beginning. Some 50 years ago (October 11, 1962), Pope John XXIII declared open the Second Vatican Council, the four sessions of which lasted more than three years and produced 16 documents. It was his intent and remained the intent of his successor, Paul VI (who assumed presidency from the second session) that this council “would be a demonstration of the vitality of the Church, a means of rebuilding Christian unity, and a catalyst for world peace”.

This council was different to the preceding 20 ecumenical councils of the Church. Firstly, the bishops were greater in number (2,600) and more diverse in culture and nationhood than ever before, coming not only from Europe but also indigenous to the Americas, Asia and the Pacific. Secondly, representation from non-Catholics and lay persons (including 23 women by the fourth session) was visibly noticeable. Thirdly, its purpose was to promote study and exposition of the teaching and doctrines of the Church “through the methods of research and… literary forms of modern thought” (Opening address of John XXIII). Dialogue and engagement with the world was essential for the authentic promotion of the Gospel message.

So for the first time we had a “pastoral” constitution (quoted above), proclaiming that the Church exists “within” and not “apart from” or “alongside” the world, requiring serious engagement of all the faithful in the promotion of the dignity, well-being and freedom of all persons. For the first time too, the Church is presented as “the People of God”, a community of laity, religious and clergy, all sharing in the “priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, no. 30, 31). For the first time in hundreds of years, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, promoted the active participation of all God’s people, requiring that it be celebrated in the language of the people and that its “signs” be “understandable”.

Numerous other determinations could be noted if we were to work our way through the various documents on divine revelation, ecumenism, non-Christian religions, religious freedom, and the Church’s missionary activity, to name but some. New emphasis was placed on the accessibility of sacred scripture, on the promotion of understanding amongst all Christians, on the “ray of truth” that is found in all religions, on requiring that the Church never participate in any form of religious coercion or prejudice any persons on the basis of their religious faith, and on promoting missionary activity that recognises and preserves the gifts of all cultures.

Reading these documents 50 years later, significant questions arise. How comprehensible are they for the postmodern person, for persons from Europe, Asia, the Pacific, or the Americas, impoverished or not, educated or not, seekers of truth or consumed with human survival for themselves or their families? In recent times in English-speaking countries, the language of the liturgy has been re-visited, and many are left wondering about the gap between the language chosen and contemporary English. I am saddened by the divisions that this is causing and the energy being consumed, whilst all the time sacramental participation is decreasing.

We are, unfortunately, all too aware of division and disharmony in this Church that 50 years ago promoted unity and freedom of conscience. We live in times when some theologians are “silenced” for their attempt to give contemporary expression to the ancient Christian truths. We are aware too, of so much critical energy, an energy that leads to anonymous reporting to Roman curia and seemingly harsh censure.

When I read the conciliar documents with lay, educated Catholics many are unimpressed. Certainly, they are not as excited as many were in the late 1960s and 1970s. Is it time for the Church to look once again at its relationship to the contemporary world? I am very aware of so many places in the world where the Church is engaged with the world but that is not the experience of many Australian Catholics. They experience a Church no longer connected with the reality of their lives, with the “joy and hope, the grief and anguish” of all humanity. It is time for all us to reconsider the call of John XXIII for “Christian charity”, to work for unity, to engage with the people of our times. We will be unable to proclaim the Good News unless we do.

Many of my peers have “given up” on the Church. I refuse to make a compact with the forces that demoralise. I still believe in the unmined treasures of the conciliar documents. I hope and pray for dialogue, for serious and committed dialogue amongst all members of the Church – the People of God – those who actively participate and those who have become disillusioned, apathetic or ostracised. I believe it will only be possible if we focus more clearly on the teaching, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then the Church will truly serve his mission not its own; his commandment of love and compassion will take precedence.

Let us once more throw open the windows of this ancient institution so that the fresh winds of Jesus’ teachings and our contemporary world might collide and enliven us.

*Good Samaritan Sister, Catherine McCahill has been engaged in education ministry for 30 years. Before her election to the council of her congregation last year, Catherine was Academic Dean at Yarra Theological Union in Melbourne. Catherine says her doctoral thesis, “Making God Known: Jesus, the Teacher of the Fourth Gospel and the Contemporary Christian Religious Education Teacher”, enabled her to bring together her passion for biblical study and Christian religious education. Underpinning this work is her fundamental belief that the ultimate purpose of our biblical study is deeper knowledge and love of the God of Jesus.

This article is the first in a series commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

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Father Bernard McGrath OSB with Grace Marcelo SGS and Clare Condon SGS

Having completed two years’ preparation as a novice, Grace Marcelo was professed as a Sister of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict on Saturday February 4, 2012.

Born and raised in Bacolod City in the Philippines, Grace. 35, is the third Filipina woman to make her profession as a Good Samaritan Sister.

The Rite of First Profession took place during a Eucharist at Our Lady of Nativity Church in Lawson, NSW, concelebrated by Fathers Bernard McGrath OSB and Paul Slyney, and in the presence of many Good Samaritan Sisters, Filipino families from the parish, and friends from other religious congregations.

“I feel very excited but nervous in taking this significant step in my life, to live out the parable of the Good Samaritan in my daily life with other Good Samaritans,” Grace told The Good Oil before the ceremony.

During the ceremony, Grace proclaimed her vows of stability, conversion of life and obedience, and sang the Suscipe – “Receive me Lord as you have promised…” – an ancient prayer from the Rule of St Benedict, in her own language, Illongo.

“I felt overwhelming peace, joy and God’s grace as I sang the Suscipe,” she explained.

After the ceremony, a very happy and more relaxed Grace expressed gratitude to all who had gathered with her and helped to make the celebration “special and beautiful”.

In her words of admonition – an address delivered in the Benedictine tradition by the congregational superior to the novice – Sister Clare Condon reminded Grace of the seriousness of her decision to join the Good Samaritan community.

Referring to chapter 72 of the Rule of St Benedict, Clare said the challenge of a religious vocation is to place “Christ and the Gospel first and before all else – before any other desire that might creep into our lives.

“The Gospel is the measuring stick of all our actions,” she said.

“Today, as you seek to join this community of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in a formal way, you will be entering into our unknown future in regard to its practical details and expressions,” she continued.

“You will engage with a set of values which have lasted 1,500 years in all sorts of cultural settings, together with your own Filipino culture with the Gospel at its heart. There will be joys and sorrows. There will be gifts and challenges.

“Our community in Bacolod is small, but vibrant. Like the first five sisters in 1857 in Australia, you are part of and you are forming a new shoot.”

Grace first met the Good Samaritan Sisters in 1995 while studying and working in Bacolod City. She said she was attracted by their simplicity of life and hospitality.

“I was working with Sister Yoshi [Suzukawa] in WYCO (Women, Youth, Children Outreach). It is a non-government organisation which helps the poor, particularly women and children in Bacolod City. From there I met other Good Samaritans and became an associate.”

During her two-year novitiate in Australia, Grace has been engaged in an intensive study programme involving the history and charism of the congregation, the Rule of St Benedict, the constitutions of the sisters, together with scripture, theology and mission. For six months she participated in the Kairos Formation Course, Sydney with novices from other congregations, both male and female.

She also lived in Melbourne with the Good Samaritan community in Northcote for a few months and was involved in a number of ministry experiences, including the Asylum Seeker Centre, the Collingwood Cottages and The Good Samaritan Inn for women and children.

In the next week, Grace will return to the Philippines where she will continue her spiritual and professional studies and minister in the outreach programme of the Good Samaritan Kinder School in Bacolod City.

If after four years Grace wishes to continue in the Good Samaritan way of life, she can renew her vows for a further two years or request to make her perpetual profession.

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Marie Mohr

The Sisters of the Good Samaritan can’t be accused of avoiding the ‘elephant in the room’:  they are an ageing community of women. In fact, it could be said they are embracing their reality and equipping themselves to respond proactively.

Recently the congregation appointed experienced health care professional, Marie Mohr, to assist them at a strategic policy level on matters related to the health and well-being of all their sisters, not just the elderly.

But this recent appointment is not the first initiative taken by the congregation in this area. Marie’s role will complement an existing team of hands-on health care consultants and sisters with a pastoral care responsibility for elderly or sick sisters.

“The idea of an overall Co-ordinator of Health and Well-Being is to have a competent professional assisting us in putting into place sound strategies and directions for the well-being of all our sisters,” explained Sister Clare Condon, Congregational Leader.

“We need professional advice on trends in aged care and how we can best respond to our sisters as they age in place.”

According to current statistics, 62 per cent of the congregation are aged between 50 and 79, and 38 per cent are over 80 years.

It’s Clare’s hope that she and her council “can continue to put in place best practice so that the sisters are living active and vital lives as they live out their religious commitment for the service of humanity and the Church”.

Marie Mohr began in the newly-created congregational position, National Co-ordinator of Health and Well-Being, in January this year. She’s enthusiastic about the role and believes the congregation should be commended for acknowledging and responding to the “ageing factor”.

“Having a focus on health and well-being will create an opportunity for the congregation to gain a better understanding of factors associated with healthy ageing, and hopefully, to develop strategies to maximise the quality of life for all the sisters going forward,” she said.

While Marie will be based in Melbourne, she will travel to different parts of Australia to meet with sisters when needed.

“There will also be opportunities to liaise with the sisters living in the communities located in Japan, the Philippines, Kiribati and East Timor,” said Marie.

“Over these past weeks I have already had the opportunity to meet with a number of sisters who have been on holidays away from their overseas locales and each has provided me with a snapshot of their lives and enabled me some consideration of what health and well-being issues that may arise.”

Marie brings a wealth of expertise and experience to her role. Over the last three decades she has worked as a health care professional in a number of hospitals in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria. She began in general nursing, then moved into midwifery and later nursing administration and leadership roles. In the last ten years she has focused on aged care rehabilitation and palliative care issues.

In 2010, after completing a Masters Degree in Public Health, Marie was looking to move away from the hospital health care scene. When she heard about the new position with the Good Samaritan Sisters, she jumped at the chance to apply.

“It was a step away from hospital health care [and] had the elements of community care which I was looking to move into,” she explained.

For Marie, the ethos and values of the Good Samaritan Sisters were also an attraction. “[This] was something I was keen to connect with.”

Having worked with the Sisters of Charity at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, Marie is no stranger to the culture of religious congregations. She is also the niece of Good Samaritan Sister, Josie Logan – her first introduction to the Good Sams – and for nearly three years, Marie has been on the board of The Good Samaritan Inn in Melbourne, which provides emergency accommodation and support for women and children in need.

“[This] has been a fantastic opportunity to see first-hand the commitment and dedication these women have in bringing to life the values and spirit of the Good Samaritan story,” she said.

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Archbishop Tutu and Geraldine Kearney SGS

Good Samaritan Sister, Geraldine Kearney’s lack of knowledge on cricket didn’t dampen her recent meeting with the jovial and inspirational Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa, writes Therese Spruhan*.

From the 1950s, the Cathedral of St George the Martyr in Cape Town became widely known as a site and focus of resistance against apartheid. It was the place where Archbishop Desmond Tutu delivered most of his sermons, and because of the congregation’s role in speaking up against injustice it became known as “The People’s Cathedral”.

During her few days in Cape Town late last year, Geraldine visited the cathedral. After some quiet time in the sacred space, she became sure of one thing – she would like to meet Archbishop Tutu.

After making enquiries and some persistence on Geraldine’s part, she ended up being invited to morning tea. “Something just moved me to keep persisting,” said Geraldine.

“I knew I had to meet this man who had inspired me for so long. In the end when Vivienne, Tutu’s private secretary, invited me to morning tea I couldn’t believe me ears, as this was all done on the phone from the little cathedral shop where I had just bought the book Tutu written for his 80^th birthday.”

Geraldine met with the Archbishop after attending the International Human Rights Education Conference in Durban in late November last year. At this conference she presented a paper on “Climate Justice: A Matter of Human Rights”, which focused on the loss of land, identity and culture as a result of climate change on small, low-lying Pacific Islands.

After visiting Cape Town she travelled back to Durban for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held from November 28 to December 9. The focus of this annual conference was to assess progress in dealing with climate change and to make decisions and resolutions.

“My time in Cape Town was memorable and beyond description,” said Geraldine.

One of the highlights was a reflective evening at the Aquila Game Park. “I was struck by the vastness and magical beauty of the ever-changing landscape, in all the different lights and hues,” she explained.

Visiting Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island, Geraldine was inspired by the insight she gained into the history of the South African struggle for freedom from apartheid.

Meeting Archbishop Tutu was cause for further inspiration, understanding, and some concern.  “My lack of knowledge about cricket was a source of concern for him!” joked Geraldine, who described Desmond Tutu as small in stature, jovial and with an infectious laugh.

“We sat and chatted over a cup of coffee. How privileged I was to spend time with him and meet his delightful staff.”

Returning to Durban, Geraldine represented the Pacific Calling Partnership (PCP) delegation at the COP17 to the UNFCCC. PCP advocates for the low-lying Pacific Island nations suffering the impacts of climate change, particularly Kiribati. She was also a member of the Kiribati Government delegation and represented her congregation in her capacity as delegate for social justice.

Over the busy 12 days she stood in solidarity with members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) at their daily meetings and met with other Kiribati Government delegates. She participated in the Interfaith Rally before the conference and the Durban Rally during the conference. She attended daily Climate Action Network Australia meetings for updates on negotiations, and had daily contact with the Pacific Island pavilion and their many networks.

Other highlights were attending an evening for Indigenous groups from the Many Strong Voices Network and working with fellow PCP member, Claire Anterea, to facilitate interviews and on-going network connections and awareness-raising.

The major outcome of the conference was nearly 200 countries signing a deal (Durban Platform for Enhanced Action) to work towards a legal agreement on the climate by 2015, which would come into force from 2020.

While impressed with the leadership of the EU at the conference, Geraldine was somewhat perturbed that the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action is targeted to be in place only by 2015.

“I’m afraid I see a greater urgency. However, I am optimistic that at least the parties reached an agreement towards a legally binding instrument that will hopefully be implemented and embraced by all countries.

“We need to ensure that the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action delivers a strong legal instrument by 2015, and it is imperative that all of us, without exception, muster the necessary ambition and political will to keep global warming as far below two degrees C as possible.”

Geraldine said her days in Durban were “blessed and enriching, demanding and provocative”.

“As Delegate for Social Justice in my congregation, and in my role on various committees, I continue to be impelled to stand for the voiceless.

“I also continue to be inspired by those who have fought long and courageously for the poor, the marginalised and the oppressed, and whose undaunted spirit moves me ever forward,” she explained.

* Therese Spruhan is the editor of Pathways, the e-news of Catholic Religious Australia. This is an edited version of an article first published in the February 2012 edition.

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Kathleen Marjorie Cotter, who has died at the age of ninety-two, was able to look back on a long life that encompassed not only periods of great personal suffering, but also grateful memories of family, Good Samaritan community and friends who showed kindness at the times she most needed it. She has remained, in heart, a Sister of the Good Samaritan, although she has spent the last thirty-eight years living outside a Good Samaritan community.

Kathleen’s life story began on 19 September 1919 when she was born at Coogee, the youngest of four children, to Percival and Margaret (nee Riley) Cotter. There is little record of her early years of childhood and adolescence. Following her school years she had employment as a milliner. The call to religious life was persistent and finally Kathleen sought admission to the Novitiate of the Good Samaritan Sisters.  This request was granted when she came to the Novitiate on 2 July 1942. As she entered on this new phase in her life she was given the name of Sister Mary Alacoque and on 6 January 1945 made her first profession of religious vows. Even before this, she already had connection with the Good Samaritan Sisters through her aunt, Sister Clement Mary Riley, who at that time had been a member of the Congregation for some 28 years.

Following her profession, Kathleen spent three years in duties associated with Boarding schools at St Scholastica’s, Glebe Point and Santa Maria, Lawson. After gaining her Certificate of Teaching in 1948 she spent a little over twenty years in Infants and Primary classrooms in Sydney, Wollongong and Campbelltown.

Ill-health overshadowed these years to the point of her requiring hospitalization on a number of occasions.  In 1972, for her health and welfare, she requested Leave of Absence from the Congregation for a limited time. Taking into account advice of Kathleen’s medical adviser, this request was granted. Ultimately, Kathleen applied to the Holy See for an Indult of Indefinite Exclaustration which was granted and accepted in May 1973. Kathleen has always counted it a blessing that since that time she shared residence and warm companionship with her friend and confidante, Rita Cooke.

Up to the time of her death, as well as having frequent contact with her own family, Kathleen maintained contact with Good Samaritan sisters, particularly Gwen Critchley of her profession group. She was kept informed of significant events and happenings in the life of the Congregation. This connection was further strengthened when a Good Samaritan community was established at Woy Woy in 2009, enabling added contact and visits which Kathleen found enlivening.

Kathleen was a gracious, well-read, grateful and faithful woman.  She is survived by her sister, Ina, and remembered with affection by many Good Samaritan sisters who knew her.